Oh, Play That Thing

The Last Roundup #2

by Roddy Doyle

It's 1924, and New York is the centre of the universe.Henry Smart, on the run from Dublin, falls on his feet. He is a handsome man with a sandwich board, behind which he stashes hooch for the speakeasies of the Lower East Side. He catches the attention of the mobsters who run the district and soon there are eyes on his back and men in the shadows. It is time to leave, for another America...Chicago is wild and new, and newest of all is the music.Furious, wild, happy music played by a man with a trumpet and bleeding lips called Louis Armstrong. His music is everywhere, coming from every open door, every phonograph. But Armstrong is a prisoner of his colour; there are places a black man cannot go, things he cannot do. Armstrong needs a man, a white man, and the man he chooses is Henry Smart.

Genres: Fiction, Irish Literature, Ireland, Historical Fiction, Novels, Literature, Historical

384 pages, Paperback

First published September 2, 2004

About the author

Roddy Doyle (Irish: Ruaidhrí Ó Dúill) is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. He won the Booker Prize in 1993.

Doyle grew up in Kilbarrack, Dublin. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from University College, Dublin. He spent several years as an English and geography teacher before becoming a full-time writer in 1993.

Reviews

[Kerry · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't think I can fully express how dissappointed I am. This novel was simply unnecessary.

It's prequel, A Star Called Henry, remains one of my favorite novels. Yet I'm afraid that this piece of writing falls far below Doyle's usual standards. If anything, the story has been taken too far for too long.

Removing Henry from his native Ireland was the first misstep - Take away the land and you remove an essential component of this character. It is impossible for me to believe that he is able to continue functioning without an Irish backdrop. It is in his blood, it is in his words, it is in his breath. Henry is a shell of a man without it. Attempting to turn him into an American is like trying to paint Uncle Sam as a Russian - It's awkward, it's wrong, and anyone familiar with the character at all will hate you for it.

While the foundation based around jazz music is a commendable idea, Doyle is not able to fully expound upon it. Do not include this element unless you intend to fully discuss it. Jazz cannot and will not be an accessory. Unless you are prepared to fill it out as a character in and of itself, jazz should not be included as such an important part of the narrative.

Lastly, I found the unceasing flashbacks into the previous novel unnecessary. Leave the past in the past. Henry himself lives within the moment and his narrative should follow that same example.

[Tony · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second book in a trilogy by Roddy Doyle. I read the first one, A Star Called Henry, about nine years ago. I went back to see my review of that first one (that's how I know how long ago I'd read it) but it was another of my non-review reviews and was therefore little help in getting my bearings. I know only that I was mildly entertained and that even though I had the next two volumes of the trilogy on my shelves, I was not in any apparent hurry. It turns out I was wise to wait.

This is not a good book. It's action-driven, but in a bad cinematic way. I'm plot-spoiling here a tad, but our protagonist has a gun (guns, actually) pointed at him and is told he will be executed and yet forty pages of talking must go on. We kind of know he won't actually be murdered (because there's a volume three). The author is fuzzy about how he gets out of it except - SHOCKER - the protagonist gets shot in the shoulder. He also, later, loses a leg. None of these things require medical attention.

Here's another scene: our protagonist breaks into a home at random in Chicago for thievery purposes, only to be accosted by the housemaid, who turns out to be his long-lost wife from Ireland who he hasn't seen in six years. Oh, and his confederate in the break-in was Louis Armstrong. So things got a little contrived. Doyle's Irish-isms sound fine; his African-American-isms just didn't ring true, even with the two pages of bibliography he claimed to learn it all from.

That said, there were moments of trademark Roddy Doyle humor: The pants weren't invented to hide my happiness. And he left me this profundity to contemplate: Your cock might not go with you into the afterlife. Or maybe I'm mixing Doyle up with Montaigne who I am reading simultaneously.

I also learned how to say Good night, love in Irish. Which I hope to use. Maybe tonight.

