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teokajlibroj's review against another edition
4.0
Imagine if Les Miserables or Germinal was written by Roddy Doyle and you can imagine this book. There's poverty, misery, violence and war but also sex, humour and of course, Dublin. It's a great read, even if the plot does wander at times and the ending felt rushed.
It's amazing that Doyle portrayed an Irish rebel who has lots of sex, steals from the cause, doesn't believe in God and others who are gangsters, tyrants and anti-semites. That's practically blasphemy and very different from the traditional image of a virgin poet full of romantic ideals of Ireland. There's also women who do more than make tea and mourn the heroic men.
It's amazing that Doyle portrayed an Irish rebel who has lots of sex, steals from the cause, doesn't believe in God and others who are gangsters, tyrants and anti-semites. That's practically blasphemy and very different from the traditional image of a virgin poet full of romantic ideals of Ireland. There's also women who do more than make tea and mourn the heroic men.
jayrbradley's review against another edition
4.0
An odd but delightful fusion of Irish History, Forrest Gump, Les Miserables, and Catcher in the Rye. Roddy Doyle loses his step for a little bit once he loses control of the characters and is forced to be guided by history, but what you get by the end is a great meditation on the cycles of power and abuse, familial legacy, regret, trauma, and the dirty deeds and individual tragedies that historical mythology don't give us. Not sure if I'll read the following books in the series, but this works well as a standalone and has my recommendation to anyone who likes any of its inspiring parts, as it comes into its own as a whole.
hijayrow's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
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
4.0
neuroqueer_af's review against another edition
4.0
I love Roddy Doyle's dialogue. His voicing of Henry as a child slumlord is compelling and impossible to put down. There are some brilliant characters as well. Unfortunately, the momentum slows right down when explaining historical or social context for Irish Independence and Civil War, where he can no longer rely on dialogue.
kalianngibson's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
mrpatperkins's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Excellent book. Henry Smart is a well-developed character, and Ireland’s rough setting is appropriate for his adventure.
carrieliza's review against another edition
4.0
I like people named Henry.
I also like things that are from the British Isles.
So...win.
(seriously, a good book about a kid named Henry who survives when he shouldn't and fights for the Irish Republic.)
I also like things that are from the British Isles.
So...win.
(seriously, a good book about a kid named Henry who survives when he shouldn't and fights for the Irish Republic.)
thejadedreader's review against another edition
4.0
Not what I expected from Doyle but did that turn me off it? Absolutely not.
A Star Called Henry is a stark and bare bones look at the slum life in Ireland during the early 20th century where we follow Henry Smart from the time he's only a child crying for attention to when he's fighting for a country he couldn't give a shite about.
It's a story that seamlessly blends fiction with factual events and people who played a serious part in the Irish rebellion but shows them in an entirely new light and, if you're brushed up on your Irish history, will change your view on them.
At times I truly sympathised with Henry Smart. He's a man that grew up surrounded by violence and could never truly break away from that regardless of if he wanted to or not. This will have you clinging on until the end just to see where Henry ends up.
Doyle, once again, is on point with this one. The language and style he uses really brings the era to life and pulls you in, that being said even I, an Irishman, struggled to get to grips with this one. Sure look, different time, different slang wha'?
A surprise hit for me, not one I thought I'd enjoy so much but I suppose that only made it a whole lot better.
A Star Called Henry is a stark and bare bones look at the slum life in Ireland during the early 20th century where we follow Henry Smart from the time he's only a child crying for attention to when he's fighting for a country he couldn't give a shite about.
It's a story that seamlessly blends fiction with factual events and people who played a serious part in the Irish rebellion but shows them in an entirely new light and, if you're brushed up on your Irish history, will change your view on them.
At times I truly sympathised with Henry Smart. He's a man that grew up surrounded by violence and could never truly break away from that regardless of if he wanted to or not. This will have you clinging on until the end just to see where Henry ends up.
Doyle, once again, is on point with this one. The language and style he uses really brings the era to life and pulls you in, that being said even I, an Irishman, struggled to get to grips with this one. Sure look, different time, different slang wha'?
