- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Minerva; New edition edition (7 Sep 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099282755
- ISBN-13: 978-0099282754
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11.2 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,809,031 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
A Star Called Henry
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Product Description
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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
"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 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is a breathtaking and ambitious departure for Roddy Doyle - it is an account of Ireland at the time of republican revolution, told through the eyes of one of Dublin's teeming citizens, who rises - literally - from the gutter, to become one of Michael Collins boys - a cop-killer for the IRA.
Not only an account of the birth of the Irish Republic, it is the tale of a one legged whorehouse doorkeeper, and childhood and life of his son, Henry Smart, who finds employment with the IRA not because of burning political ideals but as a means of survival and possible fame.
The sheer depth of the descriptive narrative is impressive. Like Graham Swift's Waterland, it serves as a historical document as well as a work of fiction - this reader came away from the novel entertained and educated, and from a British point of view, shocked at the subjugation of Empire.
Tragically comic, Doyle exhibits much of the pithy, down to earth, humour of human tragedy that served him so well in his earlier work. It would have been easy to write a biased account of the embattled Irish fighting a united war against the evil English - but Doyle concentrates on the experiences of Henry, who finds that all sides have the capacity for double-crossing and murder.
A Star Called Henry marks the maturity of Roddy Doyles' writing, and will doubtless be classed as one of the great works of Irish literature.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Dealing with poverty, violence and a period of dark history I could not have imagine that I would enjoy this book as much as I did. Henry Smart is a violent man who bears no evil intent, just a need for survival and purpose.
Passages in which he talks of his mother, brother and father are warm and affectionate despite the sadness of circumstances and show the book at it's best. The passage in which Henry talks about his mother's name is nothing short of wonderful.
If you're looking for light entertainment read something else. If you're looking for literature and a book which presents you with a perspective you had never considered, read this.
Passages in which he talks of his mother, brother and father are warm and affectionate despite the sadness of circumstances and show the book at it's best. The passage in which Henry talks about his mother's name is nothing short of wonderful.
If you're looking for light entertainment read something else. If you're looking for literature and a book which presents you with a perspective you had never considered, read this.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is very different from the others, and absolutely brilliant. Doyle abandoned an excellent established, very successful, style and format to create a work that stands as a pinnacle of international literary achievement. Read "The Van" or "The Commitments" and you are in a world of poingant everyday comedy. Read "A Star Called Henry" and you so slip so deep into history that it comes as a shock to put the book down and return to the 21st century. What passion! What pathos! Don't miss this one. Read it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Cordite and Rosaries
I enjoyed this once I got over my apprehension that it would glorify murder, maiming, and the IRA. In fact if anything the opposite is true. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Four Violets
An enthralling read
A blend of fact and fiction, a novel yet an education, full of both humour and personal tragedy. This was the first novel I had read which was set against the backdrop of the... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Avid reader
roddy doyle fan
i love this guys writings, and this doesnt book change anything. I am looking for parts 2 and 3 in the set
Published 8 months ago by Mrs. I. Commins
A star of a book
this is one of the "best" books i have had the pleasure to read
it's Roddy Doyle at his best
it's Roddy Doyle at his best
Published 16 months ago by Fairlie G
A bit of a slog at times.
Overall not bad, but I found A Star Called Henry stodgy in places, with long stretches of tedium. When it catches fire it's great, typical Doyle, but at other times it meanders... Read more
Published 18 months ago by AK 1957-05
A drag called Henry...
This is not the first Doyle's book I've read. Thank God, otherwise it would have been the first and the last, and it would certainly have been a pity. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Alessandra F.
Better - much better - than I expecetd!
When I read the synopsis of this book I just feared it was going to be an hooray piece for the rebels. Read more
Published 20 months ago by pikeman
One of the best books i have ever read.
This is a fantastic work of fiction,I absolutely loved it.It is by far one of my all time favorite books.
Published 22 months ago by gem221
Roddy Doyle is a star
Roddy Doyle has outdone himself again with A Star Called Henry, the first of The Last Roundup trilogy which explores 20th century Ireland through the experiences of one man. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2010 by KTK
Fantastic! Doyle is a genius!
I cant say enough good things about this book. This is a very rare find. Enjoy!
Published on 16 Feb 2010 by Paul McCormack
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