[Lea · Rating 1 out of 5]

In all fairness, I did not read the first part of this trilogy, so the moments when I felt lost during the novel, might be due to that. However, there was little to hold my interest in general. I thought the story was meandering, the characters thin, the women written horribly. I just did not care about Henry Smart one bit. It's full of action, and cinematic-driven, but since you're not engaged in the story, it all feels so pointless.

Several times reading this I had to ask myself "Roddy Doyle is generally a better writer than this, right? I know I loved some of his books so... what IS this?!"

[ΠανωςΚ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ανυπόφορο. Αδιανόητο πώς κατάφερε ο συγγραφέας* να κάνει τόσο βαρετή την ανάγνωση ενός βιβλίου με τόσο ενδιαφέρουσα θεματική (τυχοδιώκτης Ιρλανδός μετανάστης στις ΗΠΑ της ποτοαπαγόρευσης, της τζαζ, του Λούις Αρμστρονγκ κτλ.).
Ισως το ένα αστεράκι να είναι υπερβολικά αυστηρό, όμως πρώτον δεν αντέχω -αλλά πραγματικά δεν αντέχω, φάση βγάζω φλύκταινες- όσους γράφουν χρησιμοποιώντας μικρές προτάσεις** και δεύτερον πολύ συχνά εξαιτίας αυτών των πολύ μικρών προτάσεων δεν καταλάβαινα Χριστό, ειδικά στους διαλόγους, που μου φάνηκαν είτε κακομεταφρασμένοι είτε αφύσικοι (βεβαίως, είναι πολύ πιθανό απλώς να είμαι χαζός).

* Πριν από πολλά χρόνια είχα διαβάσει το Παντι Κλαρκ χαχαχα ή κάπως έτσι του ιδίου και το είχα ξεχάσει, τόσο αξιολησμόνητο μου είχε φανεί κι εκείνο.
** Ο μοναδικός συγγραφέας που μπορώ να σκεφτώ και να του συγχωρήσω τη μανιέρα των μικρών προτάσεων είναι ο Ελρόι - αλλά ο Ελρόι είναι ο Ελρόι, ο Μότσαρτ της λογοτεχνίας, δεν πα' να γράφει και με επιφωνήματα μόνο;

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

this is the underwhelming follow up to 'star called henry'. after following henry smart through the easter rebellion and the irish war for independence, dealing with boot-leggers and gangsters in chicago and new york pale in comparison and almost gimmicky in a 'flashman' kinda way. the difference is that when henry is in ireland he's living through it. when henry wanders through america, he's wandering through a bunch of cheap sets.

in terms of the structure, this seemed improvised. really interesting characters were introduced and then completely forgotten about or left behind after 30 pages never to be mentioned again. hmmph.

[Andria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a somewhat disappointing follow-up to A Star Called Henry. The sheer energy of Henry Smart pulls the reader through a sometimes hectic, sometimes maddeningly repetitive series of events, but if I hadn't grown fond of him in the first book of this promised trilogy (the third as yet unwritten), I would never have made it. I also felt like the basics of this work - settings and characters in particular - were not nearly as developed as in the predecessor. This is definitely not a stand-alone work, either. There are a series of flashback passages, but not enough to help a reader understand or appreciate Henry's past on their own. I also felt that there was little growth of Henry's character through the passage of time, that he was still very similar to his boyish version despite being detailed well into manhood.

But I still found the book enjoyable, mostly because I just wanted to know what was going to become of Henry. I'm eager for the third book and hope that the rushing pace that sped us through the Jazz Age and Great Depression will take a more thoughtful and contemplative turn during Henry's later years.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Agree with everyone - a very disappointing follow-up to a whale of a first book. Normally, I would never have slogged through the first 100 pages; it wasn't until Henry left NYC that I could focus in on the narrative thread. Then, it picked up steam, although never matching the pull and realism of the Irish-based adventures. Then, the last 30 pages/15 years. Hmmmm? Really? Is this Henry Smart or Forrest Gump without the photoshop?

Even Miss O'Shea - such a vibrant girl - was lackluster in America. Is there a third book still coming, five years later? And do I care? Such a shame.

[Maria Thomarey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Εξαιρετική η απεικόνιση της τζαζ Αμερικής

[Mattson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I am young and reading this, this seemed like more of an adult book. It had an adult plot, a lot of languidge. Although it had a good lesson, an adult lesson... (second time doing this...

