Dead Man Talking
Roddy Doyle
[Random House]
Roddy Doyle has a history of involvement with literacy initiatives, as the co-founder of Fighting Words*, a creative writing centre for children in Dublin’s inner city. Inspired by 826 Valencia (a similar program founded by Dave Eggers in San Francisco), Fighting Words provides free tutoring and workshops with the goal of inspiring young people to express themselves creatively. Now, further motivated by seeing ‘first-hand how low levels of literacy have a negative effect on people’s lives’, Doyle has written a book for the Quick Reads book series. Quick Reads was founded in 2006 to make reading more accessible to the one in six adults in the UK and Ireland who struggle with it, and has since distributed 4.5 million books, with a total of 129 titles to date.
Dead Man Talking tells the story of Pat and Joe, childhood friends whose bitter feud is broken only by Joe’s death. Filled with regret, Pat goes to Joe’s house to attend the wake, only to find his old friend rather more animated than people in his situation tend to be. It’s entertaining and moves quickly, with plenty to keep the reader engaged. Surreal, light-hearted and with a surprising conclusion, it manages to do a lot in a very simple way.
*Fighting Words launched a new centre in Belfast on March 10th 2015*
Words: Liza Cox
