A Star Called Henry
Roddy Doyle
Henry is a street urchin born in Dublin. His father is a bouncer in a
brothel. This book is the story of Henry into the 20s. A fairly
convincing story most of the time. Roddy Doyle's best book.
Gill thought the poverty in this book was almost a parody, almost
unbelievable. Sean thought the poverty was real but the love element was not so believable.
The central character is remarkably likeable in spite of
the crimes he carries out. This book has a larger range than Roddy
Doyle's previous books.
Sean 21/1/01
Set in Dublin in the early 20th Century, Gill found this tremendously heavy going and couldn't decide if the book was supposed to be funny - the descriptions of the poverty of the time and place seemed to be parody.
Gill 25/2/01
Andrew echoed Gill's comments on this book and also found it quite a difficult read. The book is a first person account of someone involved in the early days of the Irish uprising in 1916 and Andrew referred to history textbooks to see if the actual events that the author used to carry the narrative were being accurately reported. He couldn't see the main character (Henry) as either likeable or a noble freedom fighter, he just followed in his father's footsteps as a murderer, extortionist and general rogue, using the fight for independence as a cover for his nefarious activities.
Andrew 25/2/01
By the same author
The frames have gone all funny - click to make it good.