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Bullfighting
The Man Booker Prize-winning author takes the pulse of modern Ireland with a masterful new collection of stories.
Roddy Doyle has earned a devoted following for his wry wit, his uncanny ear, and his ability to fully capture the hearts of his characters. Bullfighting, his second collection of stories, offers a series of bittersweet takes on men and middle-age, revealing a panorama of Ireland today. Moving from classrooms to local pubs to bullrings, these tales feature an array of men taking stock and reliving past glories, each concerned with loss in different ways--of their place in the world, of their power, their virility, health, and love.
"Recuperation" follows a man as he sets off on his daily prescribed walk around his neighborhood, the sights triggering recollections of his family and his younger days. In "Animals," George recalls caring for his children's many pets and his heartfelt effort to spare them grief when they died or disappeared. The title story, "Bullfighting," captures the mixture of bravado and helplessness of four friends who go off to Spain on holiday.
Sharply observed, funny, and moving, these thirteen stories present a new vision of contemporary Ireland, of its woes and triumphs, and middle- aged men trying to break out of the routines of their lives.
Roddy Doyle has earned a devoted following for his wry wit, his uncanny ear, and his ability to fully capture the hearts of his characters. Bullfighting, his second collection of stories, offers a series of bittersweet takes on men and middle-age, revealing a panorama of Ireland today. Moving from classrooms to local pubs to bullrings, these tales feature an array of men taking stock and reliving past glories, each concerned with loss in different ways--of their place in the world, of their power, their virility, health, and love.
"Recuperation" follows a man as he sets off on his daily prescribed walk around his neighborhood, the sights triggering recollections of his family and his younger days. In "Animals," George recalls caring for his children's many pets and his heartfelt effort to spare them grief when they died or disappeared. The title story, "Bullfighting," captures the mixture of bravado and helplessness of four friends who go off to Spain on holiday.
Sharply observed, funny, and moving, these thirteen stories present a new vision of contemporary Ireland, of its woes and triumphs, and middle- aged men trying to break out of the routines of their lives.
214 pages, Paperback
First published April 7, 2011
42 people are currently reading
568 people want to read
About the author
Roddy Doyle
127 books1,646 followersRoddy 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 183 reviews
May 13, 2016
Roddy Doyle sure knows what goes on in the minds of straight, white 40-something Dublin men, because they're the protagonists in each one of the 13 stories in Bullfighting.
Approaching midlife, Doyle's men are slowing down, taking stock, facing mortality, yet not going down without a fight – or at least a rant and/or a jovial, valedictory pint or two with their mates. The jokey dialogue and stream of consciousness thoughts feel authentic, but I wish there were more variety. After a while, the characters and plots all blend together.
Still, there are many stories I know I'll revisit, like "The Slave," about a man whose discovery of a dead rat in his kitchen makes him question his worth; "Funerals," in which a man gets into the routine of taking his aging parents to their acquaintances' funerals; the title tale about a man who vacations with his pals in a rundown town in Spain; and "Animals," in which a loving father, now unemployed, looks back on all the pets he provided for his family.
Doyle's technique is masterful, especially his use of flashbacks. And the absence of lyrical epiphanies and contrived symbols is refreshing. The title story's image of dazed and immobile bulls could stand for the confused men in the book struggling to keep up with the modern world... but it's a subtle touch.
This is the first Doyle book I've read, but it won't be my last.
Approaching midlife, Doyle's men are slowing down, taking stock, facing mortality, yet not going down without a fight – or at least a rant and/or a jovial, valedictory pint or two with their mates. The jokey dialogue and stream of consciousness thoughts feel authentic, but I wish there were more variety. After a while, the characters and plots all blend together.
Still, there are many stories I know I'll revisit, like "The Slave," about a man whose discovery of a dead rat in his kitchen makes him question his worth; "Funerals," in which a man gets into the routine of taking his aging parents to their acquaintances' funerals; the title tale about a man who vacations with his pals in a rundown town in Spain; and "Animals," in which a loving father, now unemployed, looks back on all the pets he provided for his family.
