''The Miseducation of Ross O'Carroll-Kelly: The Diary of a Schools Rugby Player'' is a 2000 novel by Irish journalist and author Paul Howard, and the first in the best-selling

Ross O'Carroll-Kelly Ross O'Carroll-Kelly is a satirical fictional Irish character, a wealthy South County Dublin rugby union jock created by journalist Paul Howard. The character first appeared in a January 1998 column in the ''Sunday Tribune'' newspaper and late ...

series. It was adapted from a series of columns by Howard in the ''

Sunday Tribune The ''Sunday Tribune'' was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to tab ...

''. The title refers to the

Lauryn Hill Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. She is often regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, as well as being one of the most influential musicians of her generation. ...

album ''

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill ''The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill'' is the debut solo album by American singer and rapper Lauryn Hill. It was released on August 25, 1998, by Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records. ''The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill'' is a neo soul and R&B album ...

'', which refers in turn to

Carter G. Woodson Carter Godwin Woodson (December 19, 1875April 3, 1950) was an American historian, author, journalist, and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). He was one of the first scholars to study the h ...

's book ''

The Mis-Education of the Negro ''The Mis-Education of the Negro'' is a book originally published in 1933 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Content The thesis of Woodson's book is that Black people of his day were being culturally indoctrinated, rather than taught, in American schools ...

''.

Background

The novel has many allusions to '' American Psycho'' by

Bret Easton Ellis Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author, screenwriter, short-story writer, and director. Ellis was first regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique, as a w ...

, from the many prolonged descriptions of the clothes worn by the characters to specific scenes such as Ross dispensing advice on the appropriate type of shoe to wear with chinos, which is taken almost word-for-word from a similar passage in Ellis's work. Several details were altered from the newspaper column; in the newspaper, Simon was the captain of the rugby team and lifted the trophy with the words "For Mom! For Dad! For Rock! For God!" — in the novel, Ross is captain. Howard observed that "in the early days I was trying to make the character f Rossas hateful as possible."

Plot

Ross O'Carroll-Kelly attends Castlerock College (a portmanteau of

Castleknock College Castleknock College ( ga, Coláiste Caisleán Cnucha) is a voluntary Vincentian secondary school for boys, situated in the residential suburb of Castleknock, west of Dublin city centre, Ireland. Founded in 1835 by Philip Dowley, it is one ...

and

Blackrock College Blackrock College ( ga, Coláiste na Carraige Duibhe) is a voluntary secondary school, voluntary day school, day and boarding school, boarding Catholicism, Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, Dublin, Bl ...

), a prestigious

South Dublin , image_map = Island of Ireland location map South Dublin.svg , map_caption = Inset showing South Dublin (darkest green in inset) within Dublin Region (lighter green) , area_total_km2 ...

private secondary school, where academe takes a back seat to

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

. He aims to lead the school to the

Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup The Leinster Schools Senior Challenge Cup is the premier rugby union competition for secondary schools affiliated to the Leinster Branch of the IRFU. First held in 1887, the competition celebrated its 120th anniversary in 2007. Attendances are ...

Release

Howard self-published the novel after several rejections, printing 5,000 copies and driving around Dublin selling copies to shops himself. It was launched at

Blackrock College RFC Blackrock College Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club located in Blackrock, Dublin, Ireland. The club was founded in 1882 by former pupils of Blackrock College. Their senior team currently plays in Division 2A of the All-Ireland League ...

, where some members complained about the release of an "anti-rugby" book.

''The Miseducation Years''

In 2004, a revised and expanded edition, titled ''The Miseducation Years'', was published.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miseducation Of Ross O'carroll-Kelly 2000 Irish novels 2004 Irish novels Works originally published in Irish newspapers Ross O'Carroll-Kelly Self-published books Fiction set in 1998 Fiction set in 1999