Smile
Roddy Doyle
Jonathan Cape
Roddy Doyle’s latest novel is nothing like what you might expect. If you, like the protagonist, Victor, are looking for some good old Irish, banter-packed escapism, then you will be disappointed. This book is a brutal confrontation with reality. The title, Smile, comes from the moment Victor realises he is condemned, when a teacher at his Christian Brothers school says, “Victor Forde, I can never resist your smile.” The book follows 54-year-old Victor as he returns to his childhood locale, recently divorced and spending most of his time in a nostalgic daze. He is beginning to accept his middle-aged loneliness, and goes every night for a pint in Donnelly’s pub. One evening he catches up with reality in the form of an old school friend he detests, and thus begins a full-scale eruption in his inner life.
With this novel, Doyle’s Victor can join the Unreliable Narrators’ Hall of Fame alongside Agatha Christie’s James Sheppard, or Gone Girl’s Nick and Amy Dunne. Victor spouts white lies from the beginning, casually telling the barman that he has put a bet on Costa Rica only to admit to us that he hasn’t even gone to the bookies. The plot twist in the book’s final pages is genuinely shocking and Doyle only just manages to pass it off. But with it the book is elevated to a brilliant and deeply moving level. Finally, this is a compelling exploration of the utter devastation of institutional abuse.
Words – Maryam Madani