Doyle's technique is masterful, especially his use of flashbacks. And the absence of lyrical epiphanies and contrived symbols is refreshing. The title story's image of dazed and immobile bulls could stand for the confused men in the book struggling to keep up with the modern world... but it's a subtle touch.
This is the first Doyle book I've read, but it won't be my last.
January 23, 2024
”Sad and good had become the same thing”
(The Photograph)
The Roddy Doyle novels that I’m familiar with are dialogue driven. His first novel, The Commitments, was little but dialogue — sharp, funny, profane, and coming at you rapid paced. Not so these short stories. These stories contain more internal monologue than dialogue. Most stories aren’t big on plot, and the characters are variations on a theme — Irish blokes from early middle age to well past their prime.
Each story is a bit of life — raising kids, growing old with your wife, or growing apart, watching friends die from cancer, getting cancer, seeing your kids grow away from you — all bits of mundane magic. Each tale is a kind of mid life koan, meditations on middle age, small revelations realized:
”I never owned a pair of slippers in me life. Now I fuckin’ need ‘em. Their all right, their grand, but I never wanted ‘em, I never fuckin’ wanted ‘em. I never wanted to be a man who wore slippers. I always like the feel of the house under me feet. Get into a pair of slippers and you’re fucked, your life is over. That’s what I’ve always felt since I was a teenager and me father got a pair from our granny and he put them on, sat down in his chair in the corner and he never got up again.”
Fully appreciating this book takes some living. If you’ve reached that age where your body has begun to betray you in ways small or large, if you’ve begun to realize that you’ve said goodbye to some things for perhaps the last time, well then you’ve reached the appropriate age. These small, unpretentious gems are for you.
(The Photograph)
The Roddy Doyle novels that I’m familiar with are dialogue driven. His first novel, The Commitments, was little but dialogue — sharp, funny, profane, and coming at you rapid paced. Not so these short stories. These stories contain more internal monologue than dialogue. Most stories aren’t big on plot, and the characters are variations on a theme — Irish blokes from early middle age to well past their prime.
Each story is a bit of life — raising kids, growing old with your wife, or growing apart, watching friends die from cancer, getting cancer, seeing your kids grow away from you — all bits of mundane magic. Each tale is a kind of mid life koan, meditations on middle age, small revelations realized:
”I never owned a pair of slippers in me life. Now I fuckin’ need ‘em. Their all right, their grand, but I never wanted ‘em, I never fuckin’ wanted ‘em. I never wanted to be a man who wore slippers. I always like the feel of the house under me feet. Get into a pair of slippers and you’re fucked, your life is over. That’s what I’ve always felt since I was a teenager and me father got a pair from our granny and he put them on, sat down in his chair in the corner and he never got up again.”
Fully appreciating this book takes some living. If you’ve reached that age where your body has begun to betray you in ways small or large, if you’ve begun to realize that you’ve said goodbye to some things for perhaps the last time, well then you’ve reached the appropriate age. These small, unpretentious gems are for you.
July 13, 2013
Various middle-aged to older Irish men populate and narrate this collection of short stories. The first few, in chronological order, were mostly whining husbands trapped in a plotless meandering. The stories got much better with Funerals, about a man taking his elderly parents to funerals once or twice a week. By the next one, Blood, I was hooked. Our protagonist there is in the cinema with his wife:
He'd fallen asleep during Coppola's Dracula. One minute his wife was screaming grabbing his knee; the next, she was grabbing the same knee, trying to wake him up. The cinema lights were on and she was furious.
- How can you do that?
- What?
- Sleep during a film like that.
- I always sleep when the film's shite.
- We're supposed to be out on a date.
- That's a different point, he said.
That put me in mind of Two Pints, which I loved. But it also struck a chord within, as if I am pre-wired to love the lilt of Irish banter. If I started saying, 'That's grand' and 'That's brilliant', though, I might be thought odder than I already am.
