Brownbread is a play about a trio of young lads (trying desperately to be hooligans, but a little too kind at heart to succeed) who kidnap a bishop. What starts as almost a lark turns into an international incident, but there is lots of fun to be had before the play resolves. A wonderful characterization of the Irish temperament, and excellent character parts for young men. War is about the serious competition to win a pub quiz, while dealing with the mundane life of job, wife and home. Both (I'm sure) would be outstanding productions for any adventurous theatre group.

This classic drama set in a north Dublin pub and kitchen, brings to life 16 funny, passionate, sometimes drunk, sometimes lonely, sometimes violent characters. It is gritty, working class, late eighties, Dublin. The pace is lightening fast and written with the same fluency of language that one always finds in Irish pub's. Bravo! Roddy Doyle, please write another!

Jimmy, Jr.'s band, Sharon's (way) out-of-wedlock baby, Jimmy Sr.'s mid-life crisis - these are the events that we follow with great interest as the story of the Rabbitte family of Barrytown unfolds. We can't help but laugh and empathize with this Irish working class clan as they struggle (raucously, emotionally, obscenely) through the pathos, trials and rewards of their lives. Doyle attacks the pride and prejudice of his kinsmen with cutting humor and compassion. These characters not only come alive off the pages - they live very deeply in what may otherwise appear to be a superficial existence. There is no high gloss sheen to cover over the harsh edges and sore spots - the picture is real and complete, and much funnier because of it. Good for you, Roddy Doyle, The Barrytown Trilogy is great gas, tha'. Grand, really.

This telling trilogy is busting with what so many other modern novels lack, well developed characters. Roddy Doyle inspires us with a family so full of character, we wish they were our own. He puts a face and a sense of humor on our everyday problems. The Barrytown Trilogy is a look at life through Guiness colored glasses

Roddy Doyle must be some kind of genius...I was absolutely hooked right from page 1 of The Barrytown Trilogy, which collects Doyle's three books about The Rabbitte family, a large, loving clan in working-class Dublin, Ireland.

The first book is The Commitments, which details the efforts of young Jimmy Rabbitte Jr. to form a soul band, not an easy task in mid-80's Ireland. The second book, The Snapper, revolves around Jimmy Jr.'s sister Sharon; She's pregnant (Out of wedlock), and won't reveal who the father is. The final book, The Van, centers on their recently unemployed dad, Jimmy Sr.; He teams up with his pal Bimbo to buy a Chip Van, and hilarity ensues...

Doyle peppers the books with Irish slang that might slide right past most American readers, but don't let that deter you; You'll be up to speed in no time. The characters are wonderfully written, and it's a real joy to read about a LOVING Irish family for a change. I laughed out loud more times than I could count, and I loved the book so much I finished it in no time. And then I was sad it was over....Highly recommended. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll wish you were a Rabbitte!

This book is called "The Giggler Treatment". It is written by Roddy Doyle and illustrated by Brian Ajhar. It is a funny book for ages 8 and above. It's about these tiny little creatures called Gigglers who watch over children and make sure grown-ups are treating them fair. And if not, then they get "the treatment" which is little pranks that the Gigglers pull off. One day Mr. Mack is walking to his work when all of a sudden the Gigglers put a pile of dog "poo" (which is "poop") in his path. But it was by accident. The Gigglers made a big mistake. Mr. Mack didn't deserve the treatment! Even though he had sent his kids up to their room, he fixed it later on. But the Gigglers didn't know he fixed it. So Rover, Robbie, Kayla and Billy Jean have to stop him from stepping in the "poo". I found that there were some weird words in this story and I had no idea what they meant. Thankfully there was a glossary where you can look up almost all the words that sound weird to you. For instance, "plaster" means "bandaid". I would recommend this silly book to kids who like funny stories.

