''The Oh My God Delusion'' is a 2010 novel by Irish journalist and author Paul Howard, and the tenth in the

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 la ...

series. The title refers to Richard Dawkins's book '' The God Delusion'' and to the expression " Oh my God".

Plot

As the

economic crisis An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

deepens, Ross and his family continue to struggle financially, with Ross moving to a

ghost estate A ghost estate ( ga, Eastát na Sí, "Fairy estate") is an unoccupied housing estate, particularly one built in the Republic of Ireland during the period of economic growth when the Irish economy was known as the Celtic Tiger. A massive surplus ...

. Additionally, he and his friends face being stripped of their

Leinster Schools 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 h ...

medals.

Reception

In ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'', Dan Sheehan wrote that, in ''The Oh My God Delusion'', "Howard has taken what should have been a small-scale parody with a rapidly approaching sell-by date and turned it into one of the most enduring satirical figures in the Irish literary canon." Dublin news website ''The Liberty'' scored it 3/4, Alannah McMahon writing that "the novel reads a little stale. It feels as though he has released the same book nine times icand the story hasn’t really gone very far at all. It remains sublime as a social satire, yet as a novel it seriously lacks the imagination and creativity it so sorely needs to remain the phenomenon it has become." The '' Irish Independent'' praised it, but noted that "if there is one quibble with ''The Oh My God Delusion'', it would lie in the not very subtle message that the financial tsunami we're battening down against can have any redemptive features whatsoever. That's the kind of smug bullshit we've had to endure in the last few months from a commentariat that seems secretly delighted that the average proles have had some manners put back on them." It won the Irish Popular Fiction prize at the

Irish Book Awards The Irish Book Awards are Irish literary awards given annually to books and authors in various categories. In 2018 An Post took over sponsorship of the awards from Bord Gais Energy. It is the only literary award supported by all-Irish bookstores. ...

. In a survey, carried out to mark Eason and Sons' 125th anniversary, ''The Oh My God Delusion'' was named Ireland's favourite book.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oh My God Delusion 2010 Irish novels Penguin Books books Ross O'Carroll-Kelly Fiction set in 2009