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roddy Doyle continues the story of Henry Smart and Miss O'Shea in this sequel to "A Star Called Henry". The plot drags a bit at times. But I was constantly amazed at Doyle's vibrant characters and his gritty descriptions of struggling immigrants in Manhattan, the music scene in Chicago and the desperation of families caught up in the Great Depression. I am looking forward to the next book so I can find out what happens to Henry, Miss O'Shea and their children.

[A.S. Ember · Rating 1 out of 5]

Doyle makes such an effort to give his prose character that he forgets entirely to give it to his, you know, characters, and also runs foul of writing quite an obtuse and opaque narrative in favour of what he must have hoped was a “jazzy” narrative voice. As soon as our perfect and exceptionally handsome white protagonist was effortlessly winning over the Black community of Chicago I’d had enough.

[Brett · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel pretty down about giving this book such a low star rating, but Oh, Play That Thing was to me a substantial let down after A Star Called Henry, which I thought was excellent.

This is the second book of a trilogy. The first takes place in Ireland, where our protagonist Henry Smart is caught up in the fighting between the Irish Republican Army and the British. It's emotional and visceral and pulsing with a sense of place. At the end of it, Henry flees to America.

That's where Oh, Play That Thing is set, but it never has the same fire as A Star Called Henry. Henry lives in New York where he makes enemies with mobsters, and flees to different parts of the country, eventually settling in Chicago where he works for Louie Armstrong and is involved tangentially in the jazz scene, giving the novel its title.

Henry is certainly a larger than life character, but even for this character, the events of the book are far-fetched and hard to swallow. The emotional core of the first book is missing from this one, and Henry's profession of devotion to his wife and child are undercut by his actions at every turn. You might say that this is a purposeful irony though as a reader it just struck me as cognitive dissonance and helter skelter characterization.

The two star rating is objectively hard for me to really defend - this is certainly a cut above most of the airport paperbacks that I might rate that way. But compared to what I was expecting, it's a disappointment and the rating is reflective of that.

[Tim Blackburn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Satchmo

Pretty good and I enjoyed reading. Installment #2 of The Last Roundup Trilogy. This book is the continuation of Irish revolutionary Henry Smart. Interesting chronicle of Henry's adventures in the US with the backdrop of the Roaring 1920s and the Great Depression. The sense of despair during this time is poignantly captured and makes the reader realize the depth of despair in this era. Overall a solid novel.

[Paul Gleason · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's no wonder that Doyle's novel (and sequel to A Star Called Henry) features the father of jazz, Louis Armstrong. Oh, Play That Things finds Doyle in improvisational mode. It's his jazz novel about Henry's experiences in America between the wars.

The best thing that can be said about Play is that it's a page-turner - sort of in the Dickensian sense. Henry is larger-than-life, and he meets and becomes entangled with many of the key players from the age, including Armstrong, Al Capone, John Ford, and others.

But every page - while entertaining - seems implausible, especially when read in relation to Henry. The encounters with historical and fictional characters are coincidental - and, therefore, Doyle seems to have no idea where he's going with the plot.

In other words, there are too many chance encounters to make the plot (what there is of one) plausible.

This isn't necessarily a drawback. Doyle's a great writer - and his sentences are fine. So the book works as an uncontrolled, rollicking read.

But if you're the kind of reader who can't suspend disbelief (and the suspension of disbelief is VERY hard in this novel), Play isn't for you.

I also have to say that Play stands in stark contrast to Star in that Doyle's knowledge of American history is cursory at best, whereas his knowledge of Irish history is amazing. Whereas Star shines in historical range, Play doesn't reveal anything new about America.

Word has it that the third installment in the trilogy - The Dead Republic - is a return to the heights of Star. I'm looking forward to it.

