Krishna
Roddy Doyle is a master in the depiction of brutal Irish poverty and the realities of Irish life, especially among the less privileged. His books cover varied topics and many of them have been reviewed here earlier. Oh Play That Sound and Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha are two such, if you want to look up our earlier reviews of some books by this author.
This book starts beautifully. Henry muses on his family. His grandmother was ‘old and leathery’ by forty. When she was twenty, she lost her family (to famine; they were reduced to eating grass in desperation to survive) and made her way to London. Being just fourteen then, she decides to offer her body to all for money to survive – she had never even been kissed till then. She was known just as Nash and no one knew of a second name for her. Her daughter, the mother of the narrator, Henry, was called Melody Nash. She too, grew up in poverty and had a lot of children. She was looking old and wasted just at thirty – She had and lost children – Henry (not the narrator but his elder brother who died and became the star in the title), Two Victors, Lil, and others.
Melody Nash spends all her adolescence in a factory, boring holes on prayer beads made out of cattle horns. When she finds Henry Smart drunk and fallen on the ground – she ran into him, she realizes how filthy his dress is, how unwashed he is and how he is missing one leg – and proceeds to marry him. No fairytale romance here, just poor, illiterate folk trying to survive in the world that shows no sympathy to them. The essence and background of many of Roddy Doyle’s books, it manages to impress you every time.
Henry Smart is a bouncer come ‘fixer’ in a brothel. He collects dues from people for others and part of his job is to kill those who are crooked, or simply those whom his masters want killed. When the first two (or three?) kids die, he is convinced that his crimes have everything to do with God’s punishment until little Henry, the narrator of the story is born strong. Unlike the dads in Irish author stories (remember Angela’s Ashes?) in this book Henry is very devoted to his family and loves his kids.
But when his deeds catch up with him, he is forced to flee. As a last act, he rescues Henry and Victor from being lynched when they heckle the British King coming in profession. They never see him and they don’t live at home either. They survive. The five year old and the three year old by being street smart. Realizing that this is not enough, Harry finds a way for him to joining a school for education, where the teachers realize that he is smart for his age.
He decides to run when trouble comes his way and there is a heartrending scene where he loses Victor to consumption. He then joins the Irish resistance army.
When that crumbles and most of his fellow soldiers are killed, he escapes through a manhole and the path in the sewers that his dad had taught him. Finds Annie and works in a series of mines with the help of a stevedore whom Annie ‘persuaded’ to give him a chance.
He then goes through being a revolutionary hero and follows Jack as the leader. Even though he does all the work and is ‘accepted’ by Jack as one of the inner circle, he gets no position or power in the new government. He simply is a worker ant, toiling to the glory of the coming Irish Republic.
A detour here : This has the style of Roddy Doyle alright but unlike everyday items that permeate his stories (Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha being an example) this one is bound into the Irish struggle for freedom as a constant backdrop. The loose connections to Sein Fenn is interesting.
He finds again and marries his erstwhile primary school teacher whom he knows as Ms O’Shea. She is also part of the rebellion and while they escape after an act of sabotage against the English army, she is shot multiple times. So is Henry Smart but not fatally.
They both recover, Henry very slowly.
Later they ambush the mercenaries who were brought from England. He was captured in his granny’s house, thrown in a cell and brutally tortured. When he was sure that he will die – and proud that he had not divulged anything to the torturers even when beaten repeatedly and tortured – he is saved by another prisoner who gave him the coat and so was mistaken for Henry Smart and hauled off to be killed.
Brutal stuff – not the usual Doyle territory but he travels here confidently, and it is still very interesting to read.
The story moves on as to how he escaped and also ends brilliantly. There are shades of the French Revolution, where the revolution turned to eat its own creators, and how Henry Smart found himself in trouble from all angles.
The ending is a bit heartbreaking and the nice tie to the brothel owner (the real one) who makes his way up in the new republic is effective.
All in all, another good read from the author and this one a bit more weighty than his earlier books and up there with Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha.
8/10
== Krishna