This book is a delight from start to finish. I cannot honestly say that I am a judge of children's literature. I have not read kid's books since, well, since I was a kid, and that was in the early 60s! Are Captain W.E. Johns and Enid Blyton still popular? The only reason I bought the 'The Giggler Treatment' was Roddy Doyle's name on the cover. He is one of our best contemporary writers. 'The Barrytown Trilogy', 'Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha', and 'The Woman Who Walked Into Doors' are gritty slices of life which show a genuine sympathy and understanding of modern Irish life. Modern classics, every one of them. I was a bit surprised when I saw that he had written a children's book. Intrigued by the good reviews, I decided to risk buying it. I'm I glad I did. The story is just wonderful. It is clever, funny, ingenious, beautifully told, oh, and any other superlatives you like to add. (I particularly love the way that everything takes place within such a minuscule time span. Is Doyle rewriting the rules of children's 21st Century literature in the same way that Joyce did for the 20th Century novel? )

How a child would view this book, I don't know. Favourably, I would have thought. Doyle is irreverent enough to get them onto his side and funny enough to keep them there. There is so much in this book to admire. Buy it for a child, by all means; but read it first. You will enjoy.

A delightfully-rude and very funny children's book by Roddy Doyle, which answers the age-old question of how and why people step in dog poo on the sidewalk...The Gigglers are small, furry creatures with a chameleon-like ability to hide, whose mission in life is to give the Treatment to grown-ups who have been mean to children. Mr. Mack is a likeable biscuit-taster who's been set up for the Treatment by mistake (yes, he sent his sons to bed without supper, but immediately apologized) and the rest of the plot is a breakneck romp to see if anyone can prevent Mr. Mack from stepping in the largest pile of poo in the world...With asides and soliloquies and ridiculous chapter titles and droll illustrations...

I could imagine selecting this for a read-aloud storytime, and the kids all shrieking with laughter while their parents stood by, horrified that anyone would say "poo" out loud. It's that kind of book. Funny for grown-ups, too, with adult-level bad puns (Rover, the family canine, swears "to Dog" at one point, knows perfectly-well how to use the toilet and is of course embarrassed to have to poo outside, and uses the computer to e-mail his girlfriend in Galway) and an amusing glossary of Irish terms (biscuit=cookie, plaister=Band-Aid, etc.). Deliciously-ridiculous. Sure to be banned somewhere. Excuse me, but I've got to go find a kid to read this one to...

This is a book that reminds me of a joke,

"We don't get Channel 4 round our way, we get our misery direct."

Only our direct misery cannot have the wit and humour that this book has. Paula is full of strength, courage and wit in spite of everything. She is an every woman for the times that we live in. Charlo, although he could be any of a million men, is her downfall, her drug, and the man who drags her down and keeps her in her circle of despair. But like all drugs he is hard to give up, not until he dies, which comes in the first chapters so I'm not giving anything away there, is she free, but it's all too late. She is married to Charlo for nearly two decades; it is a time of alcohol, violence and crime. Despair seeps from ever page mixed up with nostalgia and thick black humour to ease the pain of the reader. The characters are so alive that this book hurts to read at times, Doyle's characterisations are near perfect.
Paula is a flawed character reflecting the life that she has led. Roddy Doyle makes it obvious from the start that there was never any escaping for Paula, from birth, from school, from adolescence she was always on the same path. You can leave the oppressive slum, but the oppressive, esteem robbing slum will never leave you. Paula is told what she is from birth and has no option but to believe it.
An excellently written book that pulls no punches and doesn't try to spare Paula her fate, but it's so sad that I prefer to pretend that it isn't happening, see, there's a lot of Paula in us all.

I read part of The Woman Who Walked Into Doors maybe 18 months ago in the New Yorker. At the time all I thought was "Yeehaa! A new Roddy Doyle!" It's safe to say that I would read his shopping list and probably be enthralled. I thought it was an enormously well-written book in that the writing and writer were indetectable and all there was was Paula and her story. It's heartbreaking to read about this bright happy girl who one day discovers that she's "thick" after being put in the dumb-kid class at school. And from then on her life, and those of her friends, schoolmates and sisters revolve around men. The way men treat them, the way they are either a "slut" or a "tight bitch". The way they only become someone or make a name for themselves in relation to men. The worst part though is how much she did love Charlo before he began to beat her. It would have been more bearable if she'd just married the first thick that knocked her up. But that this man that she loved, and that genuinely loved her would destroy her like that was horrible. This book really affected me. I felt almost as though I'd lived it through it all myself. Very moving, very sad.