[rubywednesday · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roddy Doyle is my favourite Irish writer and possibly my favourite writer period. The previous installment in this trilogy A Star Called Henry was one of the best books I've ever read and I was kinda anxious to start this one, because i was afraid it wouldn't leave up to expectations.
And it didn't.
The previous book ran along familiar historical events and placed the protagonist seamlessly in that period. He was young and larger than life and carried the novel.
This book sends Henry to New York and Chicago in the 1920's, and while that era feels familiar in a different way, the antics just weren't so believable.
It was still fun and evocative. The writing is fanatastic and the dialogue is sparse and well utilised. But it's missing the spark of the previous book. As a characters grows, I think we expect more of them. The messing and irresponsibiity that were charming in the first book grew tiresome in the second.
I expceted more and it just didn't deliver.
I can't fault the style or the historical details or the writing (although the last section felt too rushed) I just wised Doyle had done more with the wonderful character he created.

[Moravian1297 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm loving the story of Henry Smart, but unfortunately at times I find Roddy Doyle's writing style somewhat confusing and hard to follow.
Thankfully though, because of the excellent settings and the time and place it's set in history, along with just enough "normal" narration, I can keep going and not resort to the dreaded "DNF" situation. So even though, I'm sometimes confused as to what is happening, it soon irons itself out and I'm back on track.
It's because of this I've had to drop a star on the rating and I seem to have left just over a year between " A Star Called Henry" and "Oh Play That Thing". But the enjoyment of the story in OPTT far outweighed any fear from confusion in the writing style and it certainly won't be another year till I pick up "The Dead Republic".
I mean, an "on the run" Irish Republican soldier going on the lam with Louis Armstrong across America is absolutely a case of, what's not to like?
And without giving away any spoilers, the ending of OPTT, is probably the best ending of a book I've ever read, and I include Anthony Beavers book "The Battle For Berlin" in that (where the Nazis lose the war and Hitler shoots himself!).

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henry Smart in America: NYC, the Jazz scene and dust-bowl West seen by newcomer with no prior knowledge who is very quick on the uptake. The most intense part is where Henry becomes Louis Armstrong's sidekick; Henry and the author seem to be trying their best to understand what Louis Armstrong was like and what it was like being Louis Armstrong; but implicitly admitting that it's finally unknowable for both; Louis and his situation as a black genius in white-supremacist America are too complex.
Henry and his wife Miss O'Shea's encounters with gangsters in NYC and Chicago are pretty enjoyable, as is Henry's association with a female cult leader.
The section where Henry and his family ride the rails in the depression & dustbowl-era West is impressionistic going on sketchy, and while giving snapshots of the mass misery involved is pretty unaffecting.
The final section seems to imply that the film director John Ford was present at the Easter Rising, for no apparent reason.
On the whole a pretty good impressionistic novel of America between the wars, particularly in the 20s, with an unflagging narrative pace.

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is part two of the Henry Smart trilogy, and in it Henry and Miss O'Shea end up fleeing Ireland for the hope of America during the Jazz Age, and true to his almost Forrest Gumpesque ability to find his way into prominence, he ends up partnering with Louis Armstrong and, eventually and briefly (in this volume), director John Ford. Doyle's exceptional ability as a prose stylist keep this novel from being merely gimmicky and elevate it to the level of highly entertaining literature. The topic of race is dealt with in a particularly deft manner, I thought, and I was all prepared to give this novel five stars BUT the number of close calls and highly improbable escapes on Henry's part started to wear on me after a while and began to remind me less of the first novel of the trilogy (A Star Called Henry) and more of Irish comedic writing in the vein of Donleavy. Not that Doyle isn't a fine comedic writer--he is among the best--but the "now you're not gonna believe this, but then..." element was more understated in the first part than in the second.

[Foster · Rating 3 out of 5]

The follow-up to the awesome epic "A Star Called Henry", Doyle brings Henry Smart to the shores of New York City at the beginning of the roaring twenties. By depicting the rawness of life as our society once knew it, Doyle serves to remind us of how good we all have it. I'm hesitant to get into too many plot points for fear of revealing spoilers, but if you enjoyed "Star" you should read this sequel. For me, it didn't reach the same level of genius, but it was certainly well-crafted and unconventional in its form. In fact, it was refreshing to read something so direct.

