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Summary: A must-read for anyone who loves the irish and Ireland
Review: Brilliant Stuff. Roddy Doyle gives us three stories of a family filled with a purity of heart, a pragmatic outlook on life, and hilarious tragedy. "The Commitments" introduces you to this close-knit family in the Barrytown suburb/slum of Northern Ireland. Many saw the movie, but as always it is nothing when compared to the book. Each story has its own appeal, but they really shine when read in conjunction with the others in the series.You will read each again and again. What I love best about Doyle's writing style is his use of phonetic spelling to capture the accents of his characters. I was "thinking" in another tongue for weeks, and loving it!
Rating: 
Summary: extemely enjoyable
Review: Buy this, read this, sit back and enjoy. Its all here. Life in a nutshell. The only thing that bothers me, and it has nothing to do with the books, is that they couldn't use the real names of the characters in the movie version of "The Snapper". But like I said that has nothing to do with the books. I read these all seperately, but I feel this trilogy will make a great gift idea come the holiday season. Also check out Roddy Doyle's "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha", which also takes place in Barrytown.
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Summary: Hysterical
Review: Each one of these stories is outstanding. As a collection: superb. The dialect will divert some readers, but those who stay with it will have have a thoroughly enjoyable time.
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Summary: "You have to be from Ireland!"
Review: I bought this Trilogy, as it was recommened to me via a writing club...
I alway's enjoy stories about ordinary family life!
I was looking forward to the arrival of this book.. Being British born, I felt sure I would enjoy this book having alway's enjoyed Authors... "Maeve Binchy" "Marie Walsh" and Brendan O Carroll" wonderful writers, who capture the spirit of Ireland! The first story in this Trilogy, "The Commitments, was impossible for me to get through..The slang and vulgar language was not understandable, I couldn't understand what they were saying, Thus the tale was lost on me. I would not recommend "The Commitments! "The Snapper" was a much better story, and quite enjoyable..
The last one..."The Van." Was also quite good with the continuing saga of the "Rabbitte Family".. Maybe I am in the Minority here, But I wish someone else had written the downside of these stories!
I read them, as I wanted to be clear in my evaluation..
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Summary: Re: The Van
Review: I just belatedly read The Van (as a stand-alone book, not as part of a trilogy). Comments:
1. Excellently written. The style and page layout (lots of white space, rather than longwinded text) made it a very easy book for anyone to pick up and read, quickly and enjoyably.
2. The adventures that Jimmy Sr and Bimbo had in the van could have been made a bit more unusual and unexpected by the author, but that was a decision for the author to make. The book was fine, contents-wise, as it stood, simply concentrating on humdrum events such as the pair might have met with in real life rather than anything much more unusual.
3. The ending could have been made a bit better, I felt. The ending wasn't sufficiently long, sufficiently climactic or necessarily logical. My only real criticism was the ending. It could have been better. The book rather tailed off anti-climactically.
4. There is no 4.
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Summary: The least Oirish of Irish novelists
Review: It may seem unlikely now, but when Roddy Doyle's The Commitments was first published in 1987 it was the first Irish novel in years that represented the way people actually spoke, actually drank, actually spent an evening out, actually failed to have big sensitive inner issues trembling for expressiveness and so on. It was already a bit dated in its picture of the bottom level of Irish music (bands wouldn't be heard dead playing soul back then, they were all buying digital delay pedals and trying to sound like U2) but nobody could deny that Doyle had the best ear in the country. Well, actually they could, and did, but neither he nor his readership paid any attention. (Doyle is the only living "literary" writer in Ireland to have a seriously major working-class readership.) In my opinion, these books get better as you go along - though the film of The Snapper is far superior to the other two. Doyle got a lot of stick from Irish reviewers for not showing working-class Dublin life as a vicious urban hell, but his excuse was that it wasn't, not all the time anyway; the fractious but ultimately loyal Rabbittes are representative. (Interesting that when he did show a darker version of this life - in the TV series Family - he got attacked for being unrealistic.) Doyle writes better dialogue than any Irish novelist alive; I suspect he learned the value of it from American realism, and from the theatre company (Passion Machine) he used to write plays for, rather than from the previous generation of Irish novelists. His faithfulness to what the eye sees and the ear hears, as opposed to what the tradition demands, marks him as a distinctly un-Irish writer, even if his material is strictly here and now. He's a new voice, and thank God in these times of green and muddy Irish writing, an urban one (believe me, reading these books is _not_ like being in a village pub). All hail. Mine's a short.
