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Please Note: I received an advance copy of this novel from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This did not influence the opinions in my review in any way.
Synopsis (from Goodreads):
Joe had left his wife and family a year earlier for another woman, Jessica. Davy knows her too, or should--she was the girl of their dreams four decades earlier, the girl with the cello in George's pub. As Joe's story unfolds across Dublin--pint after pint, pub after pub--so too do the memories of what eventually drove Davy from Ireland: the upheaval that Faye, his feisty, profane wife, would bring into his life; his father's somber disapproval; the pained spaces left behind when a parent dies.
As much a hymn to the Dublin of old as a delightfully comic yet moving portrait of what it means to try to put into words the many forms that love can take, Love marks a triumphant new turn for Roddy Doyle.
Review:
I first became aware of author Roddy Doyle's work when I took a trip to Ireland two years ago. After two weeks of driving from one end of the island to the other, we had seen our fill of historic sites and stunning natural scenery. We wanted to have an experience that would immerse us in everyday Irish life. We found this in Dublin, watching the debut of a theatrical version of Doyle's book, The Snapper. This story takes place in the Eighties, and has a large, loud, chaotic and (ultimately) loving family. Love, Doyle's latest book, has a larger theme. It's (obviously) about love; how it begins, and how it changes over time. But it's also about friendships and how they also change with time, as well.
What I Liked:
Writing Style:
This
was a challenging book to read, mostly due to Doyle's writing style.
Like a long, drunken, conversation, its rambling style weaves in and out
of various timelines, settings, and people. There are no chapters in this book. The people Davy and Joe talk about may change in the middle of a paragraph. But the payoff is a
glimpse into the lives of people the reader can relate to.
Characters:
Davy and Joe are at that point in life where they reflect on, and question, some of their life choices. Joe has left his wife for a woman both Davy and he wanted in their youth. He wonders why he feels so at peace with this new person. Is this what he has yearned for all his life? Or is he indulging in a massively rationalizing of his actions in breaking up his marriage?
Davy is incredulous. He can't understand how Joe can just jump ship on his family for this woman. Davy also starts to question things. Does he want to continue his friendship with Joe, for starters? Or has their friendship run its course?
Story:
Davy has many other issues in his life that are explored in the book. He has a complicated relationship with his wife, and a strained relationship with his dying father. And that, coming to terms with the end of relationships, is what ties all the stories and characters together. What is it one says, the only constant in life is change? How we look at the changing nature of love will determine our personal level of happiness (or misery).
Rating:
Release Date: June 23rd, 2020
Author: Roddy Doyle
Publisher: Viking Press
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Page Length: 304 Pages
Source: Edelweiss
Format: E-Book
Recommendation:
This was a book with many layers. I loved peeling back the pages to reveal the truths of these characters. Read this as you sip a Guinness (or two).