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wirre Geschichte um einen jungen Iren, der in den zwanziger Jahren nach Amerika geht, Werbesprüche verkauft, Neger von Louis Armstrong wird, dann Hobo. Inzwischen mit Mutter seines irischen Kindes vereint. Dann Familie und Bein verliert. Zwischendurch viele Frauen und schließlich Henry Fonda und Ford bei Dreharbeiten zu My Darling Clementine kennenlernend. Der Schluß ganz nett, aber insgesamt: Was soll das?

5/10

[Bronwyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roddy Doyle's books both attract and repel me - in a good way. Stories of characters who face extraordinary hardships are unsettling, but the skills of the Author make reading them so rewarding.

[Dani Dányi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A trilógiák mindenkori középső részén teher, hogy az első kötet árnyékából kell előbújnia, vagy más esetekben (mint itt is) az első kötet ragyogásához mérettetik. Ez persze nem a könyv, hanem az olvasó, vagyis jó esetben inkább a szerző személyes problémája: hogyan kompenzálja az újdonság soha vissza nem téríthetőségét. Ha felskiccelek egy skálát, mondjuk „nagyon próbáltam szeretni a folytatást is, de … ” és „túltekerte a szerző” közötti kontinuumként, akkor itt sokkal inkább az utóbbi felé tendálunk. Az első Henry Smart történet cselekménye is őrületesen sűrű volt, viszont sikerült egységbe, és (a fél írországi történelmen keresztül, de) életútba passzírozni, ami másodjára nem annyira sikerült.
Henry Smart Amerikába menekül az előző élete, és a rá vadászó gyilkos ex-kollégák elől. New Yorkon és Chicagón át viszi a kalandokkal, gengszterkedéssel, nőkkel, ám kifejezetten vérszegény erőszak- és gyilkosság mutatóval. Új terepén Smart ugyan sikertelenül, de megpróbál jó útra térni, vagyis nem hord stukkert, hanem az éppen kibontakozó 20-as évek új és ismeretlen fogyasztói kultúrájában igyekszik megcsinálni a szerencséjét. A reklám és marketing sajnos nem válik el a szervezett bűnözéstől, így folyton tovább kényszerül állni, és minduntalan meg akarják gyilkolni, ír, olasz, zsidó és efféle maffiózók. Chicagóban sorozatos, jól irányzott véletlenek Louis Armstrong mellé vetik, és kettőjük együttműködése igazán a legjobb része (majd' felét teszi ki) ennek a könyvnek, amiben minden hihetetlenül sűrű és kidolgozott mind nyelvileg, mind hátterében – mégis minden megmarad epizodikus Henry Smart életében.
Bitang nagy meló lehet ebben a szövegben, Roddy Doyle pedig nem aprózza el, több oldalnyi bibliográfiát sorol fel a végén, nagyrészt a 20-as évek amerikai jazz- és popkultúra témájában, el nem tudom képzelni mit csinált azzal a több folyóméternyi könyvvel, de hogy még írni is tudott közben, és nagyon jól, az is igazán figyelemreméltó dolog.
Smart és Armstrong, az ír és a néger története a nyilvánvaló kultúr-hekkelésen túl egészen kiváló belátást ad a korabeli amerikai rasszizmus kevéssé nyilvánvaló bugyraiba. A zeneipar épp felfedezi magának a fekete zene új fogyasztói rétegét mint piacot, és ebben sincs kiseb pénz, mint az illegális szeszben (prohibíciót írunk még mindig) és a haszonért a szokásos erős emberek nyújtják be az igényt. Aztán onnét is jobb hamar továbbállni.
Közben jönnek-mennek az emberek (vagyis nők, több színben és fazonban) Henry életében. Egyikükkel odáig fajul a helyzet, hogy vallást alapítanak, vagyis nem hogy úgy egyszerre, de valahogy sikerül ráérezni erre a piaci-kulturális résre is. Amerika spirituális igényeire újfajta termékeket állítanak elő. Vicces lenne, bár hátborzongató is. Feltérképezi a fogyasztói mentalitás mélységeit, a hatalmi játszmákat, onnan épp, ahol a rassz és zeneipar problémánál félbemaradt. Aztán csak tovább kell futni.
Bármilyen hihetetlen, mindeközben vn ebben egy családtörténet is, mármint a szerelmetes Smartné, és gyerekek. Egymással és ��letveszélyekkel bújócskáznak végig, lényegében.
Ez a folytonos menekülés, a sok hirtelen megszakítás tulajdonképpen a könyv vezérszála lehet: maga a szöveg is sokat ugrál, egyrészt vissza az előző kötetbe hosszas idézetek erejéig (ami engem inkább zavart, hisz' nemrég tettem le az idézett szöveget, bah, nembaj), másrészt a cselekmény időrendjét is kevergeti bár a fősodor egyirányú marad: gyakran egymásra rétegződnek néhány bekezdésenkénti váltással más-más jelentetek, nem időrendben, de általában érthető valamilyen összetartó motívum. De nem mindig sajnos, és ez a tudatosan előidézett dezorientáció kifejező nagyon, ám nem segít az olvasónak hogy az amúgy is széthulló cselekményt még külön szét is csapja a narrátor. Amúgy nem gondolom, hogy az olvasót tenyerén kell hordozza a szerző, csak itt már kétféle módon is kicsavar egy olyan történetet, ami mégiscsak attól lenne érdekes, hogy egybefügg.
Az utolsó fejezet egészen más megint, itt a bújkáló, csövező Smart családot utoléri az amerikai rögvalóság, a nagy gazdasági válság és a tehervonatokon ezrével tengődő nyomorultak egyre sötétebb és irányt vesztett élete. Smart eltéved, és bolyong, mint valami legatyásodott Forrest Gump. Tetten érhető nem kevés kesernyés önirónia is (hál'istennek!) ahogy teljesen a vakvéletlen, vagyis a szerző kegyeinek kiszolgáltatva, de újabb kötethez hagyja (nyilván) nyitva a cselekményt.
Nem is tudom, mit szóljak. Ez egy egészen rendkívüli könyv, óriási és gazdag téma-anyaggal dolgozik, pörgősek a párbeszédek, teli van ínyencségekkel. Ugyanakkor nem sikerült jól összerakni.
Mi lesz ebből? Henry Smart felfedezi magának a motorbicikli-bandák amúgy passzentos szubkultúráját? Vagy rehabilitálják, és ő lesz az első ír űrhajós? Netán levezényli a háttérből a hidegháborút? Meg nem tudnám mondani, ő meg talán végképp nem. Muszáj lesz elolvasni a harmadikat is.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Last Roundup is starting to feel like a lost cause. I'm a completist so I'm plodding on, but Doyle's part-Irish antihero frontier novel, part Armstrong Biopic didn't chart for me.

