Scan barcode
A review by andrew_russell
Love by Roddy Doyle
3.0
I don’t recall smiling but I must have. I was twenty-one. In the ten years before that afternoon I’d smiled only when I’d decided to. This, again – here – was different. I watched George fill the glasses and leave them on the towel, beside four other waiting pints. He smiled at the line of six, then turned to fill glasses with gin and vodka. I looked at Joe. He was smiling, so I must have been too. It wasn’t a grin. It wasn’t because I’d been cheeky, because I’d called a middle-aged man I didn’t know George. I hadn’t been cheeky. Cheek was a thing of the past, as were anger and resentment, stupidity, exclusion. That was why Joe was smiling. We were in a new, unexpected life and we were at home in it. Adulthood wasn’t too bad at all.
The main selling-point of Love, the latest novel from the reputable author Roddy Doyle, is it's simplicity. Dave and Joe, two old friends who are entering their twilight years, embark on a pub crawl in Dublin, their past histories being expressed largely through the internal monologues of Dave, who also happens to be the narrator, as well as through dialogue between him and Joe. That dialogue, by and large, successfully develops a sense of intimacy between the reader and the two characters. By it's very nature, the dialogue itself is intimate; Dave and Joe have been friends since youth, so there is a mixture of banter and serious conversation between the two, that is by turns humorous and touching.
Unsurprisingly, the main topic of conversation centres around love and more specifically, the relationship between Joe and a woman named Jessica, whom they both encountered whilst in their youth. The pub in question is The George, the pub they both frequented in their younger years, when they hung about together. Dave moved to England shortly after marrying Faye, his current wife and is returning to Dublin for a short period, to be close to his dying father. A night out with his pal of yesteryear is thought by Dave to be the ideal tonic to the stress associated with the imminent loss of his father.
For the larger part, the dialogue works, particularly in the first third of the novel. Snappy, rhythmic, peppered with Irish colloquialism's and as I said earlier, laced with a humour that can only be expressed between two individuals who have a close bond. The book also touches on some heavyweight themes - love, family, friendship, the regrets of life. And at times, particularly in the novels denouement, there are genuinely moving scenes. Doyle does well in provoking the reader to muse on such themes but unfortunately stops short of exploring them with the depth that they deserve. And although the dialogue for the first third or so of the novels length provides the solid foundation for a great story, it slows down and stops saying anything significant fairly soon thereafter. I'm more than happy to read a work that takes a banal aspect of everyday life (in this case pub conversation) and uses it as a vehicle to address weighty thematic elements but in the case of Love, the setting and the backstory is simply too banal to make the novel truly memorable.
I like what this novel is trying to do; take a banal setting and superimpose weighty themes. But on the whole, it was never close to being as satisfying a read as I wanted it to be. I mean, it is unlikely to still be at the forefront of my mind in another year or two. It's worth a read but only if you don't have anything else that you would reasonably expect to set your world on fire.
The main selling-point of Love, the latest novel from the reputable author Roddy Doyle, is it's simplicity. Dave and Joe, two old friends who are entering their twilight years, embark on a pub crawl in Dublin, their past histories being expressed largely through the internal monologues of Dave, who also happens to be the narrator, as well as through dialogue between him and Joe. That dialogue, by and large, successfully develops a sense of intimacy between the reader and the two characters. By it's very nature, the dialogue itself is intimate; Dave and Joe have been friends since youth, so there is a mixture of banter and serious conversation between the two, that is by turns humorous and touching.
Unsurprisingly, the main topic of conversation centres around love and more specifically, the relationship between Joe and a woman named Jessica, whom they both encountered whilst in their youth. The pub in question is The George, the pub they both frequented in their younger years, when they hung about together. Dave moved to England shortly after marrying Faye, his current wife and is returning to Dublin for a short period, to be close to his dying father. A night out with his pal of yesteryear is thought by Dave to be the ideal tonic to the stress associated with the imminent loss of his father.
For the larger part, the dialogue works, particularly in the first third of the novel. Snappy, rhythmic, peppered with Irish colloquialism's and as I said earlier, laced with a humour that can only be expressed between two individuals who have a close bond. The book also touches on some heavyweight themes - love, family, friendship, the regrets of life. And at times, particularly in the novels denouement, there are genuinely moving scenes. Doyle does well in provoking the reader to muse on such themes but unfortunately stops short of exploring them with the depth that they deserve. And although the dialogue for the first third or so of the novels length provides the solid foundation for a great story, it slows down and stops saying anything significant fairly soon thereafter. I'm more than happy to read a work that takes a banal aspect of everyday life (in this case pub conversation) and uses it as a vehicle to address weighty thematic elements but in the case of Love, the setting and the backstory is simply too banal to make the novel truly memorable.
I like what this novel is trying to do; take a banal setting and superimpose weighty themes. But on the whole, it was never close to being as satisfying a read as I wanted it to be. I mean, it is unlikely to still be at the forefront of my mind in another year or two. It's worth a read but only if you don't have anything else that you would reasonably expect to set your world on fire.