Roddy Doyle - Overrated?

lee_baby_simms

i told a cross channel friend of mine recently regarding Roddy Doyles comments about joyce and i think his words were along the lines of well, "we cant all write about battered nappies".


The comic legend pictured, apparently said doyles comments were "Regrettable".





The last and first doyler book i read was paddy clarke. Dont know much bout him to be honest.

anyone out there a big fan or foe?

(Sorry, just had to include that picture.)

SCULLY

I read the barrytown trilogy - which is good- and a star called henry , which I thought was muck!!

Chinafoot

i am a fan of doyle and also of joyce.
i wouldnt regard doyle as over-rated but tbh i do think there is too much emphasis on the work of joyce. you mention the topic of irish literature and most people automatically say james joyce. i agree with doyle in that there are other and sometimes better writers out there.
but at the end of the day its a case of personal choice as both writers are obviously very different.

byte

Originally posted by SCULLY
I read the barrytown trilogy - which is good- and a star called henry , which I thought was muck!!

I've read A Star Called Henry too, the only Doyle book I've read. Probably a bad start! I may give other Doyle books a go soon.

RicardoSmith

I thought A Star Called Henry was ok. Average even. But why do you think it was muck?

Draupnir

I quite liked A Star Called Henry and Im looking forward to the second part. The Barrytown Trilogy is magnificently written and is a must read in my opinion.

Havent read his others as yet. Have seen the play of "The Woman who Walked into Doors". Very good I thought.

SCULLY

It's a while since I read A star called henry but i found it to be very dark, dismal, and lacking any sort of hope for the characters. Didn't find it entertaining (though the chapter around the gpo was ok). All in all very dissapointing (though perhaps muck was too strong!!)

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by SCULLY
It's a while since I read A star called henry but i found it to be very dark, dismal, and lacking any sort of hope for the characters. Didn't find it entertaining (though the chapter around the gpo was ok). All in all very dissapointing (though perhaps muck was too strong!!)

Not trying to be smart, but do you generally only like books with happy endings?

butterfly

doyle wouldn't.. grab you straight away.. but on the other hand once you get into his stuff a lot of it's not bad. and he's accessable.. he gets loads of people who wouldn't otherwise be reading to do so, y'know, and that's always good.

can't say the same for joyce *ahem*

SCULLY

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
Not trying to be smart, but do you generally only like books with happy endings?

No - not at all .
What I said was that it was dark, dismal, and lacking any sort of hope for the characters. One of my all-time favourite books is A Tale of Two Cities where the main character gets killed - not a very happy ending (for him) but had a sense of hope and redemption.

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by SCULLY
No - not at all .
What I said was that it was dark, dismal, and lacking any sort of hope for the characters. One of my all-time favourite books is A Tale of Two Cities where the main character gets killed - not a very happy ending (for him) but had a sense of hope and redemption.

Is a a sense of hope and redemption essential? I don't think you can dismiss a book because it doesn't give you an easy out from the story.

OfflerCrocGod

Joyce is crap. Anyone who disagrees is wrong.

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by OfflerCrocGod
Joyce is crap. Anyone who disagrees is wrong.

What is the point of posting that.

OfflerCrocGod

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
What is the point of posting that.

Just stating a fact.

pork99

Originally posted by OfflerCrocGod
Just stating a fact.

No an opinion.

One you are perfectly entitled to hold even though it's wrong

SCULLY

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
Is a a sense of hope and redemption essential? I don't think you can dismiss a book because it doesn't give you an easy out from the story.

No - hope and redemption are not essential.

I didn't like the book and not because it lacked an 'easy out from the story'.

At the end of the story I couldn't have cared less whether the main character lived, died, was reunited with his family etc, which , after a couple of hundred pages of reading , is , imho, a big flaw in this type a book.

You can dismiss a book if you didn't enjoy it and give your reasons why (like I did, as opposed to a 'Joyce is crap. Anyone who disagrees is wrong.' type of statement.)!
I'm not saying that you shouldn't read this, but that I thought it was poor.

RicardoSmith

Personally I think saying something is muck or crap is equally pointless in a thread where obviously the objective is to discuss something, not just post sound bytes.

But Scully you've now shone some light on why you didn't like it. Which is fair enuff.

SCULLY

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
Personally I think saying something is muck or crap is equally pointless in a thread where obviously the objective is to dicuss something, not just post sound bytes.

Fair enough - point taken!!

MrNuked

I read all his books.
A Star Called Henry was my favourite.
Was surprised that others disliked it.
I don't think he is overrated.

Envy

I've only read The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, and I thought it was pretty good.

I've never read Joyce (hey, I'm only eighteen!), but I laughed at Doyle's comments. It's great to see people take the comments so seriously.

Just like when Kavanagh went to that Yeats symposium in Chicago and denounced Yeats, causing uproar. Same deal.

Hilarious all the same.

sweet-sue

I really like the Roddy Doyle books. One of the few books that made me laugh out loud on a crowded bus was The Van. He and Joyce are totally different but both give true accounts of real life in Ireland. Endlessly entertaining!