It's packed full of incident and the pages kept turning, only there was so many of them, and it described a lot of running away by the surprisingly anonymous Henry (S.) Smart. Neither the plot nor the protagonist seem to point in any particular direction. Less forgivable, Louis Armstrong felt two-dimensional. It's hard to pinpoint, but page 375 (this is twice the length it should be) gives a clue. Doyle lists an extensive set of period reading, ranging from academic histories to Upton Sinclair. It feels like Doyle might have skimmed a lot of these for source material - admirable to a point - but not fully reasserted it into a truly masterful alternative collage reality. The reasons for Armstrong's marriage breakups, the explanation for his avoidance of white management, his struggle to be seen to the level that matched the applauded talents - they're all there. Still, Armstrong was a paper man in this book.

There is a scene from the 1930s that feels fairly well lifted from Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath'. My advice would be to stick with the latter. On the jazz and blues musicians of this era, many times better is Geoff Dyer's 'But Beautiful'. This similarly combines fact and fantasy into 'imaginative fiction', but does so incredibly skillfully at the point where fabrication has its place. Dyer reads histories, much like Doyle's, but soars where Doyle drags the floor. The difference is Dyer's sense of character, woven together with a clear and concise reading on the people, who leap out of the page in a way that Doyle can't quite muster.

The best bits are where Doyle gets into the music, recapturing his fanclub style where he gets so excited it would make Paul Gambaccini take a breath. Doyle's never going to win the Bad Sex in Fiction Award either, so for as long as this sticks to music or getting it on, I got it.

