Customer Reviews

The Commitments

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

"The Commitments," by Roddy Doyle, is an entertaining and humorous work that portrays youth and its tenacious energy to survive and to become better and wiser. The characters in the novel are perfect examples of youth's foibles, victories, and persistence as they form a band, break up, and then try to start another one. The plot of a group of hotheaded Irish working class youth endeavoring to bring Soul into Dublin by forming a Soul band is fertile ground for Doyle to let his humor radiate. As the novel is mostly dialogue between the dozen or so characters, what they say and how they say it is the focal point of the humor in the novel. For example, when Jimmy, the manager of "The Commitments" goes off about how Soul is a "double-edged sword," sex being one edge and "REVOLUTION" the other, or when Joey the Lips (the saxophone player) shares that the biggest regret of his life was that he wasn't born "black," Doyle's humor is sharp, and even charming, despite the fact that the text is frequently laced with profanity and slang. In short, Doyle's development of the characters' personalities is what makes the novel come alive. For example, trying to imagine a group of Irish youth groove to Marvin Gaye and James Brown is quite amusing. Moreover, through the characters' dialogue, the reader participates in the band's rise and fall as they pioneer in bringing Soul into Ireland. The optimism and humor evident in the band's enterprise is the soul of the novel, and the band-members' youthful tenacity and hotheaded blunders add to the charisma in "The Commitments."

Roddy Doyle creates the "world's hardest working soul band" in Dublin with his masterpiece The Commitments. The stage is set as And And And is disbanded and Jimmy Rabbitte is brought on as the new manager of The Commitments. Because of Jimmy's immense knowledge of the entire music scene, the band places their trust in him to get them shows, or gigs as the lingo goes. The entire novel is spoken in Irish brogue and can be difficult to understand at first glance. As the novel picks up speed, and the band begins to actually become a band, the brogue seems to lift off the page to allow the reader to actually be present for the conversation. The entire novel places the reader as a spectator in the lives of a dawning soul group. One cannot help but be drawn into the conflicts between the possibility of being called "The Meatman" or "The Soul Surgeon," and how could an older man have a fling with the three back-up singers?

The whole novel is about the loyalty created through the common desire for soul. Soul governs the entire one hundred and sixty-five pages of The Commitments. The American influence of soul on seven Dubliners creates a desire to find out what soul truly is. Soul is sex. Soul is politics. Soul is the antithesis of jazz. The Commitments unleash every ounce of Dublin Soul to their awaiting public. With James Brown as the patriarch, The commitments campaign to give Dublin Soul to Dublin.

The Commitments is a hilarious novel full of almost real people. The only thing separating this book from a transcript of the real world is that all the characters are in Doyle's mind. This is perhaps on of the funniest novels I have ever read. It contained living, vibrant characters that display human qualities of hubris, jealousy, joy, shyness and eventually loss. You will laugh so hard you'll fall to your knees and almost kneecap yourself.

The Committments is a novel of dialogue--or, more accurately, dialect. It tells of the formation of Dublin Soul. Soul music in Ireland? Well, the theory is that the Irish are the "[outcasts]" of Europe, and the Dubliners are the "[outcasts]" of Ireland, and the North Siders are the...you get the point. Rescuing a couple of mates from the horrors of playing Depeche Mode, Jimmy Rabitte puts together The Committments by placing an ad in the paper reading: "Have you got Soul? If yes, the World's Hardest Working Band is looking for you."

Jimmy, the manager, has got a good head on his shoulders. He knows the music business (having eaten Melody Maker and NME for breakfast every day), so his question for potential band members is simple: What are your influences? He gets a drummer who idolizes Animal of the Muppets, a saxophonist who says Clarence Clemons and the guy from Madness, and trumpet player Joey "The Lips" Fagen, who proves to be the superglue for the group. Joey "The Lips" has played with everybody who was anybody, talks like a southern evangelicist, and, man, can he play that horn. And, because soul music is the music of "ridin'" (read: sex), Jimmy finds The Committmentettes, to provide the visual component as well as backup and lead on songs by the Motown girl groups. Add a piano player, change some lyrics to fit the politics of Ireland, and you have achieved Dublin Soul.

The Beatles were four poor sods from Liverpool, and they only managed to stay together for 9 years. How long are nine desperate for attention Dubliners going to stay together? Ah, there's the rub.

There is true humor in this book, humor that speaks to you if you ever played in a band or follow rock music. There's also enough situational humor to cross over for those who don't necessarily go for this type of book. And there's a moral/point/call-it-what-you-will, as well.

