Brian Moore has a great wallow in Irishness in The Mangan Inheritance before his protagonist rejects his Irish ancestry, condemns the verses of the early 19th century poet, his namesake, as 'derivative, dull and pathetic', and gets the hell out back to Canada. It appears to have been Moore's intention to explore and explode certain myths, e.g. that there is something romantic, even magical, about Ireland, that priest, pig-breeder and poteen-drinker are all poets under the skin, that piety and respect for one's forefathers are particularly Irish virtues, but if that was his intention he seems to have succumbed to the influence of those myths while he was writing about them. For the greater part of the book, while he is in Ireland, James Mangan feels increasingly happy and at home; the myths more than compensate for the squalid conditions in which he lives…. It is in this long section of the book that Moore's writing is at its best, vivid in its descriptions of landscape and locals, altogether different from the flat, undistinguished first quarter of the book, and the final few pages, both of which passages are set in Canada.

If James's disillusionment at the end is to be dramatically effective, his initial coup de foudre should be convincing, and it is nothing of the sort. (pp. 128-29)

Perhaps one is wrong to search for meanings and messages, but the book does not have the feel of sheer entertainment. It is gravid with something, but with what remains obscure. It is 'corny but powerful', as James Mangan said of his namesake's poems—and a compulsive read. (p. 130)