As it is, I will text my friend Beer? and he will reply, Yes! As in, enough said. The Irish equivalent, I've now learned, is: Pub? Ye. 9:30? Grand.
Animals almost made me cry. Grown children, ahem, should read this.
He'd fallen asleep during Coppola's Dracula. One minute his wife was screaming grabbing his knee; the next, she was grabbing the same knee, trying to wake him up. The cinema lights were on and she was furious.
- How can you do that?
- What?
- Sleep during a film like that.
- I always sleep when the film's shite.
- We're supposed to be out on a date.
- That's a different point, he said.
That put me in mind of Two Pints, which I loved. But it also struck a chord within, as if I am pre-wired to love the lilt of Irish banter. If I started saying, 'That's grand' and 'That's brilliant', though, I might be thought odder than I already am.
As it is, I will text my friend Beer? and he will reply, Yes! As in, enough said. The Irish equivalent, I've now learned, is: Pub? Ye. 9:30? Grand.
Animals almost made me cry. Grown children, ahem, should read this.
January 9, 2018
These stories are no match for Kevin Barry's whose collection I just finished. Too simple, too easy, too sweet. The writing is common, the voices in the stories are too much alike, speaking in short sentences and constantly correcting themselves. "And that made it worse. And made him more annoyed. And angry. And stupid. This thing now. It was nothing. The thing itself." The Slave was especially boring.
July 19, 2011
Roddy Doyle and I have an interesting relationship (though he doesn’t know it, of course). We’re the same age, plus-or-minus eighteen-months, were born sixty-miles or so apart. But I left Ireland at a very tender age, and he didn’t. I liked The Commitments when I first read it, but when Paddy Clarke, Ha, Ha, Ha came out, I realised that Doyle had lived the life I might have done, had things been different. The setting was not the one I knew from my youth, nor the accents and slang, but I understood everything else about Paddy Clarke from my own experience. Play with friends and relationship with a younger brother. Roddy Doyle was the me I might have been.
And now, all these years later, he still is. Bullfighting is a collection of short stories about men of a certain age, the middle of middle-age you might call it. Men who are dealing with new realities in a new Ireland: post-Tiger, depressed and sometimes depressing. Their children are grown and out of the house; their jobs have grown boring or evaporated altogether; their marriages too. Friends begin to die; they themselves are under doctors’ care.
And oddly enough, for the most part, that’s all right. They’re getting by:
Doyle’s greatest gift as a writer may be his ability to transcribe the Northside Dublin voice: the phrases and accent and timing. It’s never gratuitous, certainly not at all mocking or demeaning. He captures a specific place and time. I read a few of these stories earlier, in the New Yorker. On one occasion, I started reading the story without looking at the title or by-line and by the end of the second paragraph knew it was Roddy Doyle. I could hear his voice.
The voice I might have had.
And now, all these years later, he still is. Bullfighting is a collection of short stories about men of a certain age, the middle of middle-age you might call it. Men who are dealing with new realities in a new Ireland: post-Tiger, depressed and sometimes depressing. Their children are grown and out of the house; their jobs have grown boring or evaporated altogether; their marriages too. Friends begin to die; they themselves are under doctors’ care.
And oddly enough, for the most part, that’s all right. They’re getting by:
Getting older wasn’t too bad. The baldness suited Martin. Everyone said it. He’d had to change his trouser size from 34 to 36. It was a bit of a shock, but it was kind of nice wearing loose trousers again, hitching them up when he stood up to go to the jacks, or whatever. He was fooling himself; he knew that. But that was the point—he was fooling himself. He’d put on weight but felt a bit thinner.
Doyle’s greatest gift as a writer may be his ability to transcribe the Northside Dublin voice: the phrases and accent and timing. It’s never gratuitous, certainly not at all mocking or demeaning. He captures a specific place and time. I read a few of these stories earlier, in the New Yorker. On one occasion, I started reading the story without looking at the title or by-line and by the end of the second paragraph knew it was Roddy Doyle. I could hear his voice.