A surprise hit for me, not one I thought I'd enjoy so much but I suppose that only made it a whole lot better.
gilmoreguide's review against another edition
4.0
(4.5 stars)
There may be a lot about the reality of historical Ireland that I don’t like (being a woman and all), but fictionally, male Irish authors are some of the most lyrically gifted I’ve ever read. My longtime favorite was William Trevor (The Story of Lucy Gault, Death in Summer) and then this fall I added John Boyne (The Heart’s Invisible Furies, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas) and now, there is Roddy Doyle. The energy in his novel, A Star Called Henry, bursts off the page much in the way the main protagonist, Henry, races, dodges, crashes, roars, and charges through life.
Henry is a handsome one—so beautiful when he was born that his illiterate grandmother could suddenly read. By the time he was thirteen he was over six feet tall with eyes of a blue that made women swoon. His looks and surging life-force are the best of Henry’s life. Otherwise, he’s a mongrel whelp with a part-time father who is a bouncer and enforcer for a Dublin brothel and only has one leg, with the other being a wooden one that can beat a man to death. He disappears when Henry is still a little boy and his mother and the rest of his siblings are gone not long after, having been forced out of the hovel they were living in at the time and disappearing into Dublin’s slums. Henry is left to himself and lives on the streets, grifting and stealing whatever he can to stay alive. It’s the early 1900s and much like Henry, Ireland is infused with the desire to burn down the status quo and rule itself. He’s fourteen when he meets James Connolly and Michael Collins and takes part in the Easter Rising in Dublin, and once the fighting and mayhem are done he finds
...for the first time in days—a lifetime—I felt alive again. I felt the blood running through me:
I’d wrecked the place, brought it to its knees…I wanted to celebrate and cry.
A boy, who has been acted upon his entire young life is now able to act. It is a heady time for Henry as he becomes a captain in the new Irish Republican Army and a member of Sinn Féin. Suddenly, the skills that have kept him alive now have a purpose, getting the British out of Ireland at any cost.
The rest of this review is at The Gilmore Guide to Books: https://wp.me/p2B7gG-2xp
There may be a lot about the reality of historical Ireland that I don’t like (being a woman and all), but fictionally, male Irish authors are some of the most lyrically gifted I’ve ever read. My longtime favorite was William Trevor (The Story of Lucy Gault, Death in Summer) and then this fall I added John Boyne (The Heart’s Invisible Furies, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas) and now, there is Roddy Doyle. The energy in his novel, A Star Called Henry, bursts off the page much in the way the main protagonist, Henry, races, dodges, crashes, roars, and charges through life.
Henry is a handsome one—so beautiful when he was born that his illiterate grandmother could suddenly read. By the time he was thirteen he was over six feet tall with eyes of a blue that made women swoon. His looks and surging life-force are the best of Henry’s life. Otherwise, he’s a mongrel whelp with a part-time father who is a bouncer and enforcer for a Dublin brothel and only has one leg, with the other being a wooden one that can beat a man to death. He disappears when Henry is still a little boy and his mother and the rest of his siblings are gone not long after, having been forced out of the hovel they were living in at the time and disappearing into Dublin’s slums. Henry is left to himself and lives on the streets, grifting and stealing whatever he can to stay alive. It’s the early 1900s and much like Henry, Ireland is infused with the desire to burn down the status quo and rule itself. He’s fourteen when he meets James Connolly and Michael Collins and takes part in the Easter Rising in Dublin, and once the fighting and mayhem are done he finds
...for the first time in days—a lifetime—I felt alive again. I felt the blood running through me:
I’d wrecked the place, brought it to its knees…I wanted to celebrate and cry.
A boy, who has been acted upon his entire young life is now able to act. It is a heady time for Henry as he becomes a captain in the new Irish Republican Army and a member of Sinn Féin. Suddenly, the skills that have kept him alive now have a purpose, getting the British out of Ireland at any cost.
The rest of this review is at The Gilmore Guide to Books: https://wp.me/p2B7gG-2xp