The Guts

“ A visceral tragicomedy – as raw and as funny as anything [Doyle’s] written. ”

Olivia Cole

“ Remarkable, relevant and, surprisingly for a book that’s ostensibly about cancer, joyful. ”

Kevin Maher, The Times

“ Life-affirming and trimphant ”

Irish Post

“ A fond, comic treat. ”

Sunday Times

“ This is Doyle back in Barrytown and on top form, especially at the festival which closes a glorious book. ”

Harry Ritchie, Daily Mail

“ The Guts has life, and heart, and jokes. ”

Theo Tait, Guardian

“ The novel is probably the most contemplative that Doyle has written — as a meditation on the importance of family, it is at times almost unbearably moving. ”

Edmund Gordon, Sunday Times

“ Bright, jokey, wry and robust. ”

Patricia Craig, Independent

“ Unchanged is Doyle’s miraculous ability to serve up dialogue that fizzes with great, often quite rude jokes – but never at the expense of the emotions lying behind them. ”

Reader's Digest

“ As one does with old friends, you leap right back into the conversation as if you’ve never been apart... It’s got a bittersweet humour all its own. ”

Deborah Dundas, Toronto Star

“ The novel is rich in sentiment and episodes conveying sentiment. ”

Philip Marchand, National Post

“ Smart, sly, raucous, outrageous and tender The Guts will have you cheering for Jimmy and his family and if you’re not already a fan of Doyle’s writing will surely make you one. ”

Janet Somerville

“ The biggest joy is Doyle's deftness with dialogue. ”

Sue Conley, Herald.ie

“ In The Guts, Doyle returns once more to those themes he has always written about so singularly: love and family. Doyle has never written anything that is not about love and its transformational power. ”

Gabriel Byrne, Irish Times

“ A big-hearted novel of family life in which bad things ultimately happen to other people. ”

Anthony Cummins, Metro

“ As ever with Doyle, there’s wit, warmth and exuberant swearing found in even the toughest of situations. ”

Sport

“ Jimmy Rabbitte is 47 and potentially facing death, but ready to have a good time before doing it. ”

Sunday Business Post

“ What it has…is a melancholy wisdom, and some moments of heartbreaking poignancy. ”

Katy Guest, Independent on Sunday

“ Doyle conjures up a genuine tenderness, empathy and humanity when he writes about family life. ”

JP O'Malley, Observer

“ A warm, rude and occasionally tender novel about friendship, family and facing death. ”

Olaf Tyaransan, Hot Press

“ This is a bitter-sweet novel: a state-of-the-nation, state-of-the-age recession appraisal, and a loving portrayal of an imperfect, foul-mouthed, unstoppable, loving and lovable old bastard… [Doyle] packs more emotion into a simple ‘yeah’, or an ‘I know’ than many writers do into entire poetic speeches. ”

Bookmunch

“ Think it's clear from The Guts that Roddy Doyle has written this one from the guts: it's frank and funny, it's about things that matter (love and family and friendship), and it crackles with feisty Dublin dialect and richly comic exchanges. ”

Reading Matters

“ Warm, funny novel. ”

Sunday World

“ Lachyrymachismo. The art of being weepy and tough at the same time. This book has it in spades. Or rather buckets. ”

Private Eye

“ The great thing about Roddy Doyle is his ear for the demotic… The Guts is a good read. ”

Melanie McDonagh, Evening Standard

“ Doyle explores post-boom Ireland with gusto. ”

Claire Coughlan, Sunday Independent, Ireland

“ Unsurprisingly, every bit as good as the original [The Commitments], Doyle is one of those rare writers who never disappoints ”

Socialist Unity

“ Wise, wistful and poignant. ”

Sebastian Shakespeare, Tatler

“ Long-awaited sequel. ”

Mark Perryman, Huffington Post

“ A life-affirming and triumphant return for Doyle. His book has just been named Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. ”

Irish Post

“ Doyle’s ear for dialogue is as acute as ever and there’s a lot of amusing asides about contemporary life in this revisiting of much-loved characters. ”

Irish Independent

“ A book full of Doyle's dark humour mixed with melancholy and wonderful moments of sheer madness. ”

Good Book Guide

“ The feat of The Guts is Doyle’s ability to create in Jimmy a character who hangs together even while so many of his certainties have collapsed. And to get a few good jokes in as well. ”

Mark Athitakis, Washington Post

“ The feat of The Guts is Doyle’s ability to create in Jimmy a character who hangs together even while so many of his certainties have collapsed. And to get a few good jokes in as well. ”

Mark Athitakis, Washington Post