| Should Have Got Off at Sydney Parade | |
| Author: | Paul Howard |
| Illustrator: | Alan Clarke |
| Cover Artist: | Alan Clarke |
| Country: | Republic of Ireland |
| Language: | English |
| Series: | Ross O'Carroll-Kelly |
| Genre: | Comic novel, satire |
| Publisher: | Penguin Books |
| Pub Date: | October 2006[1] |
| Media Type: | Paperback |
| Pages: | 304 |
| Isbn: | 978-1-84488-090-4 |
| Dewey: | 823.92 |
| Preceded By: | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress |
| Followed By: | This Champagne Mojito Is The Last Thing I Own |
Should Have Got Off at Sydney Parade is a 2006 novel by Irish journalist and author Paul Howard, and the sixth in the Ross O'Carroll-Kelly series.[2]
The title is a reference to coitus interruptus: Sydney Parade is the last DART stop before Sandymount, where Ross lives. Many other such phrases are known, e.g. "getting off at Redfern" (Sydney, Australia);[3] "getting off at Edge Hill" (Liverpool);[4] [5] "getting off at Haymarket" (Edinburgh).[6]
An initial cover design featured a naked Ross holding his "sympathetic pregnancy" bump, a parody of Demi Moore's famous 1991 Vanity Fair cover. Penguin manager Michael McLoughlin vetoed that, and illustrator Alan Clarke produced a new version showing Ross wearing a Leinster Rugby shirt.[7]
Sorcha is pregnant; Ross begins to experience a sympathetic pregnancy. His mother, Fionnuala, becomes a successful chick-lit author, but her realistic depiction of financial crime causes suspicion to fall on his father's affairs. Ross and his friends invest in Lillie's Bordello, a Dublin nightclub.[8]
Should Have Got Off at Sydney Parade was the surprise winner of the Galaxy Irish Popular Fiction Book of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards.[9] [10] [11] [12]
It was the best-selling book in Ireland for 2006, selling 39,339 copies.[13]
It was listed among the shortlist of 50 for the Irish Book of the Decade prize for 2000–10.[14]
In her work The Undecidable: Jacques Derrida and Paul Howard, Clare Gorman analysed the relationship between Ross and his mother in the book, noting that "Ross has a pathologically intense relationship with her that he denies and represses by insulting her at every opportunity."[15]