The voice I might have had.
October 7, 2011
This is one of those ratings where I am perhaps shortchanging the author. Really, Doyle perhaps deserves a four...his writing far surpasses that of many other authors, but I prefer his novels to his short stories, and well, while this collection of short stories is good, it's not the best of Roddy Doyle that I have read.
There is something about the way Roddy Doyle writes that is just uniquely Roddy Doyle. You could pick up any one of these stories without his name attached to it, and know "This is Roddy Doyle" based primarily on the visual effect of the first-person narrative on the page. There's something almost comforting about it.
Other than the fact it's a title of one of the stories in the collection, "Bullfighting" is a bizarrely useless title, telling you nothing about the theme(s) with which these stories are concerned (unless you're prone to overworking your metaphors). Most of these stories are concerned with age and aging, primarily from the view of middle-age men. Many of these men find themselves lost, bewildered, or just plain mystified by the changing nature of their relationships with their wives; their pets; and their children. Pets may seem an odd one, but they serve an important function in many of these stories...wrapped up in memories of raising kids and holding marriages together after the kids have left. Some of the man are happy, while others are not, but overall, this is a moving collection of short stories that deals sensitively with the confusion that people feel as life seems to move on without them.
BTW, as far as I know, Doyle always sets his stories in Ireland, just for those who weren't aware.
There is something about the way Roddy Doyle writes that is just uniquely Roddy Doyle. You could pick up any one of these stories without his name attached to it, and know "This is Roddy Doyle" based primarily on the visual effect of the first-person narrative on the page. There's something almost comforting about it.
Other than the fact it's a title of one of the stories in the collection, "Bullfighting" is a bizarrely useless title, telling you nothing about the theme(s) with which these stories are concerned (unless you're prone to overworking your metaphors). Most of these stories are concerned with age and aging, primarily from the view of middle-age men. Many of these men find themselves lost, bewildered, or just plain mystified by the changing nature of their relationships with their wives; their pets; and their children. Pets may seem an odd one, but they serve an important function in many of these stories...wrapped up in memories of raising kids and holding marriages together after the kids have left. Some of the man are happy, while others are not, but overall, this is a moving collection of short stories that deals sensitively with the confusion that people feel as life seems to move on without them.
BTW, as far as I know, Doyle always sets his stories in Ireland, just for those who weren't aware.
March 16, 2018
“Bullfighting” is a collection of short stories mostly about Irish men nearing or in their 50s. I enjoyed the “voice” I heard in these different stories. The men were different, but they sounded similar, approaching their aging with reflection. And quite often calling something “grand” that really wasn’t. “Grand” is an overused exclamation here, but the situations described are anything but.
I listened to this on audio. I enjoy hearing an Irish accent, and the narration by Lorcan Cranitch was very good. I also enjoy the melancholy in some Irish stories, and they all seemed to have this. I found this collection well worth my time.
I listened to this on audio. I enjoy hearing an Irish accent, and the narration by Lorcan Cranitch was very good. I also enjoy the melancholy in some Irish stories, and they all seemed to have this. I found this collection well worth my time.
October 25, 2025
I’ve only ever read Doyle’s short stories. I like them. Small bits of the lives of very real feeling people with real problems and joys and boredom. I liked the one about them man who craves blood, best. Truly didn’t know if I understood if it was literal or a metaphor but I really liked how it ended. I should really give his novels a try.
July 5, 2024
Most of these stories fell into two general categories for me: 1) stories of growing old and complacent; 2) stories of remembering early parenthood that seem reminiscent of The School from Sixty Stories by Donald Barthelme. But the collection isn't called Bullfighting for nothing, that was by far my favorite story, 5 stars for that one.
August 19, 2025
yazarın, mizacını çok sevdim;öyküleri okurken Jean Louis Fournier' e de benzettim daha da keyifli oldu tavsiye ederim .
