History Literature / RossOCarrollKelly

Twenty-two novels have been published so far:

There have also been four plays (''The Last Days of the Celtic Tiger'', ''Between Foxrock and a Hard Place'', ''Breaking Dad'' and ''Postcards from the Ledge''), two semi-non-fiction books (''Ross O'Carroll-Kelly's Guide to (South) Dublin: How To Get By On, Like, €10,000 A Day'' and ''We Need To Talk About Ross'') and a spoken-word album.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* FlashForward: The entire play ''Breaking Dad'' is set roughly a decade into the then future (2022), where [[AcceptablePoliticalTargets Bertie Ahern]] has just led Fianna Fáil back into power and Ross has to cope with the first time his daughter Honor brings a boy home.

* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: Ross does pass through several jobs, but in between times he is this.

* FiveManBand: The Rugby Boys
** TheHero: Ross
** TheLancer: JP
** TheBigGuy: Oisinn
** TheSmartGuy / TheLancer: Fionn
** TheChick: Christian

Twenty-one novels have been published so far:

Nineteen novels have been published so far:

* JerkJock: Ross, and all of his team mates.

** Ross' full name is Ross Kyle Gibson [=McBride=] O'Carroll-Kelly. His father named him after the Irish rugby players Jack Kyle, Mike Gibson and William John [=McBride=].

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Played with. Ross compares every woman he meets to a real life celebrity, partially as flattery, and partially to save the author the trouble of describing them. Real life Celebrities are frequently referred to in conversation, often as an [[UsefulNotes/LogicalFallacies Appeal to Wealth]]. Derek "One F" Foley, a friend of the real-life author, is the only real person to feature prominently. Politicians, like Enda Kenny and Leo Varadkar, feature in later books, but mostly offscreen. Miriam O'Callaghan is also sometimes mentioned.

* RetCon: Tons of it in ''We Need To Talk About Ross'', blaming an UnreliableNarrator. Also {{Hand Wave}}s several continuity errors (did Ross meet Christian in primary school or at Castlerock? Did Ross's dad go to school with Hennessy or did they meet later? Was Ross 15 or 17 when he met Sorcha?)

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Played with. Ross compares every woman he meets to a real life celebrity, partially as flattery, and partially to save the author the trouble of describing them. Real life Celebrities are frequently referred to in conversation, often as an AppealToWealth. Derek "One F" Foley, a friend of the real-life author, is the only real person to feature prominently. Politicians, like Enda Kenny and Leo Varadkar, feature in later books, but mostly offscreen. Miriam O'Callaghan is also sometimes mentioned.

* TextualCelebrityResemblance: Practically every girl or woman whom Ross finds attractive will be described as such.

Ross O'Carroll-Kelly is the protagonist of a series of novels by Irish journalist Paul Howard, satirising the obsessions and habits of Ireland's privileged (and unprivileged) classes, particularly centering on the capital city, Dublin. For those unfamiliar with Dublin, it can be roughly divided into the North side (unprivileged), and the South side (privileged). The characteristics of both sides are highly exaggerated in the name of RuleOfFunny. Ross, naturally, is from the south side, and is a spoilt, vain, womanizing, wealthy braggart who can't go two minutes without offending someone.

* FunetikAksent: Used constantly, even in narration, some accents are nigh incomprehensible without reading aloud. Howard is an excellent mimic. Some of the examples frequently used by Ross emphasise the soft "t" and the broad vowels eg. Right = Roysh, car park = cor pork. It is used frequently as a means of GettingCrapPastTheRadar.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: These books are not too shy about crap in full view of the radar, but they make use of the more impenetrable aspects of Dublin slang to keep it in full view where it might not otherwise be allowed. For instance, Sydney Parade is the second stop on the Dublin train line, so ''I Should have Got off at Sydney Parade'' refers to Ross not finishing his trip.

* ShoutOut: Many of the titles are references to other bestselling books.

* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Like many Irish boys of his generation, JP was named after Pope John Paul II. His friends often call him JP III.

* TheCasanova: The amount of women Ross goes through is mind boggling. He rarely remembers their names, and it regularly come back to haunt him.

** Completely averted by Ronan, [[spoiler:Ross's son raided on the northside]], at eight years old, this child's wants to be a career criminal when he grows up, and is already preparing for the profession.

* CreatorProvincialism: Invoked, Ross's knowledge of geography outside of Dublin is intentionally terrible.

* FunetikAksent: Used constantly, even in narration, some accents are nigh incomprehensible without reading aloud. Howard isan excellent mimic. Some of the examples frequently used by Ross emphasise the soft "t" and the broad vowels eg. Right = Roysh, car park = cor pork. It is used frequently as a means of GettingCrapPastTheRadar.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: These books are not too shy about crap in full view of the radar, but they make use of the more impenetrable aspects of Dublin slang to keep it in full view where it might not otherwise be allowed. For instance, Sydney Parade is the second stop on the Dublin train line, so "I Should have Got off at Sydney Parade" refers to Ross not finishing his trip.

* MoodWhiplash: Aoife's anorexia and bulemia, her efforts to count her points, her asking how many calories lettuce contains etc. are all played for laughs. The hospital trip is not. Nor is [[spoiler:her death]].

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Played with, Ross compares every woman he meets to a real life celebrity, partially as flattery, and partially to save the author the trouble of describing them. Real life Celebrities are frequently referred to in conversation, often as an AppealToWealth. Derek "One F" Foley, a friend of the real-life author, is the only real person to feature prominently. Politicians, like Enda Kenny and Leo Varadkar, feature in later books, but mostly offscreen. Miriam O'Callaghan is also sometimes mentioned.
* NouveauRiche: The Celtic Tiger was a relatively recent phenomenon in Ireland, so many of the characters are this by default. Ross's family was not so wealthy when he was a young child.

* ShoutOut: The titles are all references to other bestselling books.

* TextualCelebrityResemblance: Practically every girl or woman Ross finds attractive will be described as such.