Book Summary and Reviews of Gypsy Boy by Mikey Walsh

Name: Gypsy Boy
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Author: Mikey Walsh

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Gypsy Boy

My Life in the Secret World of the Romany Gypsies

by Mikey Walsh

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Published:
Feb 2012, 288 pages

Genre: Biography/Memoir
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Summary

Book Summary

Mikey Walsh was born into a Romany Gypsy family. They live in a secluded community, and little is known about their way of life. After centuries of persecution, Gypsies are wary of outsiders, and if you choose to leave you can never come back.

This is something Mikey knows only too well.

Growing up, he didn't go to school, he seldom mixed with non-Gypsies, and the caravan became his world. It was a rich and unusual upbringing, but although Mikey inherited a vibrant and loyal culture his family's legacy was bittersweet, with a hidden history of violence and grief. Eventually Mikey was forced to make an agonizing decision - to stay and keep secrets, or escape and find somewhere to belong.

Gypsy Boy shows, for the first time, what life is really like among the Romany Gypsies. A surprise #1 bestseller in Great Britain, this is a one-of-a-kind memoir of a little-seen world, one both fascinating and heartbreaking.

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Media Reviews

"Mikey Walsh provides an unsentimental and compelling look at the louche and brutal culture of Romany Gypsies in the U.K." - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. A gripping and heartfelt page-turner." - Booklist

"A poignant memoir that bears comparison to the bestselling Running With Scissors - but better written and far darker." - Kirkus Reviews

"This is a wonderfully readable tale of love, abuse and eventual escape - all lived in the heart of an English gypsy family. The father is one of the most frightening figures I've encountered in years." - Edmund White, author of A Boy's Own Story

"Reading Gypsy Boy, I felt invited into a secret society. I've always found Gypsies mysterious and even slightly dangerous, and Mikey Walsh does an excellent job describing the cloistered lifestyle and fascinating traditions of the Romani people. Moreover, Mikey's personal story of being a misfit among misfits is both compelling and universal. I cheered for him every step of the way." - Julia Scheeres, author of Jesus Land

"A revelation. Moving, terrifying, funny and brilliant. I shall never forget it - an amazing achievement." - Stephen Fry

"Touching, insightful, funny and incredibly shocking." - HEAT

"Best memoir since Running with Scissors." - Attitude

This information about Gypsy Boy was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Scoops

Great read, but is it really a novel?
The book is riveting, I read it over a couple of days and passed my copy to a friend. As I got deeper into the book however, I got an increasing sense that I was reading a fictionalised account of Gypsy life, albeit written by someone who had been a member of the community. One apparent discrepancy that was hard to account for was how someone who had been severely beaten almost every day of his life, with fists, boots, clubs and shovels, managed to not only avoid having to get medical treatment but also retained his oft commented on good looks. I suspect if a 6 year old child was punched and kicked in the face as hard and as often as is claimed then by the time he was 9 or 10 say he would look pretty awful. I would recommend the book, but also recommend applying some critical thinking, and not accepting every word as true.

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