The Dead Republic: A Novel - Hardcover

Doyle, Roddy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670021776 ISBN 13: 9780670021772

Publisher: Viking Adult, 2010

Synopsis

The triumphant conclusion to the trilogy that began with A Star Called Henry

Roddy Doyle's irrepressible Irish rebel Henry Smart is back-and he is not mellowing with age. Saved from death in California's Monument Valley by none other than Henry Fonda, he ends up in Hollywood collaborating with legendary director John Ford on a script based on his life. Returning to Ireland in 1951 to film The Quiet Man- which to Henry's consternation has been completely sentimentalized-he severs his relationship with Ford.

His career in film over, Henry settles into a quiet life in a village north of Dublin, where he finds work as a caretaker for a boys' school and takes up with a woman named Missus O'Kelly, whom he suspects- but is not quite sure-may be his long-lost wife, the legendary Miss O'Shea. After being injured in a political bombing in Dublin in 1974, Henry is profiled in the newspaper and suddenly the secret of his rebel past is out. Henry is a national hero. Or are his troubles just beginning?

Raucous, colorful, epic, and full of intrigue and incident, The Dead Republic is also a moving love story-the magnificent final act in the life of one of Roddy Doyle's most unforgettable characters.

About this title

About the Author

Roddy Doyle is an internationally bestselling writer. His first three novels—The Commitments, The Snapper, and the 1991 Booker Prize finalist The Van—are known as The Barrytown Trilogy. He is also the author of the novels Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (1993 Booker Prize winner), The Woman Who Walked into Doors, and A Star Called Henry, and a non-fiction book about his parents, Rory & Ita. Doyle has also written for the stage and the screen: the plays Brownbread, War, Guess Who's Coming for the Dinner, and The Woman Who Walked Into Doors; the film adaptations of The Commitments )as co-writer), The Snapper, and The Van; When Brendan Met Trudy (an original screenplay); the four-part television series Family for the BBC; and the television play Hell for Leather. Roddy Doyle has also written the children's books The Giggler Treatment, Rover Saves Christmas, and The Meanwhile Adventures and contributed to a variety of publications including The New Yorker magazine and several anthologies. He lives in Dublin.

Reviews

When it comes to books in a series, readers often differ as to which one is their favorite, and The Dead Republic is no exception. Several critics found the byzantine Irish politics and the slower pace (Henry is no longer a spry young assassin, after all) a bit of a letdown. But others greatly enjoyed Doyle's final entry, which, although less action-packed than the first two entries, offers a thought-provoking account of the mythology surrounding modern Irish history. To sum it up: Doyle's latest is best suited for those interested in Ireland's recent past, as well as for those who just want to know what happened to their favorite reformed Irish hit man.

Starred Review. Doyle digs into the modern history of Ireland in the concluding volume to the life story of Henry Smart, a teenage Sinn Fein triggerman first encountered in A Star Called Henry. Here, an aging Henry must preserve his own legend, which is taken away from him first for a film, and then by the IRA. In the mid-1940s, film director John Ford plans to make a movie based on Henry's life, but Henry eventually realizes the film that Ford has planned will reduce his story to sentimental pap. Upon returning to Ireland with Ford, Henry plans on killing the director, but his callousness has faded, and he drifts into the Dublin suburbs, where he meets a respectable widow who may be his long-disappeared wife. Henry ages in obscurity until the '70s, when the IRA uses a distorted version of Henry's story as a PR ploy; as the IRA man who runs Henry explains, we hold the copyright to the Irish story. Doyle is a stellar storyteller, though not a faultless one—characters tend to editorialize at the drop of a hat; yet Doyle exhibits a peerless ear for cynicism as he grapples with the violence and farce of Irish history. (May)
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The final installment in Doyle’s trilogy featuring ex-IRA assassin Henry Smart serves up less of a bang than readers might have hoped. At the end of the previous installment, Oh, Play That Thing (2004), Smart, who moved to the States to escape his violent past, is rescued from certain death in the California desert by actor Henry Fonda. He soon finds himself collaborating with distinguished director John Ford on a movie based on his life, the filming of which brings him back to his native Dublin. When Smart sees how Ford is over-sentimentalizing his risky rebel days, he cuts all ties with the director and settles into a quiet existence working as a caretaker at a rural boys’ school. He shacks up with a woman named Missus O’Kelly (might she be his long-lost beloved lass, Miss O’Shea?). Life goes along peacefully until Smart is injured in a bombing. Newspaper coverage of the incident divulges facts about his past, and suddenly the reformed bad guy is besieged by the unsavory types he’s spent decades trying to forget. The Dead Republic has Doyle’s trademark staccato style, but it lacks the breathless exuberance of parts 1 and 2. Nonetheless, readers will want to tune in to see what fate awaits the irrepressible Irishman. --Allison Block

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking Adult
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0670021776
• ISBN 13: 9780670021772
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336