(no subject)

[decemberthirty]

I finished Roddy Doyle's Oh, Play That Thing last night. It was a good book, tremendous fun, and a worthy sequel to A Star Called Henry. The book begins with Henry's arrival at Ellis Island after barely making it out of Ireland alive, and it ends with him half-dead on the set of a John Ford movie somewhere in the desert of Monument Valley; in between we get to read about his adventures as a bootlegger, cat burglar, right-hand man to Louis Armstrong, dock worker, amateur dentist, hobo, and of course ladies' man. He runs afoul of gangsters in New York; his old IRA connections come back to haunt him; he flees for his life at least three times; he infiltrates the black jazz clubs of the south side of Chicago; he steals his way across the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. There's enough action in Oh, Play That Thing to fill two or three books.

Even with all of Henry's wild exploits, the book took a little bit of getting into (mainly because the plot is a bit convoluted in the beginning) but once I was in there was no getting back out. I was drawn on by the crazy plot, by Henry's charm, and by the quality of Doyle's writing. My god, does that man have an ear for dialogue! With the possible exception of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha , this book represents the best prose that I've read from Doyle. And it's not just the effortless way he captures his characters' voices, either. It's also in the powerful way he writes about music. The music here is jazz, the same "musical wanking" that Jimmy Rabbitte disdained, but Doyle describes it with the same brilliance with which he wrote about the power of soul in The Commitments.

I found it interesting that Roddy Doyle took on the topic of race in America in this book, and I think he was more successful than many American authors are when they approach this topic. Perhaps it's the fact that he's not American that allows Doyle to pull it off. Henry's affinity for the black culture of Chicago reminded me of Jimmy Rabbitte explaining the the nascent Commitments that "The Irish are the niggers of Europe, lads. An' Dubliners are the niggers of Ireland. An' the northside Dubliners are the niggers o' Dublin." (In the movie, the line was changed to 'blacks.') Jimmy eventually gets his band to chant, "I'm black and I'm proud" and Henry Smart clearly feels the same way, but then we get Louis Armstrong gently explaining to him again and again that that's not quite right, it's an oversimplification; racial persecution in Ireland existed, just as it did in America, but that doesn't mean the two experiences can be compared to each other.

Oh, Play That Thing is very much a sequel to A Star Called Henry, and I'm afraid you would probably be a bit lost if you tried to read it on it's own. There are two many cryptic references to Henry's past, and too many relationships that wouldn't make sense without the context of the earlier book. In fact, there were points where I found myself wishing that I had read A Star Called Henry more recently so all of that material would have been fresher in my mind. I may actually go back and reread it, but I've got a few other things to get to first.

The book was great, but that's not to say it had no flaws. There was a moment about two-thirds of the way through when Henry thought about what he was doing with his life and wished for the days of the old Henry Smart again, the days when he had a gun and a cause. I have to say I rather agreed with him. I could feel the great and urgent sweep of history in A Star Called Henry, but that feeling was missing here. Henry was just as good as he's always been at nearly getting himself killed, but the things he was nearly getting himself killed over seemed smaller this time. Part of what made A Star Called Henry so powerful was Henry's disillusionment when he realized that he was being used by the revolutionaries he looked up to, but there's nothing in Oh, Play That Thing for him to be disillusioned about: he's still a pawn in a game he doesn't fully understand, but else what can you expect when dealing with mobsters? It was sad, too, and a bit disappointing to realize that Henry was indeed still a pawn, that he was still always one crucial step behind his manipulators and he probably always would be. Still, I'll be looking forward to the third installment of his adventures, if only to see what scrapes Henry gets himself out of next time.

Next up is The Awakening, my book club selection for September.

Comments

[gerbie.livejournal.com]

I bought it, but haven't read 'Henry' yet. Get that first I assume?

[decemberthirty.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think you'll enjoy both books more if you read A Star Called Henry first. Have you read any Doyle before?

[gerbie.livejournal.com]

A few yes. I loved the Snapper, was a bit disappointed in Paddy Clarke, The Woman who walked into doors was strong, can't remember much from the Commitments (not the book at least) or The Van.