Henry Part 3

The Dead Republic: A Novel

Here's Roddy Doyle's latest. The Dead Republic. It's the final chapter of the Henry Smart trilogy, which began with A Star Called Henry, about Ireland in the last days of British occupation. Henry, a survivor of the streets, becomes a soldier in Michael Collins' IRA in the months leading up to the Easter Uprising of 1916. I loved this book when I read it back in 1999, but I missed the second book in the series, Oh, Play That Thing.

Doyle is perhaps better known for his other series The Barrytown Trilogy , this first novel of which was made into a successful film called The Commitments. There was a lot of great music in that movie about an Irish R & B cover band. But I enjoyed the second film from the trilogy much more; The Snapper is a hilarious look at what happens when a working class Dublin couple learns their young unwed daughter is pregnant and won't reveal the father.

I'm looking forward to returning to the saga of Henry Smart with this new release. It's been reviewed in the NYT this week. Read it here

Comments