The reflections of Paula Spencer, a thirty-nine year-old mother of four, a recent widow, a survivor of seventeen years of spousal abuse, a reluctant alcoholic, a cleaning woman, and a powerful representation of a wee bit of hope emerging from absolute hopelessness. Her husband, Charlo, has been recently killed by the police after murdering a woman in a botched bank robbery attempt. Much of the pain portrayed in Paula's reflections comes in a tidal wave response to Charlo's final brutal attack. The reader is lead down a painful personal tour of Paula's desperate life. In January, 1996 Doyle introduced this marvelous work with a brief short story in the New Yorker called "Ask Me, Ask Me, Ask Me." Those words are what Paula Spencer hopes every doctor, any nurse, a friend, or even a relative will ask when her feeble excuses like "fell down the stairs" or "walked into a door" become too common or just too unbelievable as her injuries become frequent and more severe. I believed the essay failed in representing a woman's literary voice by a male author: the sentence structure too long, the paragraphs too logical, the complete work too linear. Once I leaped into the book, I was overwhelmed by Doyle's brilliant new style. This is a vivid portrayal of abused woman, and never failing in a continuity of a feminine literary style. Unlike Sharon in The Snapper, Doyle represses his innate masculinity and explores with such precision and dedication the character of Paula. In my previous reading of Paddy Clarke, I raved about the characterization of the turmoil of a young Dublin boy, a character with whom Roddy Doyle could easily associate. Obviously, the far more advanced Paula Spencer is more of a stretch, and his accomplishment of this character is a landmark that will catapult Roddy Doyle into the echelon of Irish literary genius. So as all naysayers may comment on the continued commercial success of another new movie based on the third of his Barrytown trilogy (based on The Van, scheduled to be released late 1996) and who wish to associate him more along the lines of the godawful Michael Crichton or Scott Turrow, I'll mock and laugh at every one of them as Doyle slowly continues to win the respect and admiration of the public, his peers, literary critics, and every last bleeding Irish literary academic scholar.

I found this book to be a fun read. For anyone who knows about the good old days of music this book is a spectular find. It puts you right into Dublin, feeling the times and showing you the dedication to soul.

This book is home to the band of "The Commitments". With manager Jimmy, Outspan on guitar and others covering bass, drums, sax, trumpet and vocals they will give you a tase of the new Dublin soul.

The only fall back to this book is it happens to be a slow read. Some parts that should have been quick and to the point were very drown out. But, if you enjoy stories of music you'll enjoy this.

Roddy Doyle creates the "world's hardest working soul band" in Dublin with his masterpiece The Commitments. The stage is set as And And And is disbanded and Jimmy Rabbitte is brought on as the new manager of The Commitments. Because of Jimmy's immense knowledge of the entire music scene, the band places their trust in him to get them shows, or gigs as the lingo goes. The entire novel is spoken in Irish brogue and can be difficult to understand at first glance. As the novel picks up speed, and the band begins to actually become a band, the brogue seems to lift off the page to allow the reader to actually be present for the conversation. The entire novel places the reader as a spectator in the lives of a dawning soul group. One cannot help but be drawn into the conflicts between the possibility of being called "The Meatman" or "The Soul Surgeon," and how could an older man have a fling with the three back-up singers?

The whole novel is about the loyalty created through the common desire for soul. Soul governs the entire one hundred and sixty-five pages of The Commitments. The American influence of soul on seven Dubliners creates a desire to find out what soul truly is. Soul is sex. Soul is politics. Soul is the antithesis of jazz. The Commitments unleash every ounce of Dublin Soul to their awaiting public. With James Brown as the patriarch, The commitments campaign to give Dublin Soul to Dublin.

The Commitments is a hilarious novel full of almost real people. The only thing separating this book from a transcript of the real world is that all the characters are in Doyle's mind. This is perhaps on of the funniest novels I have ever read. It contained living, vibrant characters that display human qualities of hubris, jealousy, joy, shyness and eventually loss. You will laugh so hard you'll fall to your knees and almost kneecap yourself.

This book is superb as it will make you laugh for a very long time. Doyle follows the times of young Dubliner, Jimmy Rabbite, who aims to set up a soul group with the help of his two friends Outspan and Derek. To begin with, they are awful musicians apart from Deco, who can truly sing but has an awful personality.Togther they form a brilliant band and cover great soul classics and they even add the Dubliny bits here and there to them. Yet, the fame changes them all and is destructive. I really like this book, although it is a true comical novel there are moments which make you sad and laugh at the same time! It has to be said, Dole is a genius.

