The Commitments

Paperback, 169 pages

English language

Published Dec. 30, 2013 by Isis Large Print.

ISBN:
978-0-7531-9259-7
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OCLC Number:
986552640

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4 stars (1 review)

Barrytown, Dublin has something to sing about. The Commitments are spreading the gospel of Soul. Ably managed by Jimmy Rabitte, brilliantly coached by Joel "The Lips" Fagan, their twin assault on Motown and Barrytown takes them by leaps and bounds from the parish hall to immortality on vinyl. But can The Commitments live up to their name? This funky, rude, unpretentious first novel traces the short, funny and furious career of a group of working-class Irish kids who form a band — The Commitments. Their mission: to bring soul to Dublin. --back cover

13 editions

Review of 'The Commitments' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

On goodreads, 320 people listed this as "fiction" and 96 as "Irish literature", which tells you something. Roddy Doyle's first book is a pretty quick read, telling of the rise (and fall) of the "World's Hardest Working Band" in Dublin.

Total time to read: 1.4 hours. Length of the film: 1.98 hours. Then again, Ted Chiang's short "The Story of Your Life" is definitely shorter than 2016's "Arrival". For a first novel, this is awesome, and two more were written in the "Barrytown Trilogy" - the other two also made into films. If language bothers you, I understand he also wrote eight books for children. I haven't read 'em, so no guarantees.

Back to this book, I think it's worth reading. The film is excellent, with actual music instead of text describing the music - a major plus. I'm fairly sure I read the book before seeing the film, but …