Synopses & Reviews
Roddy Doyle has earned a devoted following amongst those who appreciate his sly humor, acute ear for dialogue, and deeply human portraits of contemporary Ireland.
The Deportees is Doyle's first-ever collection of short stories, and each tale describes the cultural collision-often funny and always poignant-between a native and someone new to the fast-changing country. From a nine-year- old African boy's first day at school to a man who's devised a test for "Irishness"to the return of
The Commitments's Jimmy Rabbitte and the debut of his new multicultural band, Doyle offers his signature take on the immigrant experience in a volume reminiscent of his beloved early novels.
Review
"There may be a more likable serious writer than Roddy Doyle, but you'd have to prove it to me."
-Los Angeles Times
Synopsis
For his many devoted readers: the first collection of stories from Booker Prize-winning author Roddy Doyle.
For the past few years Roddy Doyle has written stories for Metro Eireann, a magazine by and for immigrants to Ireland. Each of the stories takes a new slant on the immigrant experience, something of increasing relevance and importance in Ireland today. The Deportees now brings those stories together for all of Roddy's devoted readers, ranging from a terrifying ghost story, "The Pram," in which a Polish nanny grows impatient with her charge's older sisters and decides-using a phrase she has just learnt-to "scare them shitless," to the glorious title story itself, where Jimmy Rabbitte, the man who formed the beloved Commitments, decides it's time to find a new band, and this time no white Irish need apply. Multicultural to a fault, the Deportees specialize not in soul music, but in the songs of Woody Guthrie.
"From the Hardcover edition."
Synopsis
Stories that take a new slant on the immigrant experience, from the Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha Watch for Roddy Doyle's new novel, Smile, coming in October of 2017
Roddy Doyle has earned a devoted following amongst those who appreciate his sly humor, acute ear for dialogue, and deeply human portraits of contemporary Ireland. The Deportees is Doyle's first-ever collection of short stories, and each tale describes the cultural collision-often funny and always poignant-between a native and someone new to the fast-changing country. From a nine-year- old African boy's first day at school to a man who's devised a test for "Irishness"to the return of The Commitments's Jimmy Rabbitte and the debut of his new multicultural band, Doyle offers his signature take on the immigrant experience in a volume reminiscent of his beloved early novels.
Synopsis
Doyle's stories for "Metro Eireann," a magazine by and for immigrants to Ireland, take a new slant on the immigrant experience. "The Deportees" collects these stories in one volume for the first time.
About the Author
Roddy Doyle is an internationally bestselling writer. His first three novels—
The Commitments,
The Snapper, and the 1991 Booker Prize finalist
The Van—are known as
The Barrytown Trilogy. He is also the author of the novels
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (1993 Booker Prize winner),
The Woman Who Walked into Doors, and
A Star Called Henry, and a non-fiction book about his parents,
Rory and Ita. Doyle has also written for the stage and the screen: the plays
Brownbread,
War,
Guess Who's Coming for the Dinner, and
The Woman Who Walked Into Doors; the film adaptations of
The Commitments )as co-writer),
The Snapper, and
The Van;
When Brendan Met Trudy (an original screenplay); the four-part television series
Family for the BBC; and the television play
Hell for Leather. Roddy Doyle has also written the children's books
The Giggler Treatment,
Rover Saves Christmas, and
The Meanwhile Adventures and contributed to a variety of publications including
The New Yorker magazine and several anthologies. He lives in Dublin.