Bullfighting

An effortless read, told in warm and witty Roddy Doyle style.

Reading Matters

Doyle snaps entire lives into sharp focus in a handful of pages, which is short fiction doing what short fiction does best

The Times

This collection is brilliant: very funny, but also tragic and tender

Saga

These rather tender-hearted sketches of how men get old in contemporary Ireland may not be autobiographical but they're true; they come from life as lived

Evening Standard

Roddy Doyle's Bullfighting offers a series of rare and beautiful mid-life meditations

Jane Clinton, Sunday Express

Doyle's writing seems so natural, so effortless that I sometimes think we overlook how good it is

Teddy Jamieson, Herald

A muted celebration of everday life and its consolations

Phil Baker, Sunday Times

Realistic and funny... This is a funny book about serious stuff... Doyle's descriptions of fatherhood will leave a powerful impression on any reader

Christina Appleyard, Daily Mail

The trademark deadpan style of Doyle's storytelling make this an entirely believable comedy

Gerard Woodward, Guardian

Insightful collection of stories

Phil Hogan, Observer

Probably the finest collection of Irish short stories since James Joyce's Dubliners

Globe and Mail

Fans of Doyle's work will doubtless find much to celebrate in Bullfighting

Times Literary Supplement

Quite frankly, this is one of the most accurately observed books on human life I've come across and it's well worth a look

Iain Wear, The Bookbag

A collection of short stories musing on the masculine midlife crisis

Observer

These short stories flow beautifully yet there is something very sharp and crisp and understated here, too. You whizz through, then you read them again, and they’re even better the second time

William Leith, Scotsman

Doyle balances humour with pathos

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