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A Star Called Henry

By Roddy Doyle

(105)

| Hardcover | 9780670887576

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Book Description

A magnificent new novel from the bestselling, award-winning author of The Barrytown Trilogy and Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

When Roddy Doyle introduced a lively ten-year-old hero from north Dublin named Paddy Clarke, he captivated reviewers and audiences around the world. Paddy ClContinue

A magnificent new novel from the bestselling, award-winning author of The Barrytown Trilogy and Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

When Roddy Doyle introduced a lively ten-year-old hero from north Dublin named Paddy Clarke, he captivated reviewers and audiences around the world. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha captured the 1993 Booker Prize, garnered passionate reviews, and became a phenomenal bestseller. Carolyn See of The Washington Post, called it "one of the great modern Irish novels." Doyle followed that success with The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, a unanimously and ecstatically acclaimed novel with a narrator critics compared to Joyce's Molly Bloom. Now the finest Irish writer of his generation enchants us once again with his most prodigious novel to date--A Star Called Henry.

With his trademark sharp-edged wit and breathtaking prose, Roddy Doyle introduces Henry Smart--adventurer, IRA assassin, and lover. Narrated by its protagonist, A Star Called Henry takes us through Henry's early years of reckless heroism and adventure, from the courtship of his young mother and one-legged father to his own celebrated birth and his childhood on the streets of Dublin; from his role as a valiant soldier fighting in the 1916 Easter Rising to that of a young father and rebel.

At once an epic, a love story, and a portrait of Irish history, both past and present, A Star Called Henry is a tour de force told in a voice that is both quintessentially Irish and inimitably Roddy Doyle's.

Critics

  • A Star Called Henry By Roddy Doyle

    Doyle, wonderful writer and reader, winner of the prestigious Booker Prize (the only Irish novelist ever to do so), portrayer of the gritty underside of urban life in Ireland today, has turned the historical clock back to the first two decades of thi ... (read full critics)

    bookpage published on Sun, 12 Sep 2010

  • A Star Called Henry By Roddy Doyle

    In novels such as Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, The Commitments, and The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, Roddy Doyle thrills readers with withering wit, modernist techniques, and the emotional and political realities of working-class Irish. His latest novel, A ... (read full critics)

    bookpage published on Sat, 11 Sep 2010

8 Reviews

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  • 1 person find this helpful

    *** This comment contains spoilers! ***

    Superlativo.

    "You never get used to it. Predicting it doesn't matter. Nothing I can do; he has complete control. It's always fresh, always dreadful.
    Again.
    Always a brand new pain.
    The skin doesn't get any harder.
    Stay out of the corners; I have to make sure that I dont't get caught.
    Again. ... (continue)

    Superlativo.

    "You never get used to it. Predicting it doesn't matter. Nothing I can do; he has complete control. It's always fresh, always dreadful.
    Again.
    Always a brand new pain.
    The skin doesn't get any harder.
    Stay out of the corners; I have to make sure that I dont't get caught.
    Again.
    Buzzing. Things swim and dive. My husband is beating me. A horrible fact. A stranger. Everything collapses."

    Is this helpful?

    Holly Golightly (in transito) said on Nov 12, 2010 about the Paperback edition | 1 feedback

  • 1 person find this helpful

    When Police knocks on your door, you oughta be ready for worst. This kind of visit lets Paula Spencer think. Charlo's wife, even if she doesn't know where he is, begin thinking all her life, from the teenagehood till present day. Dublin's life, with people's marks and money trouble, is nothing compa ... (continue)

    When Police knocks on your door, you oughta be ready for worst. This kind of visit lets Paula Spencer think. Charlo's wife, even if she doesn't know where he is, begin thinking all her life, from the teenagehood till present day. Dublin's life, with people's marks and money trouble, is nothing compared to beeing kicked or slapped by own husband, especially when nobody seems to see. There's always a door to walk into or a domestic lack of attention for doctors. Paula lives again her life with us, letting us know about her problem with alcohol, money and relationship with parents and family. All these records bring us to the news about her husband.
    Reading about real life problem is not easy when you expect relax from a book, but this novel flows without stops, even with all the incidents, people misunderstanding and sore for Paula. I appreciate Doyle's work, Dublin, with school and teaneger life.

    Is this helpful?

    etnagigante said on Oct 26, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • *** This comment contains spoilers! ***

    A woman who actually didn't walk into doors

    A mesmerizing novel in which the author gives his best in the deep psychological analysis of the fictional character of a woman named Paula Spencer, and on the reasons why she accepted to spend a great part of her life with a man who certainly didn't deserve her. And on the reason why she eventuall ... (continue)

    A mesmerizing novel in which the author gives his best in the deep psychological analysis of the fictional character of a woman named Paula Spencer, and on the reasons why she accepted to spend a great part of her life with a man who certainly didn't deserve her. And on the reason why she eventually found the strength to say stop to violence.
    One of Roddy Doyle's masterpieces, who also depicts a tapestry of an age.

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    Sophie à Part said on Oct 24, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • A book every woman should read. It's strange to call it beautiful, because the theme is all but beautiful. Still, the way Doyle tells us Paula's story, going back and forth through time, beginning from the end and then letting memories tell the rest, is brilliant.
    Facts, feelings, even the choice of ... (continue)

    A book every woman should read. It's strange to call it beautiful, because the theme is all but beautiful. Still, the way Doyle tells us Paula's story, going back and forth through time, beginning from the end and then letting memories tell the rest, is brilliant.
    Facts, feelings, even the choice of words, everything fits perfectly, it almost seems written by a woman, it's impressive.

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    lupurk said on Aug 18, 2010 about the Paperback edition | 2 feedbacks

  • A grand book!

    The life of Henry Smart in Dublin at the beginning of 1900 is the opportunity to describe the first attempts of Irish people to fight for their independence. A very well written book with a capturing style of writing. Surely one of the best book I've ever read.

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    Roberto Pizzicannella said on Jun 6, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • Very powerful story on domestic violence!!

    "He gave me a choice... right or left. I chose left, and he broke the little finger on my left hand."

    An excellent book, intriguing and shocking. Very well written... tells the story of a woman living in an abusive relationship, and not having the strength to leave her violent husband.

    Hard to be ... (continue)

    "He gave me a choice... right or left. I chose left, and he broke the little finger on my left hand."

    An excellent book, intriguing and shocking. Very well written... tells the story of a woman living in an abusive relationship, and not having the strength to leave her violent husband.

    Hard to believe it's written by a man. Very powerful!!
    It really makes you think.

    Is this helpful?

    mariabei said on Mar 9, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

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