July 19, 2011
You can breeze through this collection of Roddy Doyle short stories, but why not take your time with each and savor the flavor of Dublin today.
I love how Doyle has matured in his subject matter but kept his writing style. You can almost imagine the boys from "The Commitments" are grown up and facing the challenges of middle-age and beyond.
"Bullfighting" has some funny, funny dialogue between husbands and wives and the kind of banter between pals that will make you think Doyle sat at a bar recording conversations you and your friends might have had, with an Irish twist, of course.
While the humor is the foam rising to the top of Doyle's literary brew, there's the dark of a Guinness underlying the stories. Loneliness, second-guessing one's life choices, feeling of no value, wondering about loving -- and especially fear about not being loved back.
Doyle also doesn't sugarcoat Ireland's unemployment problem; it's a recurring trait of his characters.
But the somber or melancholy tones are blended so nicely with the comedic slice-of-life vignettes that readers -- like Doyle's middle-aged men -- tend to push the worries aside to laugh.
And anyone who's ever buried a family pet will love the story titled "Animals." Catch this excerpt:
"The animals always had decent, elaborate burials. Christian, Hindu, Humanist -- whatever bits of knowledge and shite the kids brought home from school wne t into the funerals. George changed mobile phones, not because he really wanted to, but because he knew the boxes would come in handy - it was always wise to have a coffin ready for the next dead bird or fish."
The whole story is just as funny, but the magic that Doyle saves for the end of "Animals" is worth the price of the entire book. -- bz
I love how Doyle has matured in his subject matter but kept his writing style. You can almost imagine the boys from "The Commitments" are grown up and facing the challenges of middle-age and beyond.
"Bullfighting" has some funny, funny dialogue between husbands and wives and the kind of banter between pals that will make you think Doyle sat at a bar recording conversations you and your friends might have had, with an Irish twist, of course.
While the humor is the foam rising to the top of Doyle's literary brew, there's the dark of a Guinness underlying the stories. Loneliness, second-guessing one's life choices, feeling of no value, wondering about loving -- and especially fear about not being loved back.
Doyle also doesn't sugarcoat Ireland's unemployment problem; it's a recurring trait of his characters.
But the somber or melancholy tones are blended so nicely with the comedic slice-of-life vignettes that readers -- like Doyle's middle-aged men -- tend to push the worries aside to laugh.
And anyone who's ever buried a family pet will love the story titled "Animals." Catch this excerpt:
"The animals always had decent, elaborate burials. Christian, Hindu, Humanist -- whatever bits of knowledge and shite the kids brought home from school wne t into the funerals. George changed mobile phones, not because he really wanted to, but because he knew the boxes would come in handy - it was always wise to have a coffin ready for the next dead bird or fish."
The whole story is just as funny, but the magic that Doyle saves for the end of "Animals" is worth the price of the entire book. -- bz
March 1, 2017
A satisfying collection of short stories, all of which deal with the middle-aged male. Fears of aging and death are prominently featured. Some of the tales were downright touching as older fathers recalled happier times with much younger children. Sentimental without being sappy, everything is laced with Doyle's quirky sense of humor.
May 5, 2025
Korte vermakelijke verhalen over mannen op middelbare leeftijd in Ierland.
Read
November 11, 2025Boek #2 van de '3 voor €10' actie.
Ik zal eerlijk zijn: Ik dacht dat dit de Nederlandse vertaling zou zijn van Buffalo Hunter Hunter. In plaats van een heftig horror verhaal over het vermoorden van de moordenaars van buffels in de Verenigde Staten kreeg ik dit:
Een boek over zeurende mannen van middelbare leeftijd.
Nu is het wel een Iers boek, en over het algemeen hou ik erg van Ierse schrijvers maar This Ain't It, Queens.
Ik verwacht deze snel te doneren aan een minibieb in de buurt, hopend op een goeie swap...