Roddy Doyle, whose novel, "The Commitments" was made into the famous hit movie in 1991, is one of those writers whose dialogue and observations put you in the protagonist's mind. In Paddy Clarke, that mind is one of a ten year old working class Irish boy. The winner of the Booker Prize, this little novel is sometimes wildly funny, poignant, and sometimes hard and frustrating at the same time. The author puts us into Paddy's head and we are given a better understanding of the thrill of the harmless pranks, the concern of the need to "fit in" with the bigger boys, the frustrations of trying to understand why your parents no longer get along, and the gradual awareness of both self and others. Many of the reviews of this book repeat the theme of a "childhood lived, not just recalled", and this is very accurate. This is not a book about an adult remembering the days, but an adult who has captured the voice of the child as he is experiencing his life every day. 

Roddy Doyle did a fantastic job on the not so easy task of getting inside a young boy's head in the novel Paddy Clarke HaHaHa. I really enjoyed this book because i was able to make strong connections between my childhood characteristics and Paddy's. It was very interesting to see Paddy's relationships with different people in his life and how he dealt with the hradships that were thrown at him. Paddy also evolved alot as a person throughout this book. He learned alot about himself through his relations with others and become a more conscious young man, a very old 10 yr old. Overall, Paddy Clarke was a very intriuging book, although it was solw in some parts. I do believe that in order to really enjoy this reading you must have a very imaginative and playfull mind.

Given how many people use a shrink to restore childhood memories, the success of this book remains astounding. It is utterly timeless in conveying all we went through at one level or another in those ancient days. Reading this book is an indication of why many of us have quashed those images - the cost of painful recall is often too great to bear. How much did Doyle pay in order to dredge it all up again and present these recollections for our delighted reading? Whether this account is autobiographical is of no matter - what Doyle expresses gives voice to many wishing to be heard. If some would only listen!

Those who discern little plot in this book should reflect on their own lives. Can you trace the steps leading to now from when you were 10 years old? It may seem easy now. Doyle superbly expresses the complexity of a boy's life. Elders view it with simple minds. Paddy must balance life with his family with that of his gang, his teachers, learning about himself against conflicting views of others. Kids don't have it as easy as we like to think. Parents devised the ignorant dictum that 'children should be seen but not heard' with the result that boys like Paddy expend immense amounts of energy forging an identity for themselves.

Reviewers here make much of the Irish city setting of this book. Bosh! Urban, rural, Eire, Canada, Germany - all could find in children's lives a compelling topic. The locale is meaningful in the expressions Doyle uses to impart his ideas. There's merit in contending that only an Irish writer could do this tale full justice. Doyle's tale is a cry from the heart, a characteristic many attribute to a Gaelic inheritance. No matter, Paddy's story is truly universal. Every parent should read it carefully. Every bookshelf should contain a copy.

Roddy Doyle's great new book, "A Star Called Henry," is a stirring rush of a story set at the beginning of the century as the Irish Republic Army is taking shape. The novel, the first in a trilogy planned by Doyle, takes narrator Henry Smart from an infant in his boozy mother's arms to a damaged 20-year-old with a long career as an IRA assassin. Henry's addled mom spends her time looking up the stars, which represent all the children she has lost. His father is a dim-witted bouncer at a Dublin brothel who threatens (and kills) people with his wooden leg. Henry takes to the streets, developing keen survival skills and contempt for the forces that keep he and his family down. He hooks up with men who hate the British. Henry, while a bitter youth, is apolitical and is just looking for adventure and sustenance. Henry also has an odd, Bonnie and Clyde-style romance with Miss O'Shea, an older woman as eager to battle the Brits as any man. Doyle mixes in real historical figures (his depiction of famed rebel Michael Collins is wonderfully entertaining) and events into Henry's adventurous life. But, this is no romanticized tale of Ireland's fight for liberation. The book is filled with flawed leaders, inducing violence and putting Ireland's innocent a risk in the name of profit, as well as freedom. Henry grows up fast and his narration comes at a breakneck pace. In the beginning, Henry is a folk hero. He makes it clear he is a great warrior and lover, and quite possibly a genius. By the end, he has realized the tragic cost of the cause for which he has committed murder - a cause that eventually turns on him.

