The Good Room

Apr 10, 2013

I’ve been a fan of David McWilliams since his breakfast radio show on Newstalk 106. Back then his witty catch phrases and repetitive talking style were entertaining as I navigated the Dublin morning traffic. He was one of the first to call the madness on the Irish property bubble, but yet his books (this is the fourth) don’t have that “I told you so” air that he could have employed.

The The Good Room follows the journey of a young teacher sucked into the property hype at the wrong time and points out the lunacy of keeping up pretense when what is really needed is an adult discussion on how to move the situation forward. With the current goings on in Cyprus, the central theme of the book is that the same message needs to be addressed the world over.

The writing style is easy to read, with the story line intertwined into some fundamental economics lessons. Some of what he says could be argued as overly simplistic but much is obvious to anyone. The author’s colloquial style marks the book out as particularly Irish for an Irish audience…but perhaps that is the intent needed. The Irish property debt problem needs some Irish problem solving.