The Guts

September 30, 2013
Booker Prize–winner Doyle returns with this hilarious and tender pseudo-sequel to The Commitments. Jimmy Rabbitte—last seen as the brash, young manager of the Commitments—is now middle-aged. He’s still kicking around Dublin, married, with four kids, and working as a reasonably successful promoter of nostalgia bands—one-hit wonders that have been generally forgotten. When Jimmy is diagnosed with bowel cancer, however, he finds himself suddenly reevaluating his life, his decisions, and his legacy. While Jimmy endures his treatments, he must also contend with a tanking Irish economy that is drying up jobs (and potential music sales); his kids, who act out as they struggle with their dad’s diagnosis; and the Pope’s scheduled visit to Ireland, which Jimmy is sure he can find a way to make money on. Only two other Commitments make significant appearances in Doyle’s latest. Imelda, the most desirable Commitmentette, is still turning heads in middle age. And Jimmy reunites with Outspan, his old rhythm guitarist, outside a chemotherapy center where they are both, coincidentally, seeking treatment. While clearly dealing with more serious issues than its predecessor, Doyle’s witty and lively ninth novel still captures much of the fun of The Commitments, even as the Commitments themselves struggle with a notably more sobering world around them. Agent: John Sutton, John Sutton Management.

November 1, 2013
In this entertainingly chatty novel, the Irish author revisits some characters from the well-received debut that launched his career, but he isn't quite sure what to do with them. The publication of The Commitments (1987) established Doyle as a master of the Irish vernacular, earning its place on the short shelf of great rock novels and inspiring a movie that reached an even wider audience. The prolific author has since written some novels that are even better than the first, though his recent output has been more erratic. This represents a return to form, not quite a sequel to that debut and not quite as good but a novel that shows how the musical generation he chronicled earlier is now dealing with mortality, family, nostalgia and all sorts of issues of getting older but not necessarily smarter (or, in some cases, happier). Protagonist Jimmy Rabbitte, who formed and managed the Commitments, is still a musical hustler, but now his racket is reuniting and reissuing music from bands of that earlier era, many of whom he holds in great contempt. It seems that even in the midst of an economic downturn, "[t]he middle aged are still finding the money to fund their nostalgia." There's a hilarious middle-aged, punk-rock duo--a married couple who break up (the band at least) during every session--and there's another very funny episode about Jimmy's response to one of his more popular musicians and the affair that musician seems to be conducting with a young staffer--which requires a series of apologies when Jimmy discovers that he has misjudged the relationship entirely. Much of the book is very funny, audaciously so, considering that Jimmy is suffering from bowel cancer, undergoing chemo (while reading Chemotherapy & Radiation for Dummies), cheating on his saintly wife and watching while the country's entire economy goes down the toilet. Yet, it is full of loose ends--a reconciliation with his brother, the attempt to fake a recording from 1932--that the author never ties together, perhaps since Jimmy's is not the sort of tidy life. Whatever its novelistic flaws, the rock criticism and pop-culture insights are sharp throughout.

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Starred review from November 1, 2013
Jimmy noticed how much he liked old songs that he'd always thought were shite. Decades of solid opinion were turning to mush. Happily married, with four great kids and a dream job, Jimmy Rabbitte may have mellowed just a bit since his days managing the Commitments (The Commitments, 1989). However, a diagnosis of bowel cancer makes him reflective, even a little nostalgic. Jimmy finds that his gallows humor doesn't go over well with his kids, who act out in response to their da's condition. For Jimmy, everything is grand, even when it isn't. Booker Prize winner Doyle revisits the Rabbitte family of his Barrytown trilogynow with 25 members attending Christmasalong with its at-times incomprehensible North Dublin dialogue. Doyle expertly evokes the generational confusion over new technologies (especially texting), the sentimentality of children growing up way too fast, and the sobering fear and anxiety of living with a potentially fatal diseaseall this without being overly morbid or maudlin and while maintaining his trademark soft touch. Jimmy and the lads do, however, find a little of the oul edge when they attend the Electric Picnic festival, even as they'd been tamed by age. Making sure they didn't get damp, looking for places to put the litter. Cameos from The Commitments include the long-lusted-after Imelda and Outspan, losing the fight with lung cancer. High-Demand Backstory: This continuation of the popular Jimmy Rabbitte story has its own built-in promotion.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

August 1, 2013

You bet Jimmy Rabbitte has guts. In the 1980s, he aspired to bringing soul music to Dublin by forming a band called the Commitments, a rough-and-ready bunch whose escapades figured in Booker Prize winner Doyle's eponymous debut novel, the basis of a musical opening in London this fall. Decades later, undone by a cancer diagnosis, Jimmy journeys to the past to reunite with Commitments guitarist Liam "Outspan" Foster and eye-catching backup vocalist Imelda Quirk, as well as a long-lost brother. And he learns to love being a father again. "Stonkingly good," said a Goodreads review.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 1, 2013

It's rare to read about a man's midlife crisis, complete with a stalled career, bowel cancer, and an extramarital affair, and burst out laughing. Yet acclaimed Irish author Doyle (Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha) pulls it off with his trademark running dialog replete with Irish obscenities and sly musical references. Readers may remember Jimmy Rabbitte from Doyle's first novel, The Commitments. Now a music promoter reviving old bands at kelticpunk.com, Jimmy is your average bloke trying to pay his bills, raise his kids, and come to terms with his own mortality, all while struggling with text messaging and other modern tribulations. When Jimmy and some lads, including his estranged brother Les and former Commitments guitarist Liam "Outspan" Foster, take in an outdoor music festival (think: Irish Woodstock), hilarity ensues. There are plenty of poignant moments among the laughs, too. VERDICT Sensitive readers may not get past the foul language, which is a shame, and even Anglophiles may need to read sections aloud to decipher the Irish slang, but this work is too good to miss. Grand! [See Prepub Alert, 7/8/13.]--Christine Perkins, Whatcom Cty. Lib. Syst., Bellingham, WA

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.