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Summary: Great Gas, Tha'
Review: Jimmy, Jr.'s band, Sharon's (way) out-of-wedlock baby, Jimmy Sr.'s mid-life crisis - these are the events that we follow with great interest as the story of the Rabbitte family of Barrytown unfolds. We can't help but laugh and empathize with this Irish working class clan as they struggle (raucously, emotionally, obscenely) through the pathos, trials and rewards of their lives. Doyle attacks the pride and prejudice of his kinsmen with cutting humor and compassion. These characters not only come alive off the pages - they live very deeply in what may otherwise appear to be a superficial existence. There is no high gloss sheen to cover over the harsh edges and sore spots - the picture is real and complete, and much funnier because of it. Good for you, Roddy Doyle, The Barrytown Trilogy is great gas, tha'. Grand, really.
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Summary: Wonderful on details but over all it never gets anywhere.
Review: Roddy Doyle is a best selling author and thoroughly Irish, writing about the Irish. When you look at the details that make up his characters there is something wonderful about them, little touchs that make them intricate and interesting. But when you get to the end of the story you're back at the beginning: the characters have been through the story but they haven't gotten anywhere. Perhaps this is the pessimistic Irish view. Maybe Mr. Doyle really thinks things never change and that a work of literature should reflect that. But I happen to think that at the end of a story the characters should have changed or been changed. The plot of all three novels can be summarized as: things happen and then the rug gets pulled out from under the characters. And Mr. Doyle is so inventive in how he pulls the rug out! I just wish he'd find something else to do. I found _The Van_ to be my favorite. There something of the classic tragic-comedy. Like all classic tragedies the failure is inherent in the characters. But unlike classic tragedy the characters who have the fatal flaw are normal people riddled with other flaws. And there is something almost funny (the comedic part) about the classic rules of tragedy applied to characters who do not fit the classic discription of the tragic hero. But at the end the characters are still just who, and where, they were when they started; and that depresses me.
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Summary: Never mind The Bollocks; It's The Rabbittes!
Review: Roddy Doyle must be some kind of genius...I was absolutely hooked right from page 1 of The Barrytown Trilogy, which collects Doyle's three books about The Rabbitte family, a large, loving clan in working-class Dublin, Ireland. The first book is The Commitments, which details the efforts of young Jimmy Rabbitte Jr. to form a soul band, not an easy task in mid-80's Ireland. The second book, The Snapper, revolves around Jimmy Jr.'s sister Sharon; She's pregnant (Out of wedlock), and won't reveal who the father is. The final book, The Van, centers on their recently unemployed dad, Jimmy Sr.; He teams up with his pal Bimbo to buy a Chip Van, and hilarity ensues... Doyle peppers the books with Irish slang that might slide right past most American readers, but don't let that deter you; You'll be up to speed in no time. The characters are wonderfully written, and it's a real joy to read about a LOVING Irish family for a change. I laughed out loud more times than I could count, and I loved the book so much I finished it in no time. And then I was sad it was over....Highly recommended. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll wish you were a Rabbitte!
Rating:
Summary: Exellent
Review: This is one of the best books that you could ever read and the only thing better than reading them is watching them on video. I have watched "The Snapper" about 10 times and still cry with laughter. Well worth the read and if you are feeling down watch any of the videos
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