Admittedly, for the rest (and the majority), I'm not a fan of punch-up fiction, westerns, or swaggering shows of male bravado. That Smart is a whole lot dumber than he thinks, and irritating into the bargain, doesn't hugely help. I got close to not really caring if he did die at one stage and the fact I didn't care was worse. Generally I flicked through with moderate enjoyment, at least for the first two-thirds, but it did drag and I did start wishing the pages away.

Doyle's Barrytown and Paula Spencer series have held my attention and I would rate the best of each as modern classics. Thankfully I got to these first, because if I'd begun with 'The Last Roundup', at least as far as Doyle went, it would probably have been the last straw.

[Huw Rhys · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm increasingly finding Roddy Doyle to be a very hit and miss sort of author - not only from novel to novel, but from chapter to chapter, or paragraph to paragraph even.

And whilst this book did have the odd paragraph that grabbed, and a section towards the middle of the book - where our protagonist is engaged with Louis Armstrong - which approached Doyle at his best, the book as a whole is undoubtedly a huge miss.

Shame - the first book of this trilogy, where we first meet our protagonist, Henry Smart, is one of Roddy Doyle's better efforts. You would have thought he would have stuck to much the same formula to deliver the follow up, but for some reason, he launches into prose which falls somewhere between a Joycean stream of consciousness and a drunken like Dylan Thomas cynghaneddol spiel (don't know what a cynghanedd is? Well, you can look it up or just think of the sloeback, slow black, crowblack fishing boat bobbing sea off the coast of Llareggub). And somewhere between Joyce's Dublin and Thomas' Laugharne (or Llareggub) would be half way across the Irish Sea. It's dark, it's hard to navigate, it's rough and it's a long way from anywhere. About as unfathomable as it gets. Just like this novel.

And why? The conceit is pretty much the same as the first novel - a likable if slightly edgy hero, prone to disaster, finds himself once again in the middle of well known historical events, with well known historical figures. And in the majority of the part of the book he's with Louis Armstrong, there is the makings of an extremely engaging story here. But almost as soon as you start to enjoy the story, we disappear off into this weird, disjointed half narrative which leaves us completely ignorant to what's going on, who's involved in it, and where in time and space it's taking place. It's just unconnected words, the drivel that a lot of us seem to spout when we're not in complete control of our faculties.

It's almost as if there's a key, a secret code, that some people have been let into, but the rest of us are completely in the dark about. When a group of close mates start "phnaar, phnaaring" to one another about a series of age old in jokes. It's a bit like that. A lot like that in fact - far too much like that to make this book even vaguely enjoyable for 80% of the reading.

Henry Smart returns to Ireland in the final stage of the trilogy - let's hope the author regains his grasp on reality too.

[Marcella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apparently it took me exactly one year and one week to read this book. That should give you an indication of my feelings.

A Star Named Henry was an energetic tall tale about a part of history I knew nothing about, the Irish Rebellion. I got a real feeling for the people and insider-politics of the time. But take the Irishman out of Dublin and put him in gangster New York and Chicago, and then heap race relations, the Jazz age and Louis Fucking Armstrong himself into the mix, rounded off with the Cliffs Notes of a high school American history class of the Great Depression, and this book is just a hot mess. I have no strong feelings about Louis Armstrong, but the idea that the Zelig of this book, an Irish immigrant who gets by only with his fists and feet, “helped make” Armstrong the man that he was, is actually offensive.

I enjoyed the first third of the book, a more straightforward tale of an immigrant’s experience with America in the early twenties, waaaaay more interesting than the mess of strange characters and unbelievable coincidences it eventually becomes.

[Noah Oanh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about an Irish guy who was fighting a whole life for his country's independence, his identity and his family. A bit sad at the end when he was still by himself and still wandering around to figure out finally who is him, what he would live for?

If you have used to Roddy Doyle, you may like this book too - he gonna tell you a lot about Irish people, Irish culture, Irish slangs (a lot of cursed words!), Irish war and how the country has still suffered many years after that... I did not read the first book of the series about Henry Smart yet so I don't have a big picture to review here but no doubt the other two were not bad at all.

