ALL-OVER-IRELAND
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Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958 and saw his first novel, "The Commitments", published in 1987. It was later adapted for the big screen, a version that saw Star Trek's Colm Meaney and a very young Andrea Corr among the cast. "The Snapper" was firs published in 1990 and is the second book in his "Barrytown Trilogy".
Where "The Commitments" followed Jimmy Rabbite's attempts to bring soul "back" to Dublin, he takes a back seat in "The Snapper". (He now hopes to be a famous DJ, rather than a manager or a drummer - an ambition that quickly earns him the nickname "Larry Gogan". You'll probably need to have spent little time in Ireland to catch that one... ). Instead, the starring roles go to his sister, Sharon, and his father, Jimmy Senior. The book opens with Sharon in a horrible situation : twenty years old, still living at home and three months pregnant, she's breaking the 'bad' news to her parents. She's decided not to name the father - though, there's plenty of speculation, suggestion and rumour over the following six months. Some of it is embarrassingly close to the mark, and causes her no end of trouble. While Sharon's pregnancy obviously isn't easy for her, it also puts Jimmy Snr through the mill - shock, concern, embarrassment and anger. He even, briefly, casts himself as her champion in defending her honour.
A very enjoyable and easily book - it's also a good deal better than "The Commitments". While the language is (authentically) 'colourful', it's generally a good-natured book and there's plenty of humour. (However, some of the humour may be lost if you're not familiar with the Irish dialect). Well worth reading.
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Laugh out loud funny at times
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I am slowly progressing through his work. The one he won a prize for (Paddy Clark Ha Ha) is not the best one in my estimation. The Commitments is his best known, after the succes of the movie. Apparently this one was a movie as well. The book is good. No, correct myself. Very good. Went through it in two days, it was difficult to put down. For non-native speakers the Irish dialect that pops up occasionally can be hard, but in all it is a very easy book to get into. You can just imagine this whole family the book is about. To me father and daughter resemble the ones in the BBC-series the Royle family, one of the best comedies on TV nowadays. The story is fairly easy. Daughter gets pregnant, in catholic Dublin not the best option for an easy life, especially as nobody knows the father and she's not prepared to tell. The lives of the whole family get influenced by it, if they want it or not. But in the end, they're still a family.
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Hillarious!
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Roddy Doyle's humour is razor sharp - I found myself laughing at every page! Not only is this book a comic masterpeice it is also a moving portrayal of working-class, family life in a run-down part of Dublin. The well-meaning father, the stressed-out wife and the demanding kids orbit around the world of the heroine, Sharon Rabbitt and her 'out-of-wedlock' pregnancy.
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Real characters
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I really love the way Roddy Doyle ,in this book, describes the thougtts and the feelings of every character.They are so well described that you have the impresssion that you are reading a story about a person that you know very well.This is the explication of their real being.
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Extremely Funny and Hard To Put Down!
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Laughed till I nearly cried whilst reading this, a side of pregnancy I have never thought of before. This book has been passed around a circle of friends and is the kind of book you want to read all over again in case you missed something the first time around!
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