Roddy Doyle - The Dead Republic

The Independent“A Roddy Doyle novel that outstays its welcome...” So praise be that the book ends on an unambiguous full point. Time, one humbly suggests, for Doyle to abandon history, too, and get back to what he's good at: the humdrum hilarity of the here and now...

The Times“No character other than Smart and Ford carries much conviction...” Over the course of three books, Henry Smart has proved to be Doyle’s most memorable fictional creation but his struggle to escape the confines of a portrait of him others are committed to painting does not turn out to be his finest hour...

Financial Times“Trust Doyle on this one. Go with the story. It’s magnificent...” Yes, you do have to suspend disbelief, quite often, but Henry is so compelling, his story so powerful, that it’s worth it. The reward is a new feeling for the beauty and tragedy of all that has happened, an ache deep in the gut...

Guardian“When engaged with detail, Doyle retains his canny and surprising eye...” When Smart is "thinking", and observing history passing, he rarely strays from simple subject-verb-object sentences; these passages have the virtue of simplicity, but they rarely suggest a palpable reality and they need to...

The Telegraph“The story doesn’t travel well out of Ireland...” There is a magical realism element that turns Ratheen into something like O’Macondo-on-sea and the enterprise turns out like a fat professor on a bike – it’s big, it’s clever but it doesn’t half wobble...

Publishers Weekly“Digs into the modern history of Ireland...” Doyle is a stellar storyteller, though not a faultless one—characters tend to editorialize at the drop of a hat; yet Doyle exhibits a peerless ear for cynicism as he grapples with the violence and farce of Irish history...

The Scotsman“This book can stand on its own wooden foot...” The pace is dictated by Doyle's staccato dialogue: "nope"; "aye"; "grand", like a shower of gunfire and, as ever, "safe in the words" at evoking a sense of a place and its folk with readable grace...

Booklist“Serves up less of a bang than readers might have hoped...” Has Doyle’s trademark staccato style, but it lacks the breathless exuberance of parts 1 and 2. Nonetheless, readers will want to tune in to see what fate awaits the irrepressible Irishman...

Economist“Not yet reviewed”

The New York Times“Not yet reviewed”