I love the way he put Louis Amstrong into the story, the one had the music that could win any races, the one that has met Henry Smart - a lost Irish guy in America, has trusted him, was friend with him and then left him for good. What a man, what a book!

[Robert Bolton · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Roddy Doyle's writing but I couldn't finish this book. For a start I couldn't relate to the 'hero' --a Irish gangster (really?) --being in America. He was so obviously out of place. Maybe the author was trying to capture an American audience comprising those weird Americans who think they love the Irish so much while understanding them so little. Perhaps he thought he could succeed by writing a very very American ('twenties, prohibition, gangsters, Jazz) novel. I don't know. Whatever he thought he was writing, and whomever he thought he was appealing to, the fact is that, personally, it was a novel I just couldn't understand. What's all about? Why? The characters are all over the shop. Really, too much like hard work. I admit I haven't read 'A Star Called Henry' -- perhaps I should have read that first -- but sorry, Mr Doyle, too late. 'Oh, Play That Thing' has put me right off your Henry.

[Federica Modena · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Potevo imboscarmi a New York. Lo capii subito, già dalla nave, quando passò sotto la statua della libertà…
Perfino i più piccoli intuivano che non era il momento di lasciarsi prendere dall’eccitazione e se ne stavano zitti, mentre la scia del Reliance mandava piccole onde ad infrangersi sulla costa e su quell’enorme femmina di pietra - mandateli da me i senzatetto sballottati dalla tempesta- e i genitori e i nonni tremavano al cospetto del Nuovo Mondo e cercavano di capire se quello che stavano guardando era il davanti o il didietro. Ero l’unico uomo solo, l’unico che non aveva paura di quello che si stava avvicinando e si faceva sempre più grande davanti a noi. Qui sì che un uomo poteva sparire, poteva morire, se voleva, e poi tornare alla vita, grande e bella.”
Un libro molto ambizioso che in un susseguirsi di piccole e rocambolesche vicende private narrate con estrema vividezza riesce ad avere un respiro universale.
Ottima scoperta!

[Fred Clough · Rating 3 out of 5]

By comparison with the first volume in the trilogy (A Star Called Henry) this was a disappointment. The (fictional) idea of Henry Smart as a kind of companion and factotum for Louis Armstrong was amusingly handled. But much of the novel is written in a curiously rhythmical and colloquial prose, which is intended to echo the cadences of black American speech and some aspects (the sudden improvisations, lyrical riffs) of jazz or blues music. In a novel such as Toni Morrison's Jazz, such a style is part and parcel of what the novel is conveying, and is wholly successful. Here I found it more of a distraction, and it sometimes obscured the narrative to an alarming degree. If the Amazon blurb is anything to go by, I won't be rushing to read the final volume of the trilogy, where apparently our hero is back in Ireland.

[Heather(Gibby) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Two in the The Last Roundup Trilogy. This book starts with Henry Smart arriving in America after running away from his life in the IRA in Dublin.

Henry then meets up with Louis Armstrong and becomes his "white man" and lives an exciting life while Mr. Armstrong rises to stardom, however Henry's past catches up with him an he is forced to run.

Their are a lot of coincidences in this book, and one them happens to be that the house that he choses to rob is the home where his ex wife resides as a lvi in maid. They briefly reconcile, but Henry follows Mr. Armstrong and leaves her behind.

The thugs who are after Henry eventually catch up to him, and just as he is about to be executed, his wife comes to his rescue and frees him. They then go on the run at a time when the dust bowl has hit America and they survive by riding the rails and doing small gigs from time to time and begging and robbing as the needs arise. Henry falls off a train trying to keep his son from falling, and gets separated from his wife and children, and the last bit of the book has Henry going form town to town trying to find his family. He collapses in the desert, only to be revived by a film rew who are there to fild a Henry Ford moving about Wyatt Earp, and need Henry to fill in a role in the movie,

Not sure I want to continue to the last book of the series if this fanciful coincidence based plot is going to be the driving force once again.