Book Review

[kenjari]

The Commitments
by Roddy Doyle

This warmly amusing short novel centers around Jimmy Rabbitte, a working class Dubliner who puts together and then manages a soul band, The Commitments, through their brief rise and fall. Made up of several of Jimmy's musically inclined friends plus a professional trumpeter and a boorish but extremely talented singer, the band gets a few successful gigs around Dublin before completely blowing up just as they are about to land a deal to record their first single.
Although Doyle's writing is a bit laconic and mostly consists of dialog, he still manages to make everything vivid and deeply felt. The Commitments is full of humor, colorful characters, and the joys of making music.

Comments

[sovay]

This warmly amusing short novel centers around Jimmy Rabbitte, a working class Dubliner who puts together and then manages a soul band, The Commitments, through their brief rise and fall.

I've only ever heard of this as a movie! Neat.