Jimmy Rabbite Jr. is knowledgeable in music. From Barrytown, Dublin, Ireland He decides one day to form a group that plays soul. His friends Outspan and Derek are hooked on the idea, but now he has to get others. Many desparate locals try out, but Jimmy knows the ones that are just right. He even recruits middle-aged Joey "The Lips" Fagan, who has played with many legends of soul (or so he says). Leading the group is Deco Cuffe, an arrogant young man with a voice of silk. Personal conflicts are abound, but Jimmy has high ambitions to bring soul music to the working class folks of Dublin and possibly beyond.

It has a good storyline, and you can feel the performances in each number.

WARNING! Irish dialects abound. They do take some getting used to.

Roddy Doyle is an award winning novelist. He was also the co-author for the film adaptation of The Commitments.

If you are a fan of the movie, you like the book.

This was the first in Roddy Doyle's Barrytown Trilogy, which focused on the working class Rabbite clan of Dublin. It was also written in a time when Ireland was going through a bad economy and huge unemployment. This can be felt through the novel as the band members were either unemployed or worked at low paying jobs. Like most people in this time, Jimmy and his band took the chance to get farther than the confines of Barrytown. I was not disappointed with it as it had a real comfortable feeling. It is very brief, and chances are it will only take you a few days to get through. Still, it was full of soul...Dublin Soul.

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Created Sep 18, 2003 at 2:53am • Submit your own review...