Roddy Doyle's writing is engaging, effusive, enlightening, and a bunch of other E words - except English. The flavor and rhythm of Irish life is so vividly captured in all of his books that by the end, you're swearing by all the saints and Mary as you're on your way down the pub for a pint and chips.

A Star Called Henry is Doyle's best yet - a young man, coming to age during hardship (is there any other -ship in Ireland?) with a sickly brother to care for, ends up finding himself in the midst of The Troubles in early 20th Century Ireland. You admire his spirit and carefree nature, but you worry for him also: he throws himself into conflict after conflict with utter abandon beacuse he alternately doesn't care or wants to continue living very dearly.

While the quirky, photographic style of Doyle's Barrytown Trilogy (c'mon, you saw The Commitments) has given way to a darker style of narrative, Doyle treats his subjects - Henry, his mother, and the city of Dublin - with care, affection, and humor. An additional bonus is all the backstory about the formation of the IRA, Michael Collins, and the sewer system under Dublin.

While A Star Called Henry is based on historical fact, it's still a novel centered around a young man who is alternately Henry Smart or Henry Not-So-Smart - the setting is incredibly well-researched, and will only whet your appetite for more accurate detail - which can be extensively satisfied by the excellent bibliography in the back of the book.

Enjoy Henry Smart, fer chrissake, and look forward to the next one coming soon, ya eejit.

One of the great perils for successful authors must be that point when they decide to 'stretch' their creative wings. The horror writers pens an introspective character study (Stephen King - ROADWORK). The English satirist attempts an American crime novel (Martin Amis - NIGHT TRAIN). The crime novelist delves into science fiction (Walter Mosley - BLUE LIGHT). At times like this, the fan base holds its collective breath, hoping for the best, fearing the worst. After all, why mess with a good thing?

A STAR CALLED HENRY, thank God, is one of the good ones. Great ones actually.

Previously, Irish novelist Roddy Doyle has focused his talents on life in modern-day Ireland. His works have been small character studies, with simple plots that come alive through Doyle's ear for dialogue and eye for intriguing themes. PADDY CLARKE HA HA HA, while considered a departure from his BARRYTOWN TRILOGY novels of blue collar Irish, was nevertheless a similar sort of story. A very small, intimate view of remarkable characters.

But A STAR CALLED HENRY takes Doyle into the new realms of historical fiction. In a story that can only be described as 'epic', Doyle traces the formative years of Henry Smart, street urchin turned IRA assassin, living at the beginning of the 20th century, as Ireland began to revolt against its English rulers.

Henry's beginnings show that Doyle has not traded his gift of characterization for narrative sweep. Henry's starts his tale before he was conceived, as his well-meaning but young mother falls in love with Henry Senior, a one-legged bouncer and hitman. With terrific economy of style, Doyle manages to convey both the excitement and desperation of Henry's life. After his abandonment by his father (in a heart-wrenching scene of loneliness and betrayal), Henry takes to the streets. But lest the reader believe that Doyle will begin to cultivate Henry as a loveable pickpocket a la OLIVER TWIST, the subject matter ensures that Henry's path will be a dark one.

As the years pass, and Henry grows into quite the ladies man (at 14 years old, no less), he becomes embroiled in the quickening Irish rebellion. He becomes a hitman for the cause, and a student of famous IRA leaders, most notably Michael Collins. He also marries Miss O'Shea, his elementary school teacher (for about two days), and together they begin to rewrite Irish history.

As I said, Doyle has not lost his knack for characters. Henry is a true original, a vicious killer and confused young boy. His relationship with Miss O'Shea is touching, if slightly bizarre. His continued search for elements of his past through his book-reading Granny is a plot device of startling originality.

But Doyle also shows his new-found maturity as a writer in his mixture of fact and fiction. He expertly traces the IRA rebellion, from its admirable roots to its disheartening failures. It is not an exhaustive examination; Henry himself is not one of the top men. But enough information is given to enable the uninformed reader to understand the situation. Doyle might have been tempted to flood the reader with names, dates, and events, but he wisely avoids the trap of simply listing famous events and putting Henry in the middle of them. Every scene has a purpose. While the revolution may be the backdrop, it is first and foremost Henry's story.

