Reviews

Life Without Children by Roddy Doyle

alese's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

3.0

henryk_2557's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I've enjoyed Doyle immensely in the past but most of this felt like a slapdash, half-baked effort rushed out by his agent . No story was especially clever, two or three were indeed quietly moving, but I do wish Doyle would branch out more stylistically before Contemporary Irish Fiction, with the help of Sally Rooney and the like, starts to feel like a one trick monkey teetering on self-parody.  

barbarabarbara's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

catmul83's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

adeledazeem's review

funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

stevelawler's review

3.0

I'm a Roddy Doyle fan. I found one of these stories extraordinarily moving. Several were very good. And a few I just didn't connect with.

leto_m's review against another edition

fast-paced

2.5

igru23's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

franknstein's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

sierradewalt's review against another edition

3.0

I love Roddy Doyle's writing, but for some reason, this one didn't resonate with me. It's possible that I'm just sick of hearing about Covid since I lived through it recently. So then, why did I choose a book of Covid-related short stories? That's a great question.

I didn't like the story "Gone" very much. The male protagonist's name also changes from Jim to Sam and then back to Jim. "Nurse" felt stale to me. The two I liked best were "The Charger" and "Worms." I think they had the most life in them.

Overall, it was just kind of eh. But again, it might just be that I'm not ready for pandemic literature. 2.5 stars.