Amazon.co.uk Review
The habit of murder becomes a hard one to break; the hero of Roddy Doyle's novel of the Irish War of Independence, like his father before him, kills to order and kills in cold blood. Where his father was simply the one-legged bouncer at a brothel, whose employers used him for any killing that needs to be done, Henry has motives. Growing up on the street, taught his letters by James Connolly, he believes in not just Irish freedom, but workers' revolution. He learns the hard way that his pious middle-class masters do not have this in mind.
A Star Called Henry--passionate, angry, darkly and wildly comic--has something in it to offend everybody. His stirring, deeply anti-romantic, account of the siege of the Dublin Post Office during the Easter Rising is remarkable, but hardly less so is his account of life on the Dublin docks, or Henry's treks around the countryside as one of Michael Collins' hard men, teaching guerrilla warfare to dairy farmers and clerks. The love affair between Henry and his equally blood-thirsty teacher and wife Miss O'Shea is sweet and touching. The first volume of a trilogy, this is a radical departure for Doyle, and a stunning success. --Roz Kaveney, Amazon.co.uk
Review
"A Best Book of '99" --"The Globe and Mail
"Marvellous...bloody brilliant." -- "The Toronto Star
"A startling achievement...a book where war can rage and love can burrow under the skin--. A fragment of a forgotten folk song and a worm's eye view of Irish history.... A grand thing of beauty." -- "The Globe and Mail
"History evoked on an intimate and yet earth-shaking scale, with a huge dash of the blarney, some mythical embellishments and a driving narrative that never falters." -- "Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A triumph of craft and intelligence and toughness of mind." -- "Hamilton Spectator
"A masterpiece." -- "The Irish Times
"Doyle has [written an] Irish epic, and he wields the style like a sword, with the power and grace of a master." -- "The Village Voice
"Maybe the Great American Novel remains to be written, but on the evidence of its first installment, this is the epic Irish one, created at a high pitch of eloquence." -- "Publishers Weekly
"Astonishing.... Narrated with a splendor, wit, and excitement that lift Doyle's writing to a new level." -- "The New York Times Book Review
"Marvellous...bloody brilliant." -- "The Toronto Star
"A startling achievement...a book where war can rage and love can burrow under the skin--. A fragment of a forgotten folk song and a worm's eye view of Irish history.... A grand thing of beauty." -- "The Globe and Mail
"History evoked on an intimate and yet earth-shaking scale, with a huge dash of the blarney, some mythical embellishments and a driving narrative that never falters." -- "Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A triumph of craft and intelligence and toughness of mind." -- "Hamilton Spectator
"A masterpiece." -- "The Irish Times
"Doyle has [written an] Irish epic, and he wields the style like a sword, with the power and grace of a master." -- "The Village Voice
"Maybe the Great American Novel remains to be written, but on the evidence of its first installment, this is the epic Irish one, created at a high pitch of eloquence." -- "Publishers Weekly
"Astonishing.... Narrated with a splendor, wit, and excitement that lift Doyle's writing to a new level." -- "The New York Times Book Review
