Rating: 
Summary: Magical realism meets Frank McCourt
Review: I have not read any of Roddy Doyle's other books, so I don't know if he always employs the technique of "magical realism" in his work; I just know I am not a fan of this particular style. The opening chapters of "A Star Called Henry" are much more engaging than what follows; as Henry grows up I found him a rather boring macho braggart. There are better fictional accounts of the Uprising of 1916 & as far as accounts of growing up poor in Ireland, well, "Angela's Ashes" is as good as writing can possibly get. All in all, if readers were not slavering for anything resembling a McCourt book, this novel would probably have sunk without a trace.
Rating: 
Summary: Annoying.
Review: After the clever, realistic dialogue of his previous novels I found his self centered character unrealistic and irritating.
Rating: 
Summary: Roddy's Finest Hour
Review: A Star Called Henry is probably far more accurate in its portrayal of Ireland in the last years of British rule than many would realise. The activities of the members of Michael Collins' "Squad" were much like those performed by Henry Smart, who was, in the novel, on the periphery of possibly the most effective counter-intellegence agency in the world. Roddy Doyle's excellent novel captures the period as well as anything I have hitherto read on the subject. He captures the feeling of Dubliners towards the Easter Rising, before and after the executions, and the attitude of those beyond the Pale (English-controlled region around Dublin, where the phrase comes from) to the "jackeens". Henry's delay in leaving Ireland was, I believe, not as surprising as some seem to think. Henry had great loyalty towards Michael Collins, similar to his feelings towards James Connolly, a debt of honour, if you will, that kept him from abandoning him while that was unresolved. After his betrayal and the death of Collins, he was free to leave the country. These attributes are visible in the character of Henry Smart, and are a major influence on his actions. His various loyalties are strong and are probably the driving force of his life.Before A Star Called Henry, I wasn't much a fan of Roddy Doyle the author, preferring the film versions of the Barrytown Trilogy, but I await with anticipation the remaining books in his latest Trilogy.
Rating:
Summary: A star called Henry
Review: Thank God! At last,a book about the 1916 Rising and the War of Independance that doesn't try to portray the Irish as brave, selfless heroes, and the British as cruel but cowardly oppressors.This book is a triumph, and Mr. Doyle certainly has a way with words when it comes to describing lustful sex scenes set in the basement of a besieged postoffice during a rebellion against an imperial government.A funny, insightful and utterly brilliant book!
Rating:
Summary: Doyle's A Star Called Henry is a compelling page-turner.
Review: This is the first Roddy Doyle novel that I have read, and I am hooked. Ultimately, this is not a "revisionist" novel about the leaders of the Easter Uprising and the struggle for Irish independence, or a conventional historical novel, as other readers have suggested. Rather, this is a very personal, and very compelling, story of one young man's early years, set against the backdrop of Irish history. But this is NOT history; it is Henry's story, as he sees it. In addition to creating a very likeable and sympathetic narrator, what Doyle has done here, quite skillfully, is to craft a novel that draws the reader into a reconsideration of the violence that has accompanied the Irish struggle, a very timely exercise given recent developments in the Irish peace process. In the course of the novel, Henry gradually learns that murder is murder, and that the ends do not justify the means. Quite literally, he discovers that his crimes served no greater purpose than did those of his father before him. But putting aside the deeper meanings and possible interpretations, Roddy Doyle has created a great read. I enjoyed the book tremendously, and would recommend it anyone, even readers with little background in Irish history.
Rating: 
Summary: Doyle's best to come?