Ik zal eerlijk zijn: Ik dacht dat dit de Nederlandse vertaling zou zijn van Buffalo Hunter Hunter. In plaats van een heftig horror verhaal over het vermoorden van de moordenaars van buffels in de Verenigde Staten kreeg ik dit:
Een boek over zeurende mannen van middelbare leeftijd.
Nu is het wel een Iers boek, en over het algemeen hou ik erg van Ierse schrijvers maar This Ain't It, Queens.
Ik verwacht deze snel te doneren aan een minibieb in de buurt, hopend op een goeie swap...
April 8, 2017
A collection of stories about middle-aged men & their lot in life, it contains everything from the sublime to the ridiculous to the decidedly odd. Some stories will hit you full in the face, while others will leave you cold...but the one constant is Roddy Doyle's prose style, which holds everything together with considerable strength.
September 3, 2023
Solid collection of short stories, but 3 weeks after reading, none longer with me
March 15, 2025
Stories I liked, not in order-although now I look at it and it probably is
Funerals
The Joke
Blood
Sleep
Funerals
The Joke
Blood
Sleep
November 6, 2011
The main characters in these short stories by the brilliant Roddy Doyle all have a similar trait to them - they are all middle aged or older and looking back on their lives. Their lives are what most peoples' are: marriage, a career, raising children, coping with losing them when they leave, retirement, the oncoming reality of death.
In "Sleep" an old man stares at his sleeping wife, reflecting on his life, their marriage their family, and an incident years ago when their young son almost died of asthma. In "The Plate" a young couple in the early stages of their relationship argue until the man realises the pain he feels is real and that he has kidney stones. "The Slave" is about a man past middle age, reflecting on his life, post-children (they've moved out) and how he'll cope going forward. And so on.
Which isn't to say they're bad for having an unified theme, in fact coupled with Doyle's deceptively easy prose, they're quite enjoyable to read. I found "The Photograph" about a group of friends carrying on while one of them slowly dies of cancer to be very moving and the denouement perfect. Same with "Teaching" where a man looks back on his career as a school teacher, reflecting on the repetitiveness of teaching, his own lonely life, and how he's helped some of the kids he teaches. It was definitely the most thoughtful piece of the collection and my favourite.
My summaries of these stories don't really do justice to the overall feel of them. To say that someone reflects on their life is to give brevity to something far more profound and reading these stories there is a profundity in them that is very real to the reader. In fact it's this level of focus that I think is where the title comes in - "Bullfighting" isn't about the bloodsport but about fighting against the bulls**t of everyday life, that each of the characters in the book is realising something inescapable about themselves, something they can't reframe in their minds.
Like all of Roddy Doyle's books I enjoyed it and found "Bullfighting" to be no less a pleasant experience. But despite that and the fact that there wasn't any one story I found to be a waste of time, the lightness of touch in the stories makes me think I won't remember them for very long and that even the ones I did like will be hard to recall in a year's time, maybe less. It's the lack of memorable aspects to the stories that makes me think this isn't one of his best books. "Bullfighting" is a decent read and good for whiling away a few hours, but strangely insubstantial for a book dealing with such weighty issues.
In "Sleep" an old man stares at his sleeping wife, reflecting on his life, their marriage their family, and an incident years ago when their young son almost died of asthma. In "The Plate" a young couple in the early stages of their relationship argue until the man realises the pain he feels is real and that he has kidney stones. "The Slave" is about a man past middle age, reflecting on his life, post-children (they've moved out) and how he'll cope going forward. And so on.
Which isn't to say they're bad for having an unified theme, in fact coupled with Doyle's deceptively easy prose, they're quite enjoyable to read. I found "The Photograph" about a group of friends carrying on while one of them slowly dies of cancer to be very moving and the denouement perfect. Same with "Teaching" where a man looks back on his career as a school teacher, reflecting on the repetitiveness of teaching, his own lonely life, and how he's helped some of the kids he teaches. It was definitely the most thoughtful piece of the collection and my favourite.
