Some novelists run the risk of overstaying their welcome, perhaps overwriting due to indulgence in a particular character or scenario. Roddy Doyle (Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha) never feels like one of those writers. His stories, from short fiction to novels, are tightly wound coils of energy, humor and insight, waiting to spring on us. Smile is another stellar example of Doyle's brand of dense, kinetic storytelling. In just over 200 pages, Doyle manages to tell us something startling, funny and strange about the nature of human tragedy and pain.

Smile follows Victor, a recently separated writer living on his own for the first time in years. Victor spends his evenings having a pint at the local pub, until this quiet ritual is interrupted by Fitzpatrick, an obnoxious and seemingly inescapable man who claims they were schoolmates. Victor can't remember Fitzpatrick, but he can remember his Catholic school days, and suddenly the trauma of what happened there begins trickling back into his mind. As Doyle jumps between past and present, Victor's life spools out before us, building to a startling realization that shakes him to his core.

Doyle has a particular talent for humor and dialogue, but he also has the rare quality of being able to balance an economy of language with a dense sense of perception. Not a word is wasted here, and there aren't many to waste. This is a gift, and it's one Doyle harnesses with particular power in Smile. This drives the book at an almost fever pitch, practically daring you to turn each page and see what kind of incisive character wisdom he's about to impart next. By the end, even if you think you know what's coming, you will be dumbstruck by the storytelling prowess at work. Smile is a brief, brilliant, frenzied reading experience that only Roddy Doyle could deliver.

 

This article was originally published in the November 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Irish author Roddy Doyle delivers a daring narrative about the power of the past with his 11th novel, Smile. After a breakup with his wife, Victor Forde leads a solitary life as a writer, and he begins frequenting a local pub, where he meets a man named Ed Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick claims to remember Victor from school and is familiar with his personal history. After this strange encounter, Victor goes home to his apartment, where he's soon lost in the maze of memory, recalling his student years at Christian Brothers school. In the days to come, as Victor continues to encounter Fitzpatrick and to recall his youth, an alarming discovery regarding his past brings about the book's unforgettable finish. Doyle, the Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, has written an electrifying novel that explores the importance—and imprecision—of memory. With its surprising conclusion, this haunting book will spur fascinating conversations.

 

This article was originally published in the October 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

In Booker Prize winner Doyle's latest, a novel about the vagaries of memory, Victor Forde is enjoying a pint at his favorite pub when a loudmouth in a pink shirt reminds him that they went to school together. Victor is thus forced to recall many painful things—not just his now-famous wife and a terrible gaffe he committed on live radio but his five years with the Christian Brothers and one Brother in particular who affected him deeply.

As controversial Irish radio commentator Victor Forde, 54, contemplates his life, he often returns to the five painful years he attended St. Martin's Christian Brothers School. What remains these 38 years later are fearful memories of cruel classmates and teachers prone to unpredictable violence. Newly single and intent on ingratiating himself with a group of regulars at his neighborhood bar, Victor forces himself out of his dingy apartment every evening to meet and mingle. When an odd duck by the name of Fitzpatrick confronts Victor one night, claiming to be a schoolmate, he pushes Victor to revisit his worst nightmares. Readers anticipating Doyle's trademark wit and warmth will instead encounter a psychological mystery with an enigmatic ending that will have them flipping to the beginning looking for clues. Doyle's ability to convey so much meaning through rapid-fire dialog in the Irish vernacular is unsurpassed. His commentary about the Catholic Church, sexuality, and repression is searing. VERDICT This slim novel may not evoke many smiles, but the masterly language and honesty make the grim subject matter bearable. [See Prepub Alert, 4/10/17.]—Christine Perkins, Whatcom Cty. Lib. Syst., Bellingham, WA

The latest novel from the Booker Prize–winning author of Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha explores the intricate psychology and history of a failed Irish writer who has recently separated from his famous wife. Having rented a cheap apartment in the unnamed Irish hometown he'd left behind, Victor Forde passes his bleary nights at Donnelly's, a nondescript local pub where he soon runs into a forgotten, ornery schoolmate, Fitzpatrick. From there, the book's structure takes some twists and turns as Fitzpatrick forces Victor through difficult recollections of his Christian Brothers school years, his poignant courtship of his celebrity chef wife, and the controversial pro-choice radio interviews that made him infamous. A revelation brings the relationship between Victor and Fitzpatrick to a violent conclusion, leading to an ambiguous twist ending sure to spark debate in readers. Doyle skillfully depicts the triumphs and tragedies of the everyday, how the aging process humbles and ennobles, and how a single hasty decision made in one's youth can define and destroy a mind and thus a life. (Oct.)