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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's Déjà Vu All Over Again.,
By
This review is from: The Deportees: and Other Stories (Hardcover)
These short stories were written for publication in a relatively new Dublin paper that is aimed at a non-traditional readership - those persons who have recently emigrated from Africa and other non-Irish cultures. The eight stories involve interaction between the traditional Irish and recent arrivals to the Emerald Isle. The stories are presented in the dialogue form, liberally sprinkled with the profanity that Doyle does so well.
Most of the stories are interesting. The dialogue moves you quickly through the book. You meet unusual characters: the Polish nanny who frightens her young charges with horror stories, and the young man who developed a test to measure Irishness - the average Irishman scores 57%. But one must wonder about the wisdom of publishing a collection of short stories, all of which have the same limited scope. Moreover, some of the stories are knock-offs of tales that we all know. The first story, "Guess Who's Coming for the Dinner?" is almost identical to the old Sidney Poitier movie "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" The title story, "The Deportees," is a rework of Doyle's very successful movie, "The Commitments" - this time with people of color. It's déjà vu, all over again.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"There are no good or bad people,only interesting or dull." Wilde,
By
This review is from: The Deportees: and Other Stories (Hardcover)
The thing I like about Roddy Doyle's books is that they are all so different fron one another. The first one I read was "A Star Called Henry" and since then I have read all his others,and look for each new one he writes.
As with many writers,a reader will like some better than others. I am not a big reader of short stories ,because they usually leave me wanting more. This is the case of each of the 8 stories in this collection. It seems that just as the story gets interesting;it ends. Otherwise,as one can expect from Doyle ;the writing and writing style always engrosses one,and once again we get the same in this collection. The copy I have is the hard cover edition with the picture of the members of the new band "The Deportees". I am really impressed with this and I have commented in other reviews that I thought it would be a great addition to many books if pictures of the characters involved in the story could be included in the book or on the cover.This idea is even workable in the case of fictional characters as has so aptly been done in this case. It was great as we were introduced to each band member,to turn to the cover and find them there. The big question remains;did Doyle describe the characters to "fit " the photos or did they find people to "fit" Doyle's characters,or were they all real?? Anyway;congratulations !! Ich am of Irlonde Ant of the holy lande Of Irlonde. Gode sire,pray ich the, For of saynte charite, Come ant dance wyth me In Irlonde. "Ich Am of Irlonde" [14th century]
4.0 out of 5 stars
Short stories from Roddy Doyle,
This review is from: The Deportees: and Other Stories (Hardcover)
It amazed me after reading this how different Irish humor is from American humor. Doyle is a native of Ireland and his humor reflects it. Wanting to take a break from classic literature, I found this book and decided to give it a try.
I really enjoyed his wide variety of characters. They ranged from older men trying to come of age and accept the changes being made in Ireland, to a little boy who is teased on his first day of class. I learned a great deal more than I had ever thought I would about Irish "culture" through this book. Doyle painted a picture that was easy for me to relate to. I liked that he is very descriptive in describing the emotions of the Dad in the first story that met Ben for the first time. Or the poor boy who got arrested to try to prove the steretyping in Ireland; and who can forget the man whose job was to come up with a formal way to measure how "Irish" one is. The only way to make this book of short stories more entertaining would be if I could grasp Irish humor. I'm sure some of the things that I read and thought nothing of them were things that other people who know this humor would be in stiches over. Overall, Doyle is a great writer and created a book that was fun and easy to read and I would love to recommend this book.
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