My summaries of these stories don't really do justice to the overall feel of them. To say that someone reflects on their life is to give brevity to something far more profound and reading these stories there is a profundity in them that is very real to the reader. In fact it's this level of focus that I think is where the title comes in - "Bullfighting" isn't about the bloodsport but about fighting against the bulls**t of everyday life, that each of the characters in the book is realising something inescapable about themselves, something they can't reframe in their minds.
Like all of Roddy Doyle's books I enjoyed it and found "Bullfighting" to be no less a pleasant experience. But despite that and the fact that there wasn't any one story I found to be a waste of time, the lightness of touch in the stories makes me think I won't remember them for very long and that even the ones I did like will be hard to recall in a year's time, maybe less. It's the lack of memorable aspects to the stories that makes me think this isn't one of his best books. "Bullfighting" is a decent read and good for whiling away a few hours, but strangely insubstantial for a book dealing with such weighty issues.
October 23, 2012
One of my favorite living writers in any language. Period. Maybe if the Nobel Prize crowd reads these new stories, they will finally see the light. Doyle digs deeper into the inner world of his fellow human beings than anyone I can think of since James Joyce in Ulysses--except that, much as I revere Joyce (tremendously!), Doyle is about a thousand times more accessible than Joyce ever is in Ulysses. And that is by no means a defect. The only problem is that I suspect Doyle's accessibility has led a lot of academics and reviewers to underestimate, underrate and underappreciate the guy's extraordinary gift. Not just in these often hillarious stories, but also in books like "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha", "Paula Spencer", "The Commitments""--in fact, almost everything except "A Star Called Henry," in which it seemed like Doyle was trying to be something he is not (maybe in a futile effort to get the Literati to pay attention). This is one guy I really WOULD enjoy having a beer with!
July 20, 2012
"Bullfighting" is a sad book of stories about sad middle-aged men trying to convince themselves that they are not defeated. But, mostly they are defeated despite Doyle's attempts to end each story at a point of uplift or simple acceptance of what is. But these endings are too quick, too facile. Yet, these stories are worth reading because of Doyle's voice and his unique way of capturing the everyday Irish essence. Perhaps in these stories he is contemplating his own "middle" middle age, and exploring how he thinks he will personally emerge in these post Celtic Tiger times. Sometimes it was hard not to feel pity for these hapless guys who all seem to let life simply unfold, and then wonder "What happened?"
November 30, 2013
Each in a different way these stories reflect the inner complexity (and turmoil) of men going through aging, estrangement and other tribulations.
IMHO, this is a must read for any man approaching 40, to be prepared (or at least not surprised) by the slow but inevitable insecurities creeping inside.
P.S. I discovered Roddy Doyle when I read his story "Bullfighting" in New Yorker. The story shocked me with its simple form, yet insightful depiction of inner world of a man whose kids have grown up and the small external details that reflect changes within other men. "Bullfighting" is surely the highlight of this book, but all other stories still deliver proper kick in the guts.
IMHO, this is a must read for any man approaching 40, to be prepared (or at least not surprised) by the slow but inevitable insecurities creeping inside.
P.S. I discovered Roddy Doyle when I read his story "Bullfighting" in New Yorker. The story shocked me with its simple form, yet insightful depiction of inner world of a man whose kids have grown up and the small external details that reflect changes within other men. "Bullfighting" is surely the highlight of this book, but all other stories still deliver proper kick in the guts.
March 6, 2014
Made for 4 Extra. Short stories by the Irish novelist, read by Simon Delaney.
Abandoned just one story short of the full package because I couldn't take anymore 'down'. Adore Slavic Dark, loathe Gaelic bleating-on and this bleated-on through a whole load of ugleh for ugleh's sake.
4* - The Commitments
CR - Bullfighting
3* - Yeats Is Dead (one of the sections)
January 14, 2016
Sıradan yaşamlarımızın sıradan can sıkıntılarının anlatıldığı 13 öyküden oluşuyor. Bol bol sıkışmışlık duygusu. Roddy Doyle'un Man Booker ödülü sahibi olduğu düşünüldüğünde bu kitap tanışmak için pek de iyi sayılmaz.
