Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Soul is the music people understand...It sticks its neck out and says it straight from the heart.", 6 Jul 2006
Set in north Dublin's most blighted area, this 1987 debut novel, the first of Doyle's Barrytown Trilogy, focuses on the Rabbittes, a struggling family of eight, trying to survive in a crowded tenement. Here Doyle depicts the rowdy, two-fisted lives of the family and its neighbors as they deal with high unemployment and few opportunities, their wittiness and humor the only weapons against the bleak repetition of their days. When Jimmy Rabbitte, Jr., an unemployed twenty-something, hears a drunk wedding guest wailing soulfully into a microphone, Jimmy decides to create a band from the local community.
The eventual band includes the wailing wedding singer, a trumpet player and former "friend" of Wilson Pickett, a church organist, a nervous sax player, a drummer, and three "girl singers." Modeling their music on that of Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, and Marvin Gaye, they are a "soul band." As Jimmy explains, "The Irish are the blacks of Europe. And Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. And the Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin." The band's long, night-time practices soon give them a sense of cohesiveness and become a symbol of hope, and as they gradually improve, each band member begins to feel as if s/he matters. Ironically, however, the more they improve and the larger their audiences, the greater the tensions and resentments which threaten the band's survival.
Doyle's lightning-fast dialogue is filled with local dialect, crude profanities, witticisms, and can-you-top-this insults. Subtlety is not part of the characters' lives, where survival is based on toughness and the ability to think quickly on one's feet. As the characters' relationships become more complex--and more physical--their personal dreams become more obvious, and the importance of the band in their lives becomes clearer. Doyle understands his characters and identifies with them, presenting them sympathetically, while revealing the ironies in their lives.
Jimmy Rabbitte, as manager, remains somewhat apart from the band, serving as a counterpoint to the band's intense interactions and putting their rivalries into perspective. About ten characters are involved in this short novel, and when one combines that number with the fact that Doyle includes the lyrics for most of the group's songs, the narrative becomes sketchy, and the reader does not have the opportunity to identify with the characters. The Rabbitte family, however, is vibrant, with characters who are both individualized and symbolic of their neighborhood, and in them, Doyle has created the perfect vehicle for a trilogy about their lives, and, ultimately for three films which are among Ireland's best. Mary Whipple
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutly brilliant!, 30 Nov 1999
This book engages its readers into the trials and tribulations of Jimmy Rabbitte who wants to start up a soul band. Along the way we meet the likes of Joey 'the lips', who is a middle aged man who claims to have played with all the soul greatsbut he is about as hip as an old man wearing slippers, and Deco who is violent with the microphone and all of the band hate but is kept because he has one of the greatest soul voices. It is really funny and the writng style of Doyle is great as he uses colloquial language which moves at such a fast comical pace.
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1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's good but it ain't challenging..., 5 May 2004
The commitments by Roddy Doyle is an amusing book you can read in a couple of hours. The band's ordeals are amusing as Doyle takes us through the problems and humour of trying to create 'dublin soul'. However, it's not for you if you want something to get your teeth into, the plot and language are simple (although the amount of swearing is very high). If you remember some of the songs, the lyrics are there for you to sing along to! Definitely a good book for sitting on the beach/in the back garden when you have a few hours and don't want something too taxing on the brain.
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