Doyle has proclaimed that A STAR CALLED HENRY is only the first volume in a planned epic entitled THE LAST ROUNDUP. While I eagerly await the second volume, I am also cautiously afraid. A STAR CALLED HENRY might be best left as a stand-alone novel. Thinking of Larry McMurtry's LONESOME DOVE quartet (a terrific set, really, but arguably shouldn't have continued past STREETS OF LAREDO), I can only hope that Doyle keeps up the same level of quality. Henry Smart is too fine a character to appear in sub-par sequels.

The Van is one of those books disguised as fiction but is actually a potboiler. The characters are unimpressive and the plot is filled with one clichéd situation after another. The third person narrative is unsuccessful because it doesn't have enough emotional impact. The lack of quotation marks makes it a very frustrating read. The prose resembles a screenplay with pages of dialogues interspersed with descriptions. The Irish dialect is tough to understand. I did start to enjoy it during the last few pages, but it wasn't worth to reread the book again. If you're interested in Irish fiction, skip this and read Dubliners by James Joyce.

Funny is the only word which keeps appealing to me about this novel it is so, witty and of all the books i have ever read i find this one rather amusing i never thought it would happen with a book but the language and irish humor pop up time and time again to make for superbe reading

I had seen the screen versions of Roddy Doyle's, "The Commitments" and "The Snapper", prior to reading his written work. As I have now experienced his work in both mediums, its as funny on the page as it is on the screen. "The Van" is the last in this trilogy and it definitely focuses on the older of the generations. The movies actually enhanced the book as the actors were spectacular and the memories of their performances kept returning to mind.

The book is almost pure dialogue, and the humor will certainly leave you in pain. The issue of colorful language has been mentioned and while there is no denying its prevalence I don't believe there was any increase in this particular book. When his work is read every word is as clear as the reader's vocabulary, when on screen the accents often rendered dialogue difficult to decipher. The cadence of his writing is so well done, that even when spoken the humor works with a word or two missing, the structure implies the emotion.

Mr. Doyle also wrote, "The Woman Who Walked Into Doors", and this was the previous work of his that I had read. As a writer he has remarkable range as the previous work was dark and violent, and the humor too was black as pitch. It was not just sad it was unsettling. His ability to portray the Human Condition whether bleak or bright, or even with humor when it is all that keeps a character going, in simply brilliant.

If you have not read this man's work or seen the movies I would recommend both formats. His material is great regardless of the medium.

When I started reading the book, the beginning seemed a little boring to me and I asked myself if I would be able to finish the novel. But I kept reading and it got better with every page. If you have once involved yourself in the story, it is interesting to see how things will develop.
The book is about 20year old Sharon who is pregnant after she was raped by the father of one of her best friends. This sounds very serious but author Roddy Doyle manages to keep a certain humour in the novel. It isn't dark and sad. It is funny and interesting. The reader can follow the development of Sharon's pregnancy and the following changes. You can easily identify with her and her situation and that also makes the development so interesting. There are of course also serious moments when Sharon is afraid and doesn't know how to go on. But then there are also the funny moments for example when her father, who normally is a hard man, starts to read a book about pregnancies and is finally interested in this after having become a father six times.
The story is sometimes predictable but it also has it's surprising changes. The end appears a little abrupt. It ends at the point where Sharon finally has her baby and that leaves some open questions.
But all in all it was really worth reading it, because it is an interesting story and you also learn something about the lives of working class people in Dublin.

I recently read "The Snapper" as a part of the Barrytown trilogy, and found Doyle's prose as I always have -- fast paced and incredibly honest. For me, and Im sure other readers, its Doyle's honesty that evokes so much emotion and reflects the depth of the culture he writes about. I couldn't help but feel a part of the family as I witnessed the Rabbitte family's difficulty in accepting Sharon's pregnancy. Doyle's characters aren't shallow - they're so honest you wouldn't be surprised if they walked in your front door and asked you down to the local pub for a pint. If harsh language is a problem for you, perhaps you should stick with more sheltered literature that refuses to tell the truth about real life. Another success for Doyle.

Doyle is fabulous. Writes in dialect, though, so not for everyone. If you like Irish humor, get the Barrytown Trilogy instead (which includes The Commitments and The Van, in addition).