4 Stars
Two middle-aged Irishmen go into a pub and into another pub and . .
.
Davy, who has lived in England for virtually his entire adult life, has
returned to Dublin to visit his elderly father and contacted Joe, a friend from
his youth. The two revisit old haunts
and discuss their lives. During their
pub crawl, Joe reveals he has left his wife Trish for Jessica, a woman with
whom he was infatuated almost 40 years earlier.
It is obvious that Davy also has something significant happening in his
life as he keeps checking his cellphone for messages, but it is only at the end
that he tells Joe what that is.
The narrative is virtually all dialogue; think of Waiting for Godot or Night
Boat to Tangier - also penned by Irish writers. There is no doubt that Doyle has an ear for
dialogue because the conversation of two inebriated Irishmen is spot-on. It could be said that the dialogue flows like
the beer they keep ordering and drinking.
They swear a lot and often use Irish slang; for example, I learned that the jacks means “toilet” and yoke means “thing”. Davy and Joe alternate between serious discussions
and hilarious banter and, the more they drink, the more their conversation
becomes circular and incoherent.
Actually, reading the book often feels like being the sober non-drinker
listening to the conversation of people becoming more and more
intoxicated. At times it becomes tiresome. Causing some confusion is the lack of
conventional punctuation. Quotation marks
are not used; only em dashes are used, and they indicate both dialogue and interrupted
dialogue. Perhaps it’s only because I
read a galley, but both men often speak in the same line. Dialogue tags are not always used, so I often
had to re-check who was saying what.
The topic which occupies most of their time is Joe’s decision to leave
his wife, whom he claims he loves, for a woman he knew briefly when he was a
young man. He grasps for analogies to
explain his decision both to Davy and to himself. In his explanations, he contradicts himself
so it is not always clear what parts of his story are true and which have been
embellished for effect. Certainly, when
Joe speaks of his first meetings with Jessica, Davy’s memories differ. For instance, Joe claims that Davy was also
smitten with Jessica, but Davy says he liked another girl named Alice: “And I remember, Alice didn’t like [Jessica]. I remember, it had helped me to like Alice,
to reach for her hand.”
As the title clearly indicates, the theme of the novel is love and its
many forms we experience in our lives. There’s
obviously lust which seemed to be Joe and Davy’s focus when they were young
men. Via flashbacks, we witness their love
for the women who became their wives; those relationships start with romance and
passion but over time have shifted to companionship. The two men discuss their love for their
children, and Davy ponders his love for his father. The book emphasizes the difficulty in expressing
feelings: “There is a reason why men don’t
talk about their feelings. It’s not just
that it’s difficult, or embarrassing. It’s
almost impossible. The words aren’t
really there.”
Of course, it’s the love demonstrated in their friendship that takes
centre stage. The two men have not been
very close for almost four decades, and throughout the evening, Davy finds
himself feeling differently about Joe:
at times, he is contemptuous of Joe’s choices and so deliberately provokes
him. More than once, he thinks that he will
never bother to meet with him again. He
alternates between being interested and being bored. Joe often seems to resent Davy, but in the
end is unquestionably supportive.
Naturally, because this is a Roddy Doyle novel, there is humour. The first meeting between Davy and Faye is
hilarious because Faye is very outspoken.
Because the two friends are nearing their sixties, they discuss
aging. Joe offers “Advice for the agein’
man. Never waste an erection, never
trust a fart, never pass a jacks.”
This book will not be for everyone, certainly not for anyone who wants
a novel with plot. Despite my occasional
frustration with the meandering dialogue with its unconventional formatting, I
found myself intrigued with their meditations on love. I wanted to know how their evening would end,
and I’m glad I persevered because the ending is perfect, both emotionally and
thematically.
Note: I received a digital
galley from the publisher via NetGalley.
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