Review: On this evidence Roddy Doyle has far more to give us than the bitter-sweet but largely comedic novels that we expected and found A STAR CALLED HENRY not to be. This is a gritty, semi- or pseudo-historical novel with all the hate and anger of his previous work but not so much the laughs. Still, if you're scared of something stronger you deserve not to enjoy this. Artful, sour, violent and highly readable: I'm certain we're going to be treated to an even greater ending when parts 2 and 3 of this work are written.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful in parts, but revisionism undercuts plot
Review: If you read this, you should then compare it to Ernie O'Malley's memoir of fighting in the Irish independence struggle, "On Another Man's Wound." It's one of Doyle's credited sources, and Henry Smart acts out some of that memoir's best moments. The urge to demystify the icons of 1916 has been a strong tendency in recent historical studies of this period, and one that many intellectuals and writers in Ireland have espoused--at least in part. Not that such a suspicious attitude towards hero-worship is not wise. It's just that, taken as an underlying motif in Henry Smart's growing-up, it weakens the novel's energy, and saps its cumulative narrative drive. Doyle describes many incidents vividly (as in Paddy Clarke) in specific scenes. He gets down the inner voice of Henry and renders it at times grippingly. Yet, as another reviewer here has noted, you wonder why, if he's so "smart," why he does not jump ship for America even before the British make him a wanted man. He spends the second half of the novel on the run, believing not in the cause but only in his cunning, yet he stays and endures not only the Rising, but the Tan War (and even the Civil War--disappointingly glossed over rapidly in the melodramatic final pages), when I could not understand why he remains so long in Ireland, since he has no loyalty to the ideals or the rhetoric or the future of the Irish nation anyway. I know in my mind why Doyle sets up a revisionist narrator, but as a reader seeking a compelling story, his Henry fails to prove to me his smarts. Maybe we are meant to regard Henry as an unreliable narrator, but we are not given any other p-o-v to adequately balance against Henry's worldly-wise slum-kid skepticism. The tale--like its hero-- runs out of steam long before it's over. Doyle gives us a young man who can figure out all of his opponent's gambits, but who does not believe enough in himself to win. While attention to this engrossing period is to be commended, and Doyle has read widely while researching the details of early 20c Ireland, his urge to cut down the big figures leaves us with little to care about. We become as fed up as Henry, and I wonder how the next two volumes will sustain him as he wanders through America. (Although I know I'll read vols. 2 &3 anyway!)
Rating:
Summary: Fairly good book
Review: I wish I could give it 3 and a half stars. the book was good, nothing great but pretty decient. It was a fairly easy read and had a decient story line, I do however think he should of did this story in one full novel, it seems to me that writers have sold out completly to commercialism and decide to make 3 books out of one, which ruins the artistic quality of the story... but over all it was a good read.
Rating:
Summary: Great story with a weak ending
Review: Doyle's one of my favorite writers, and this story could be classified as slightly above average. Many of the locales were detailed and descriptive to the point of easily recognizing for resident's and historical visitors to Emerald Isle. As Brad Pitt's character said to Harrison Ford's character at the end of the film, 'The Devil's Own,' not all stories have happy endings; a very Irish sentiment. This story doesn't have a happy ending and is obviously written with a future book in mind. The characters are very interesting but not likeable. The theme is very appealing; one can sense the situation and the flavor of the creation of the Republic of Ireland. But Henry's history and maturity is too much to accept for a 20 year man. An interesting read, and vaulable for giving life to the comtemporary history of Ireland. And Doyle' style is always worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: The cleverness of Doyle
Review: It is a stroke of brilliance for Doyle to employ the device ofde-mystifying the brave men and women who gave their lives, the legends of the Irish Rebellions, while conversely creating the myth of a Henry Smart. Doyle is like a jazz magician playing discordant notes as a device of forcing the listener to intently listen to the music. I was in Dublin in '96, fifty years after the rebellion, looking up my roots at the genealogical Office. While there, I took a walking tour given by a Trinity College Masters student. We visited many of the Easter Rebellion sites and the Kilmainham prison. Doyle's vivid descriptions took me back to Dublin, I was in the GPO, next to Henry as he shot at the windows across the street. When they brought Connolly near death out on a chair to be executed, I am at the wall of the jail as well. The San Francisco Chronicle Online Book Club chose Roddy Doyle's "A Star Called Henry" for it's (9/19 (Sun.) - 10/16 (Sat.)) selection. Please join us by chiming in our online bulletin board. We would love to hear any additional thoughts that you might have.
|
