The Snapper

( 2 )

Overview

Meet the Rabbitte family, motley bunch of loveable ne'er-do-wells whose everyday purgatory is rich with hangovers, dogshit and dirty dishes. When the older sister announces her pregnancy, the family is forced to rally together and discover the strangeness of intimacy. But the question remains: which friend of the family is the father of Sharon's child?

The Commitments was praised as one of the freshest and funniest first novels in years. In The Snapper, Doyle has ...

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The Snapper

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More About This Book

Overview

Meet the Rabbitte family, motley bunch of loveable ne'er-do-wells whose everyday purgatory is rich with hangovers, dogshit and dirty dishes. When the older sister announces her pregnancy, the family is forced to rally together and discover the strangeness of intimacy. But the question remains: which friend of the family is the father of Sharon's child?

The Commitments was praised as one of the freshest and funniest first novels in years. In The Snapper, Doyle has produced another brilliant comedy of everyday life in Dublin. A young single girl who shares a room with her sisters endures pregnancy while her family and the whole town wonder who the father is.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
This sketchy novel by Doyle ( The Van forthcoming from Viking; starred PW review, May 25), the second in his trilogy about a working-class Irish family, is almost all dialogue, which would be a clever device if the dialogue were not written in transliterated Irish accent (``yeh'' for ``you,'' ``Jaysis'' for ``Jesus''). Fortunately, some endearing characters and a number of hysterically funny lines make this an enjoyable read. The narrative focuses on the Rabbitte family's eldest daughter, who has become pregnant after being raped by a friend's father, although she never recognizes the incident as rape. Sharon is determined to bear the child, referred to in Irish slang as a ``snapper,'' and raise it alone. Although her conversations in pubs with her friends and at home with her family illustrate her position in society and often amuse as well, it is clear from the first chapter that her parents accept her choice, so the story lacks conflict. Even her struggle to conceal the identity of the baby's father seems assured to succeed from the start. One of the more touching details is her father's buying a book about women's anatomy and--better late than never--educating himself about pregnancy and female sexuality. In his own clumsy way he growspun intended. sg along with his daughter. (Aug.)
Library Journal
Dublin playwright Doyle's first novel, The Commitments (Vintage, 1989), told the story of Jimmy Rabbitte Jr.'s formation of Ireland's first soul band and went on to become a popular film. These two volumes continue the saga of the Rabbitte family in the mythic working-class Dublin neighborhood of Barrytown. The Snapper concerns the unplanned pregnancy of the eldest daughter, delineating nine months of sparring between Sharon, who refuses to reveal the baby's father, and Jimmy Sr., the clan's vulgar, witty patriarch. Among its many other virtues, it offers a sensitive fictional narrative of pregnancy. The Van picks up a year or so later. Jimmy Sr. is now unemployed, his family is growing up, and gloom has set in. Consolation comes when his best friend Bimbo also becomes ``redundant'' and the two go in together on a filthy, used fish-and-chips van. Their riotous adventures give a new spin to the notion of male bonding. Brilliantly constructed from the details of everyday life, both novels are made up almost entirely of dialog: sharp, crackling, relentless vernacular speech that never patronizes the characters. This is great comic writing that makes you laugh for pages yet keeps you aware that you could, instead, be crying.-- Brian Kenney, Pace Univ. Lib., Manhattan Campus, New York
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780140171679
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
  • Publication date: 8/28/1992
  • Edition description: Reprint
  • Pages: 224
  • Sales rank: 941,676
  • Product dimensions: 5.14 (w) x 7.83 (h) x 0.63 (d)

Meet the Author

Roddy Doyle
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.
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 2 )
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Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews

  • Posted October 23, 2011

    I HAD SO MUCH FUN READING THIS BOOK!

    Everything about this story is interesting. The characters and plot are all wonderful. I loved Sharon's family, especially her father, he was hilarious! The way Barrytown reacts to Sharon's pregnancy and the paternity of the baby ia so fun. Even though the circumstances aren't so great for Sharon, Mr. Doyle makes it still OK to laugh.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted March 18, 2003

    The Snapper has nothing to do with fish!

    Roddy Doyle paints an entertaining and hilarious tale of a young woman's pregnancy. It is interesting that Doyle can write so poignantly about pregnancy from a woman's perspective. I have enjoyed reading the Irish dialect and the more you repeat the words aloud the funnier it sounds.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews
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