Rating: 
Summary: Irish Literature, Yes Literature
Review: I read this in a college level course and loved every minute of it. Great detail, Doyle does an incredible job at emphasizing the blight and urgency of Smarts's life. The part of the book that has stayed with me is the childhood of Smart. A great way to spend 2 days of nonstop reading, you can literally not put it down.
Rating: 
Summary: The ugly face of Republicanism
Review: This is a really good work of fiction. Just don't expect one of Doyle's gently humorous looks at the lives of working-class Irish people, like his Barrytown trilogy.This novel deals with the eventful first twenty years of the life of Henry Smart, the son of Henry Smart Senior. Senior is a whorehouse bouncer in early 1900's Dublin, and becomes a part-time murderer for the mysterious Alfie Gandon, whom he never meets. He eventually abandons his family, and their slide into desperate poverty and the decline of his wife is described in haunting detail. Henry Junior leaves home to fend for himself, assisted by his little brother Victor, who dies from consumption. Henry Junior then becomes involved with the Republican Movement, not because he is a staunch Republican, but because he is hoping for a better, more socially just, Ireland. He becomes a crack Republican assassin in an increasingly dirty war, and eventually realises that he is serving a new, shadowy elite, one of whom is the same Alfie Gandon his father used to serve. In the process Doyle makes a number of telling points about "liberation" movements, points not only applicable to the Irish experience. Three of the most important are:
1. Such movements are often mythologised/idealized, with the myth serving to hide skeletons in the cupboard.
2. The leaders of a liberation movement easily form a new elite, intent on amassing wealth and not serving the common people.
3. The footsoldiers in a liberation struggle are dispensable, and often do not gain from the struggle.
But this is not a pedantic novel, and can be read for enjoyment as well. I would rate it as one of Doyle's best two novels to date, on a par with the excellent "The Woman Who Walked Into Doors". My only gripe with the novel is that Henry is just too perfect a specimen of manhood given that he grows up on the streets of Dublin. A street kid of 14 who stands 6 feet tall and possesses enormous strength? Only possible in fiction.
Rating:
Summary: So Far So Good!
Review: I'm only on page 10 and I can already tell I am going to just LOVE this book for the creative was it's being told. There is feeling so far in almost every sentence. From page one: "There were others, and early others sent to Limbo; they came and went before they could be named. God took them all. He needed them all up there to light the night. He left her plenty, though. The ugly ones, the noisy ones, the ones He didn't want- the ones that would never stay fed."
Rating:
Summary: Passionate Revolution
Review: "Brawling and lyrical...In everychapter Doyle mixes high, historical romance with low, earthy humor...Doyle vividly portrays the wild passions of an Irish Everyman...[and] the birth of the modern Irish nation." This review from Time magazine sums up what an incredible book this is.
It will keep you at the edge of your seat. Keeping you interested, and the amazingly describes in such fine detail. The war comes alive in your mind while you read, and Henry Smart shows how hard it is to be key role in the revolution which brought Ireland to wear it is today.
...Henry is the type of guy your mother warns you about, he is the stunning, witty, handsome boy next door, that all the girls are in love with, the motorcylce rebel outside your school, he speaks of his passion for sex, adventure, intimacy, women and killing.
If you love ecstacy, excitement, adventure, and intimacy in you books you will love :A Star Called Henry".
Rating:
Summary: Life In The Stars * *
Review: "Doyle vividly portrays the wild passions of an Irish everyman, and the birth of the modern Irish nation"- Time Magazine. "A Star Called Henry" captures the essence of Ireland as stated by Time Magazine. Although Henry Smart's character never existed the book really portrayed a hauntingly realistic and clever vision of an Irishman in the midst of revolution. The book had me enthralled and deeply passionate about the cause and the people up until the very end.
"'Do you love Ireland lads?' They got no answer. We didn't understand the question. Ireland was something in songs that drunken old men wept about as they held on to the railings at three in the morning and we homed in to rob them; that was all. I loved Victor and my memories. That was all i knew of love" Henry is a character that you will never forget, and the book brought Ireland to life.
Rating:
Summary: Five Stars for Henry
Review: War. War in Ireland was a predominant point in this book, which was intertwined with other story line. The Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle took place during the time of Ireland's "troubles". This book is about a boy named Henry Smart from the time of his birth until he was 20 years old. This book is a wonderful book that has everything that an entertaining and hooking book should have including romance, war and violence, family values, and the plot is very realistic and is very detailed and articulately spoken. I would definitely recommend A Star Called Henry to anyone who's learning about Ireland's history. At the moment I am studying the history of Ireland in my Humanities core class during my winter tri-mester in 8th grade. This story helped me understand why the Irish Catholics were so angered and how almost every person was willing to give up their lives at the snap of their fingers for their independence. Their living conditions were worst than the worst that you could most likely think of. Henry explains when his brother dies," His cough had been different. Just a cough. It was what you did when you breathed Dublin air. When you slept on the ground. When you didn't have shoes. You coughed when you ate bad food or none. When you'd never worn a coat. When everyone else around you coughed. When you'd no mother to fix you and no father to run for the doctor. And no doctor who'd come, anyway. The city killed victor." These people had nothing to give up, and they fought so easily because there was nothing to lose anyway. This book really depicts the harshness of life in Dublin at the time. This book was very well written. It was descriptive, articulate, and although it was very harsh and violent it was very easy to understand from any point of view. This book is worth the time it takes to read it, I'd give it five stars out of five. This book would be good for people from the age of 13 to adult.
Rating:
Summary: My Mother looked up at the stars
Review: Love...war...family. This book is a combination of three threads intertwined to make a beautiful cloth of Henry's life and each thread represents a part of his life. His family he left behind that he is trying to rediscover. His life in the war agaist Britan for independance. Love, his love for Missis O'Shea amd trying to find her.
"Astonishing"-The New York Times Book Review. I completly agree because it is written with a view of the mind and body of Henry Smart rather than just being a action book. He is described in the most detail I've seen from head to toe. It also describes a multitude of other types of people in the Irish revolution. I give this book 5 stars because it over adequatly sketches a life of a revolutionary and his war.
Rating:
Summary: "She held me but she looked up at her twinkling boy."
Review: The following is an evaluation of "A Star Called Henry". I am in eighth grade... and in our lit. class we read "A Star Called Henry". I found this book entertaining as well as educational. It was the first book that I have read for school that I have enjoyed so much that I didn't want to stop reading. "A Star Called Henry" helped me understand the situation in Ireland at the time. Reading this book made me actually feel like I was there, living in famine and sleeping on the street.
However, I would not recomend this book to someone who would be offended by sex and violence. It would make a great movie because Holywood wouldn't have to add anything to make it sell.
In conclusion, I would reccomend this book to anyone over 13 years of age.
Rating:
Summary: Smacks you in the face
Review: I loved the way that Mr. Doyle built this novel, and all of its twists and turns. Henry is such a wonderful character. At every turn I was rooting for Henry to find his way. It was masterful. I was very reluctant at first to read this book. I was thinking it was another hard luck Irish story, but it turned out to be much more. Well with the read.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: An incredible story of life in Ireland... one person and his struggles throught life, love, war, sickness, and independence.
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