Roddy doyle - yes or no??

Tilly55

Thinking about buying The Deportees by Roddy Doyle. If anybody has read it, let me know. Have only read the Snapper by him previously (like everyone in the country probably!)

Really need to read a light hearted book, just finished the Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck and it was heavy going - so something funny is needed now!

zenmonk

Heard Doyle reading an excerpt from this at a book reading recently I thought it was juvenile tbh.

ninaford

liked his old stuff but havent heard about this...possibly could be good but thats just going on what he has written in the past!

tHE vAGGABOND

Yes..

Read all his books, and like them all. His last couple are *totally* different from his barrytown stuff, but very good none the less [IMHO]

eljono

Tilly55 wrote: »

Thinking about buying The Deportees by Roddy Doyle. If anybody has read it, let me know. Have only read the Snapper by him previously (like everyone in the country probably!)

Really need to read a light hearted book, just finished the Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck and it was heavy going - so something funny is needed now!

I haven't read The Deportees but I have read Paddy Clarke, ha ha ha and I highly recommend it. Funny, moving and a good reminder of times past in Ireland.

Tchaikovsky

I may be completely wrong, but is 'The Deportees' just a collection of the stories he writes in the Metro, or one of those free newspapers?? Strangely enough I was flicking through that book when I was in a bookshop in Akureyri in northern Iceland :pac:

Blue-Eyed

Tilly55 wrote: »

(like everyone in the country probably!)

So not true! I've never heard of him! :eek:

-Blue- :cool:

girlbiker

Never heard of Roddy Doyle? Huh?
The Deportees is pretty good, he wrote the stories for a mag called Metro Eirrean which is a magazine for immigrants so all the stories all have that influence running through them, multicultural and what not. Its not amazing though, but good and light if thats what you want. Some of it is funny. Alot of it is very true to life.
The Van is pretty funny but if you want a deadly read get his novel A Star Called Henry about a little knack growing up in Dublin and eventually fighting in the 1916 rising...good stuff.

meldrew

Yes , If just for The Van a great read much better than The committments and The snapper

deadhead13

"Paddy Clarke HA HA HA" ,yes - "Oh, play that thing",no.

I was never a huge Roddy Doyle fan.

Read the Barrytown Trilogy, and found it enjoyable, but not something I'd go back to.

tHE vAGGABOND

"Oh, play that thing",no

Lies! Its a bit different, but its a great story..

Monkey61

I'd second "A star called Henry". It's great.

"The Woman who walked into doors" is my favourite though and it's sequel "Paula Spencer."

If you like Roddy Doyle, the Brendan O' Carroll trilogy starting with "The Mammy" is pretty great too.

r3nu4l

Monkey61 wrote: »

I'd second "A star called Henry". It's great.

"The Woman who walked into doors" is my favourite though and it's sequel "Paula Spencer."

If you like Roddy Doyle, the Brendan O' Carroll trilogy starting with "The Mammy" is pretty great too.

Loved the Barrytown Trilogy and A star called Henry (although the latter is far less humorous OP!)

Even if you can't stand Brendan O'Carroll, his trilogy starting with 'The Mammy' were actually very, very good! I'd wholeheartedly recommend them.

Now, if it's light-hearted Irish humour you are after then you could also read the Ross O'Carroll-Kelly books by Paul Howard, not everybody's cup of tea but I find them hilarious, especially the older ones.

Messy Missy

I really like Roddy Doyle because his writing allowed me get to know more in depth certain aspects of the Irish culture that I had not experienced until I moved to Dublin. I tend to re read his books from time to time.

silvine

I hate Brendan O'Carroll and all that Mammy ****e he does. Even if the book is good I'd find it hard to read after sitting through his televisied version of it.

The Snapper is an easy to read and funny Roddy Doyle book.

r3nu4l

silvine wrote: »

I hate Brendan O'Carroll and all that Mammy ****e he does. Even if the book is good I'd find it hard to read after sitting through his televisied version of it.

I know how you feel, thankfully I read the books before I saw any of that!

megadodge

I've read most of Doyle's books and there's a marked difference in the later stuff, but have to say I enjoyed them all.

However, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha and A Star Called Henry really stood out, although they're two completely different books, with Paddy probably not being to some people's taste.

zesman

I've read a few of Roddy Doyles novels and "A Star Called Henry" is his best. Stories in "The Deportees" were published in segments in The Metro newspaper thus the disjointed feeling of it. However the follow on from "The Commitments" is an excellent story.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

I've only read the Barrytown Trilogy and The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, really enjoyed them though. The Barrytown Trilogy is fookin hilarious, he's got a great ear for dialogue, the characters are all the sort of people we all know but don't seem hackneyed or lazy or clichéd and the plots kind of address fairly serious issues but not in a preachy or po-faced way. You'd giggle your way through The Snapper even though it's essentially a book about a pregnancy resulting from rape. I haven't read any of his more recent stuff but I definitely reccommend the early work.

Affable

The Van is awesome. His best IMO.

jobucks

haven't read the deportees yet, but its on my list. I agree with other posters on 'a star called Henry' 'the woman who walked into doors' and 'Paddy Clarke ha ha ha' all fine books. The Van is particularly brilliant, the beginning of that book captures the spirit of the Jackie Charlton times perfectly, the memories of the atmosphere in the country at that time come flooding back everytime I read it... class:)