Helpful Score: 2
Wonderful story of a 10 yr old working class boy in 1960s Dublin; hilarious,poignant, realistic. Roddy Doyle's always a good read, very evocative of place and time
Helpful Score: 1
very entertaining, but also heartbreaking
My daughter chose to read this for British Lit class. It is a Booker Prize winner. She enjoyed it very much, as she had no idea, before, how a ten-year old boy thought.
Excellent novel about a 10 year old boy growing up in the 1960's in Dublin, Ireland.
Before there was Frank McCourt there was Roddy Doyle. Roddy's work is some of the funniest you'll ever read.
I enjoyed this book and it was a pretty quick read. Interesting look into the life of a young irish boy.
Amazing book. I cried at the end and several times throughout. Not a book to miss!
Not a Novel
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An Irish kid at 10. He's a nasty piece of work, and we're supposed to be sad for him when his parents separate.
It's one vignette after another about childhood. It's not badly written, but it's not a novel.
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An Irish kid at 10. He's a nasty piece of work, and we're supposed to be sad for him when his parents separate.
It's one vignette after another about childhood. It's not badly written, but it's not a novel.
Engaging and somewhat difficult, on a viceral level, to read about the cruelties of childhood and poverty. Told in an authentic Irish voice.
I read this after reading "Tis", but I believe this one was written first. It's a similar type of writing to "Tis", but the child is a bit more innocent, and the family's not as desperate. It's interesting in that it puts you into the child's mind and way of thinking.
A look at the daily exploits and thoughts of a 10-year-old Irish boy. As the story progresses, readers become more and more aware of the anguish that Paddy Clarke is feeling as he becomes conscious of the impending breakup of his parents' marriage. They may find it disconcerting to see the pain he inflicts on others (preferably younger or weaker boys) for the sheer "fun" of it and the dangerous antics of Paddy and his friends. The novel is powerfully written and slowly draws readers into the protagonist's complex personality.
Roddy Doyle must have an incredible memory for all the details of our lives. This book is like traveling back in time to your childhood. Worth the read.
"This novel perfectly captures . . the potency, skewed perceptions, and just plain weirdness of being alive at the age of ten . . . Doyle has created a small, resonant masterpiece. Here, for once, in childhood and childhood's end, done heartbreakingly right." ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
"A beautifully written book; it may be one of the great modern Irish novels." _Carolyn See, THE WASHINGTON POST
"A beautifully written book; it may be one of the great modern Irish novels." _Carolyn See, THE WASHINGTON POST
Disjointed and meandering tale of an Irish boy in the mid-1960s.
Mostly he hangs out with his buddies, stealing things, setting fires, and tormenting his younger brother. There's a slow-developing subplot about the disintegration of his parents' marriage and his trying to cope with the event.
Booker prize winner, which should have warned me. I don't know their criteria, but am generally disappointed with their choices.
Mostly he hangs out with his buddies, stealing things, setting fires, and tormenting his younger brother. There's a slow-developing subplot about the disintegration of his parents' marriage and his trying to cope with the event.
Booker prize winner, which should have warned me. I don't know their criteria, but am generally disappointed with their choices.
I haven't read this book
