Review | Book review: an Irishman’s karate memoir is a bit too much inside baseball
The memoir of Seamus O’Dowd, who has spent 30 years training in a dojo and opened one in Dublin, will be enjoyed most by the initiated
By Seamus O’Dowd
Nintai Publications (e-book)
Show, don’t tell. A Karate Story reinforces the truth behind that old saw, which stresses that you risk being tedious if all you do is tell. Seamus O’Dowd’s memoirs about his 30-year martial-arts career began life initially as a blog, but before long he realised he had written a chunk of this book, and kept going. Although few but diehard karate fans will appreciate his minute-by-minute accounting of key events, special moments stick in the head. O’Dowd (also a master in tai chi and bojutsu, fought with a staff) chronicles his years training in a dojo to the day he opens one, in Dublin. He is not unlikeable, but A Karate Story is only for the initiated.
