Roddy Doyle
The books I have read written by Roddy Doyle are The Barrytown Trilogy (The Committments, The Snapper, The Van – all of which are movies, too), Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha (won the Booker Prize) and A Star Called Henry. Some people might find the language used in his books offensive, but I find him to be an excellent author.
During a recent vacation I took A Star Called Henry with me and while at times I found Henry to be a bit arrogant, I was so sad when the book ended. I wanted to hear more about Henry’s life. To placate my sadness I ventured into a very small bookstore in Ithaca NY to see if they had any of his books that I hadn’t read, and to my incredible delight I found that Roddy Doyle had written a sequel about Henry called Oh, Play That Thing, which I am in the middle of reading right now.
What I loved about A Star Called Henry is learning so much about the Easter Rising in Ireland. I had just seen the movie The Wind That Shakes the Barley which covered similar material and philosophical issues — not just the facts about the Easter Rising but the moral struggles, corruption and differing opinions (and horrible results thereof) within the group of people who are trying to bring Ireland back to its people. No matter how justified one feels they are in a revolution, you can’t fully trust your cohorts.
To read an interview with Roddy Doyle at the Powell’s web site (my favorite bookstore in the world), click here, a lot of which covers A Star Called Henry.
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