This book is superb as it will make you laugh for a very long time. Doyle follows the times of young Dubliner, Jimmy Rabbite, who aims to set up a soul group with the help of his two friends Outspan and Derek. To begin with, they are awful musicians apart from Deco, who can truly sing but has an awful personality.Togther they form a brilliant band and cover great soul classics and they even add the Dubliny bits here and there to them. Yet, the fame changes them all and is destructive. I really like this book, although it is a true comical novel there are moments which make you sad and laugh at the same time! It has to be said, Dole is a genius.

This was the first Roddy Doyle novel I ever read, and I think it's still my favorite. I go back and read it again every 2 or 3 months just to make sure it's still great. The book is virtually 100% dialogue; it only takes a few pages before the characters are talking amongst themselves in my head. I almost forget that the characters are so firmly placed in Dublin because they remind me so much of my own friends. There's pretty much a belly laugh on every page, but Doyle also peppers the text with transcultural issues such as the meaning of family, the struggle of the working class, and the simple joy of living. These themes are there for you to consider and examine if you want to, but Doyle doesn't lecture or force them upon the reader. The book works on so many levels that even if you're just in the mood for a quick chuckle, it's a highly recommended remedy.

Dublin soul music jumps right off the pages of this book. It's a light read - the literary equivalent of a feel-good movie - but a good one. And the good feeling will stay with you after you've put the book down.

The style is very direct, a lot of conversation, as Roddy Doyle chronicles the struggles of Jimmy Rabbitte as he tries to put a soul band together.

This book is enormous inspiration to me as a writer because of the way Roddy Doyle creates charactars through dialog and inner thought. After reading the book, as well as watching the movie, I get the feeling that I just spend a weekend around Dublin with Outspan, Jimmy, Deco and the rest of the "tossers." That's the strength of this book the feel of familiarity and the flow of the charactar development. Don't look for plot here, just feel how the book flows and notice how you become entranced with the charactars.

So bad, had to read it for FILM class, the book is full of 'he said' 'she said' all in the worst possible cockney accent, so you have to kind of figure out what they are saying, which is a waste of time. The story is just boring. It's like wow you made a crappy soul group? You are a bunch of soulless gingers, how is that even possible.

One of my favorites, a charming, wistful story about a group of rowdy working class Dublin youths who decide to form a band. Jimmy Rabbit, the manager, assembles a motley crew who claim as their mission to bring soul music to Dublin. As Jimmy says (at least in the film) The Irish are the blacks of Europe and Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland.

The novel (and film) tell the story of the Commitments' improbable rise to popularity and a kind of local stardom under the tutelage of Joey "The Lips" Fagan, who claims to have played his trumpet with the greats of soul in the US.

We follow the Commitments as they blunder along, beginning with their first gig at a church social, until they achieve polish and popularity playing in Dublin clubs. As the band gets better, tensions among the members escalate, and the group falls apart just as success seems imminent. It is a bittersweet story about human failings, about how our dreams are quenched by our inability to cooperate. The sheer exuberance and high spirits of the Commitments are captivating, and the book and film are both memorable.

This is the original Roddy Doyle novel from which came the 1991 classic film, The Commitments. It's a classic, humorous drama-interlaced story about the formation, rise and fall of a fictional soul band from northside Dublin.

The story illustrates how two young men aspiring to respectively play guitar and bass are encouraged by their friend-turned-manager to figure out how to play what he calls Dublin Soul. The manager places an ad in the local paper and starts recruiting members both seasoned and still learning, young and - in the case of trumpet player and spiritual guide Joey the Lips Fagen- old. The Commitments gain an immediate following from the moment they start gigging, but they're bogged down by the antics of singer Declan "Deco" Coffe and Joey's "interactions with the female singers. These particulars contribute, along with other matters, to the groups sudden and unexpected demise.

Anybody who has both read this book and viewed the film (I actually watched the film dozens of times and purchased the book only recently) will be quick to pick up both the subtle differences between book & film and the immediate ones. For instance, the pivotal end scene when the Commitments disband is amid a mistake made by Joey The Lips Fagen over the supposed arrival of R&B sensation Wilson Pickett during a gig. In the original story, the group simply breaks up. Also, according to the book, four characters reconvene after the original group folds with talk of incorporating four others at a later time. In the film, all the members go their separate ways, except for the two original members, Derek Scully (bass) and Outspan Foster (guitar), who continue to perform together.

When first I read the story, it grabbed me so immediately that I stayed up into the night reading. Even though, Mr Doyle didn't use common quotation symbols to indicate characters' lines, it was still quite an immediate read. (I suppose, that's got partly to do with already knowing the essentials of the story.)