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Loading... The Gutsby Roddy Doyle
   No current Talk conversations about this book.   ) Abcdarian | May 18, 2024 |   ) thesusanbrown | Jun 8, 2023 | On top of all that, Jimmy has just been diagnosed with bowel cancer. The book looks at how Jimmy and his generation are dealing with the modern world and the onset of middle age. There are some poignant moments relating to Jimmy's reunion with Outspan and with his long-estranged brother Les, but another reunion with Imelda Quirke is given short shrift and is under-developed as a plot thread. Doyle does well when showing the energetic Jimmy facing his mortality and his pride in his rapidly-maturing children, but he tends towards easy resolutions of the situations his protagonist finds himself in, rather than set up the tougher and more confronting book that his premise could have delivered. The Guts gets a bit tiresome, being riddled with Doyle's trademark staccato dashed dialogue interspersed with the odd paragraph of exposition. Oh, and if I never read the word "Grand" again, it will be too soon. (  ) gjky | Apr 9, 2023 | ) reader1009 | Jul 3, 2021 | Jimmy tells his dad first. Out for a pint and a chat. "...How's your own woman? --She's grand. How's Ma? --Grand. Are yeh havin' another? --No, said Jimmy. --I'm drivin'. --Fair enough. --I have cancer.--Good man. --I'm bein' serious, Da. --I know. Jimmy was shaking. He hadn't noticed while he was working himself up to tell his father. But he knew it now. He pressed his hands down his thighs, made hos arms stiff. He wondered if his eyes were bloodshot, becuase they felt like they had to be. --Jesus, son. --Yeah. --Wha' kind? --Bowel. --Bad. --Could be worse. --Could it? --So they say, said Jimmy. --They? --The doctors an' tha'. The specialists. The team. --The team? --Yep. --What colour are their jerseys? Jimmy couldn't think of an answer. --It's terrible, said his da. --Yep. --When did yeh find ou'? --A few days ago, said Jimmy. --Monday. --God." There is no deep introspective conversation between the two, most of it is in their own familiar short hand. Emotions felt but unexpressed. Never has the word 'grand' carried so much weight as it does in this book. "--This is our big day now, his ma had told him. She spoke quietly. --How are yeh, love? --Grand. --No, she said,--Listen to me. I've been livin' too long with your father, How are you - really? His ma had shrunk. She was under his chin, a hand on his chest and a hand on his back, the way he'd often held onto his own kids. --Really, he said. --I'm grand. --Grand, she said.--I hate that bloody word." Music is still an integral part of his life and becomes even more so as two of the old band re-surface. This is humble story of life, facing death, family, friends and what the hell is it all about. ( )1  Robert3167 | Mar 4, 2019 | no reviews | add a review
Belongs to SeriesBarrytown (4) AwardsNotable Lists
"Jimmy Rabbitte of The Commitments returns in the triumphant new novel from the Booker Prize-winning author The distinct wit and lively, authentic dialogue that are the hallmarks of Roddy Doyle's fiction are on a full display as he reintroduces Jimmy Rabbitte in this follow-up to his beloved debut novel The Commitments. In the 1980s Jimmy Rabbitte formed the Commitments, a ragtag, blue-collar collective of Irish youths determined to bring the soul music stylings of James Brown and Percy Sledge to Dublin. Time proves a great equalizer for Jimmy as he's now approaching fifty with a loving wife, four kids, and a recent cancer diagnosis that leaves him feeling shattered and frightened. Jimmy still loves his music, and he still loves to hustle-his new thing is finding old bands and then finding the people who loved them enough to pay for their resurrected albums. As he battles his illness on his path through Dublin, Jimmy manages to reconnect with his own past, most notably Commitments guitarist Liam "Outspan" Foster and the still beautiful backup vocalist Imelda Quirk. Jimmy also learns the trumpet, reunites with his long-lost brother, and rediscovers the joys of fatherhood. An immensely funny and poignant novel, The Guts captures friendship, family, the power of music, the specter of death, and the zeal for life"--
"A triumphant return to the characters of Booker Prize-winning writer Roddy Doyle's breakout first novel, The Commitments, now older, wiser, up against cancer and midlife. Jimmy Rabbitte is back. The man who invented the Commitments back in the 1980s is now 47, with a loving wife, 4 kids...and bowel cancer. He isn't dying, he thinks, but he might be. Jimmy still loves his music, and he still loves to hustle--his new thing is finding old bands and then finding the people who loved them enough to pay money online for their resurrected singles and albums. On his path through Dublin, between chemo and work he meets two of the Commitments--Outspan Foster, whose own illness is probably terminal, and Imelda Quirk, still as gorgeous as ever. He is reunited with his long-lost brother, Les, and learns to play the trumpet.... This warm, funny novel is about friendship and family, about facing death and opting for life"-- No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.85)
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