April 22, 2024
These stories are quite moving (and funny too), as they feature middle aged men often confronting family memories, friendship, love & loss. Roddy Doyle is such a gifted writer. One of my favourite authors.
June 16, 2016
If Raymond Carver were Irish, had kids, and drank a tetch less, he might have written stories like these.
August 27, 2016
This started well, but halfway through I lost the steam to continue... There are only so many stories I can read about boring Irish men suffering mid-life crises...
November 12, 2018
Stories were uneven.
A few really good ones.
So I'm giving it 4 stars based on those stories.
A few really good ones.
So I'm giving it 4 stars based on those stories.
November 15, 2024
When it rains I end up inside reading quite a bit. No complaints about that! First up is a trip to Ireland with Roddy Doyle's book of short stories titled Bullfighting.
In this collection of short stories the meandering stream of consciousness of an older man dominates the narrative. I can see things from the female point of view when he wonders at what point in time did his wife move to another room. When did certain things occur when he was, apparently, not paying attention.
The stories take you into a middle aged man's life in Ireland.
"Getting older wasn’t too bad. The baldness suited Martin. Everyone said it. He’d had to change his trouser size from 34 to 36. It was a bit of a shock, but it was kind of nice wearing loose trousers again, hitching them up when he stood up to go to the jacks, or whatever. He was fooling himself; he knew that. But that was the point—he was fooling himself. He’d put on weight but felt a bit thinner."
The story Bullfighting is about four male friends in Spain and their honest conversations. They are all middle aged and facing the realities that life is half over for them. Admitting loneliness and being honest...for once.
Not my favorite book by Doyle by a longshot but a nice respite to read something short between anything else I am currently doing. Themes of aging and loneliness with some humor and a great deal of Irish culture.
Rounded up to 3 stars.
April 23, 2025
I liked this book more than the last collection of stories by Roddy Doyle that I read (Life Without Children, which was released a decade after this one). Doyle writes here about life in Dublin in the early parts of the 21st century, men and women in marriages of varying qualities, dealing with children, middle age, disease, dead pets, temptations, etc. If there's one complaint, all of the stories' main characters are quite similar: men in their 40s, though to be fair, Doyle was of that age when these stories were written. The first couple of stories didn't do much for me, but by the third one, "Teaching" I was reminded of why I love Doyle's fiction. The protagonist here is a teacher, talking/thinking about his students and their families. "The Slave" revolves around a man who finds a dead rat in his kitchen. It's actually a bit difficult to say what any of these stories is "about." Doyle often starts with one thing, maybe goes off on a tangent, and then turns a corner in his writing to get at the real meat of the story. To quote Doyle himself, "It's brilliant. Grand." This book was a very refreshing change of pace from the last book I read. Probably not Doyle's best, mostly due to the similarities between stories, but even Doyle's mediocre books (and this one rises above that description) are better than many writers' best.
July 2, 2023
I don't regard this as one of Doyle's best efforts. If I weren't a fan I would have stopped reading after the first three or four stories because they are, well, depressing (I know, an Irish writer who writes depressing stories, not exactly a news flash), and part of what keeps me coming back to Doyle again and again is his ability to weave wonderful threads of humor into even the most dour of plots. The story "Animals" was, to my mind, by far the best story of the lot, and the final story, "Sleep", also had a winning angle. The story "Blood" I thought was simply awful, a clumsy attempt at an allegory I suppose, but I almost couldn't finish it. I know that what he was up to here was in part an attempt to draw a cross-section of Dublin society, especially amongst working-class people, and I appreciated that, and I know not to expect all such stories to be bunny rabbits and dancing fairies, but he has managed to tell a serious story without being tethered by a spirit of gravity (in A Star Called Henry and Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha most successfully), but he doesn't pull it off as well here.
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