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Apr 28, 2021mikey69 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Set primarily in the late 1910s, A STAR CALLED HENRY fits snug against its historical Irish backdrop. It's a fictional account of the making of a rebel during the Irish Revolution under which the IRA was formed, eventually leading to civil war. Roddy Doyle has created an impresario in Henry Smart, the novel's protagonist. Celebrated as a babe (the que to see him wrapped around the block) Henry represented hope for Ireland's future. That he was a large baby wasn't cause enough for celebration, "big brats were ten a penny, and cheaper," but his excellent health was. Henry exuded the confidence born of good health, with a glow like no Dublin baby before him. Barely a week out of the womb, and he was already famous. Tall for his age, Henry joined the resistance at fourteen, passing himself off as an older lad. Born to Henry Smart (senior), and Melody Nash who met lying in the mud of a Dublin alley, Henry is created of larger-than-life pen strokes infused with an Irish mythology of the author's own making. Pen strokes that cover the slums of Dublin in an extra coat of soot, transform a child into a war hero, make a one-legged man the most fearsome fighter in the street, and spark romance under the most unseemly of circumstances: "[Melody] felt sorry for him. No leg, no home - the only thing holding him up was his vulnerability. She saw honesty . . . She'd knocked the poor cripple onto the street, his face was bleeding, he'd no home to hop home to - and he didn't blame her . . . he was smiling. A nice smile, he was offering it, half a smile. He didn't look like a cripple. She liked the space where the leg should have been. "She took off her shawl and wiped his face with it . . . - Now, she said. They were already a couple." As the rebellion drags on, our teenage Henry comes into his own. He rises in popularity with the recently formed IRA, but not in rank. Killing is his primary skill; his father's wooden leg his weapon of choice. He kills with the professionalism of a hired gun, the style of a street fighter, and the heart of a convert. He's surrounded by "eejits," men with no moral code who rarely think beyond killing Brits; men who gladly leave the planning of Ireland's future to others who could also use a swift kick of moral fortitude in the pants. Henry isn't left to fight all his battles alone. In Miss O'Shea - his former school teacher - Henry finds a soulmate. As good on the battlefield as she is in the sack, they perform missions, sometimes together, usually alone, racking up kills for Irish independence. They're a formidable force whether working together or apart, at once both embraced and distanced for their effectiveness. In rebellion, a good soldier is all fine and well, but a soldier whose allegiance to a symbol supersedes his allegiance to the men planning the future is cause for concern. In Henry, Doyle's created an everyman hero for the revolution. One who's loyal to a fault and unquestionably dedicated to the cause of Irish independence, but Henry's no chess player. While he plays at checkers, the men planning Ireland's future are playing chess, a discovery Henry makes late in the game, and one which will forever reframe his story. The boy who was raised in the slums where the "Dirt and grime were the glues that held Dublin together," was a thing of the past in the new Ireland. A free Ireland promised a future of justice with liberty, full bellies and glowing hearths. One need only imagine it. A free Ireland was the promise Henry had been fighting for all these many years; his fait accompli, if he can survive it.