Bullfighting

Roddy Doyle sure knows what goes on in the minds of straight, white 40-something Dublin men, because they're the protagonists in each one of the 13 stories in Bullfighting . Approaching midlife, Doyle's men are slowing down, taking stock, facing mortality, yet not going down without a fight – or at le Leggi tutto

These stories are no match for Kevin Barry's whose collection I just finished. Too simple, too easy, too sweet. The writing is common, the voices in the stories are too much alike, speaking in short sentences and constantly correcting themselves. "And that made it worse. And made him more annoyed. A Leggi tutto

Roddy Doyle and I have an interesting relationship (though he doesn’t know it, of course). We’re the same age, plus-or-minus eighteen-months, were born sixty-miles or so apart. But I left Ireland at a very tender age, and he didn’t. I liked The Commitments when I first read it, but when Paddy Clarke Leggi tutto

This is one of those ratings where I am perhaps shortchanging the author. Really, Doyle perhaps deserves a four...his writing far surpasses that of many other authors, but I prefer his novels to his short stories, and well, while this collection of short stories is good, it's not the best of Roddy D Leggi tutto

“Bullfighting” is a collection of short stories mostly about Irish men nearing or in their 50s. I enjoyed the “voice” I heard in these different stories. The men were different, but they sounded similar, approaching their aging with reflection. And quite often calling something “grand” that really w Leggi tutto

You can breeze through this collection of Roddy Doyle short stories, but why not take your time with each and savor the flavor of Dublin today. I love how Doyle has matured in his subject matter but kept his writing style. You can almost imagine the boys from "The Commitments" are grown up and facing Leggi tutto