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Title: The Commitments by Roddy Doyle ISBN: 0-679-72174-6 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 17 July, 1989 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (15 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Inspiring, Real & Always Funny
Comment: If you are in a band, want to be in a band, or just like bands you should read this book. It's a story about Jimmy, an Irish kid who loves music and wantes to use R&B to put North Dublin music on the map. Along the way you get to meet his hillarious family and catch a glimpse into Barrytown, the working class suburb where he lives. The Commitments takes you from the idea of putting together a band, through the practice sessions and into a possible record contract -- and it's not all pretty! It's an easy, quick read since it's mostly conversation, but be weary because once you race through it you'll want to read the rest of the Barrytown Trilogy (The Snapper & The Van) to see the characters again.
Rating: 3
Summary: An Amusing Read
Comment: "The Commitments," by Roddy Doyle, is an entertaining and humorous work that portrays youth and its tenacious energy to survive and to become better and wiser. The characters in the novel are perfect examples of youth's foibles, victories, and persistence as they form a band, break up, and then try to start another one. The plot of a group of hotheaded Irish working class youth endeavoring to bring Soul into Dublin by forming a Soul band is fertile ground for Doyle to let his humor radiate. As the novel is mostly dialogue between the dozen or so characters, what they say and how they say it is the focal point of the humor in the novel. For example, when Jimmy, the manager of "The Commitments" goes off about how Soul is a "double-edged sword," sex being one edge and "REVOLUTION" the other, or when Joey the Lips (the saxophone player) shares that the biggest regret of his life was that he wasn't born "black," Doyle's humor is sharp, and even charming, despite the fact that the text is frequently laced with profanity and slang. In short, Doyle's development of the characters' personalities is what makes the novel come alive. For example, trying to imagine a group of Irish youth groove to Marvin Gaye and James Brown is quite amusing. Moreover, through the characters' dialogue, the reader participates in the band's rise and fall as they pioneer in bringing Soul into Ireland. The optimism and humor evident in the band's enterprise is the soul of the novel, and the band-members' youthful tenacity and hotheaded blunders add to the charisma in "The Commitments."
Rating: 5
Summary: Swinging!
Comment: Dublin soul music jumps right off the pages of this book. It's a light read - the literary equivalent of a feel-good movie - but a good one. And the good feeling will stay with you after you've put the book down.
The style is very direct, a lot of conversation, as Roddy Doyle chronicles the struggles of Jimmy Rabbitte as he tries to put a soul band together.
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Title: The Van by Roddy Doyle ISBN: 0140171916 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: August, 1993 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Snapper by Roddy Doyle ISBN: 0140171673 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 1993 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock by Nik Cohn ISBN: 0802138306 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 04 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Glimpses by Lewis Shiner ISBN: 0312267436 Publisher: Griffin Trade Paperback Pub. Date: 12 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music by Simon Frith ISBN: 0674661966 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: April, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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