Two More Pints – Roddy Doyle (2014, 115 pages)
Last year as part of NADIM I looked at Two Pints by Roddy Doyle, so I thought this year I’d look the sequel. Like its predecessor, it is written entirely as dialogue between two friends meeting for the titular drinks, and set on specific dates, this time between September 2012 and June 2014. Once again, a warning for swearing – well, it is Roddy Doyle after all 😀
The issues in this period, lest we forget, include the financial crisis, horsemeat in burgers, elections of the new Pope and the deaths of various celebrities. All this occurs alongside family events and disagreements over football.
– Fiscal cliff.
– He’s shite.
– Wha?!
– He’s just copying the other fella.
– Wha’ the fuck are yeh talkin’ about?
– The rapper.
– Wha’ rapper?
– Fiscal Cliff.
The humour doesn’t detract from the realities though.
– My young one is in trouble. An’ her fella.
– Ah, no.
– The mortgage, yeh know.
– They can’t handle it?
– They’re fucked, God love them. They’ve been into the bank an’ tha’, to try an’ sort somethin’. But –
– No joy?
– It’s fuckin’ madness.
I was disappointed not to hear more about Damien, the grandson from Two Pints who was fracking in the back garden with a magimix, but I think at such a turbulent time, Doyle chose to focus very much on current affairs. The dialogue still felt entirely authentic though, and never heavy-handed.
The conversation is wide-ranging, and even poetry gets a mention, despite the short shrift it was given in Two Pints:
– See Seamus Heaney died.
– Saw tha’. Sad.
– Did yeh ever meet him?
– Don’t be fuckin’ thick. Where would I have met Seamus Heaney?
– That’s the thing, but. He looked like someone yeh’d know.
– I know wha’ yeh mean – the eyebrows an’ tha’.
– He always looked like he liked laughin’.
– One o’ the lads.
– Except for the fuckin’ poetry.
– Wha’ would possess a man like tha’ to throw his life away on poetry?
– Although fair enough – he won the Nobel Prize for it.
– He’d probably have won it annyway.
– For wha’ – for fuck sake.
– I don’t know. Football, plumbin’ – annythin’. Tha’ was what was special about him.
Another affectionate portrait of the people of Dublin, and Ireland at a particular moment in time.
madame bibi lophile recommends 
Love Roddy Doyle. I have a couple of his novels on the shelf – probably should read those before ripping into the novellas…
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The novellas are quite different to his novels, but the ear for dialogue and the humour of people together is very much the same 🙂
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I don’t know if I’m ever likely to read Roddy Doyle, but those quotes made me laugh! 😀
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Both Two Pints and Two More Pints are very funny, you can really hear the voices 😀
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I tried to read Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha a while ago and just couldn’t get through it, I didn’t know about these novellas but they could be my way in. Thank you, I love that discussion about Seamus Heaney!
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The novellas are a quick, light read so you’ll know pretty soon if Doyle’s just not for you. The Seamus Heaney conversation is a joy isn’t it 😀
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Superb pieces of dialogue! So few writers can pull this off but Doyle does it with such apparent ease, doesn’t he, and that Seamus Heaney exchange is priceless.
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He really has got such a perfect ear, and as you say, he makes it look so easy.
I loved the Seamus Heaney exchange – funny and yet moving too 😉
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Brilliant! 🤣
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Glad you enjoyed it Paula 😀
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I like the idea of a plumber winning the Nobel – I’ve always felt that in a crisis a plumber would be far more useful than a poet. I’ve never felt the need to ask a playwright to make an emergency visit at 3 am either…
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Absolutely! Although a poet or playwright might have lower call out charges. They could use their manuscripts to stem any floods 😀
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Hahaha! Well, in that case I’m calling Margaret Mitchell…
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Perfect choice 😀
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