Oh, Play That Thing () is a novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle. It is Vol. 2 of The Last Roundup series, and follows on from Vol. 1, A Star Called Henry.
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Perhaps, in part, this is because Doyle's idiosyncratic Irish voice sounds less sure of itself among the diaspora in America, and a lot less authentic in the mouths of Americans themselves. Like its predecessor, the book centres on the adventures of Henry Smart, a street urchin who clawed his way out of the slums of Dublin to become a ubiquitous, valiant presence at every major Irish event between and , but also a hitman and an improbably prodigious fornicator.
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Oh, Play That Thing begins where the previous novel ends, with a disillusioned Smart on the run from his former brothers-in-arms, abandoning his wife and baby to start a new life in America. But Henry's American company is less appealing than his Irish, and he no longer has the revolutionary cause to ennoble him. Instead of Michael Collins and James Connolly, he hangs out with thugs and mobsters, bootleggers, waifs, hired assassins, porn actors and other assorted low-life.
Louis Armstrong plays a sizable and not entirely convincing part in the narrative, employing Henry as his 'white man' and, therefore, his ticket into the segregated jazz clubs of s Chicago. But even while working for Satchmo, Henry is on the run and so is the book, negotiating its way through a cast of too many characters and too many locations.
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The pace is unremitting. Characteristically, the handsome, charismatic 'not far off gorgeous' Henry strikes up friendships and love affairs with a vast number of the people he encounters, some lasting, others not. His conversations with them are conducted in Doyle's trademark staccato dialogue, so sparse it can makes Beckett look chatty.
For this second volume of Roddy Doyle's remarkable Last Roundup trilogy, we follow Henry Smart to America as he tries to outrun his destruction at the hands of his Irish former allies. Doyle sets his pace right from the start, dropping us onto the ship that takes Smart to New York and writing at a clip that surprises compared to the more patient tone A Star Called Henry had set.
This is not in error: Doyle clearly wants his readers to be overwhelmed and swept up in the same way Smart is by the b For this second volume of Roddy Doyle's remarkable Last Roundup trilogy, we follow Henry Smart to America as he tries to outrun his destruction at the hands of his Irish former allies. Doyle clearly wants his readers to be overwhelmed and swept up in the same way Smart is by the bustle and business that was s America.
We're thrown into the concrete ocean of Manhattan and witness Smart's attempt to work his small-time big-city magic in a new world. He is almost immediately in trouble again, and again on the run. Oh, Play That Thing takes the music that was an occasional character in the previous book and makes it the world through which we move with Henry Smart. He and we witnesses jazz at perhaps its most crucial early stages, and ends up palling up with Louis Armstrong himself. While that's a partnership that works only occasionally both for Smart and for us , it serves its purpose in threading the music naturally into the changes in Smart's life as well as in American life.
Touching at least unabashedly on both Sinclair's The Jungle and Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, Doyle's faultless sense of story makes this a compelling and moving really: I had tears in my eyes twice through this book continuation of the tale of this charismatic everyman he's created. I'm taking a break from the saga before I read its final instalment, The Dead Republic, but if the closing of this book is any indication it's bound to be truly remarkable.
This was a great book. That turned out to be an excellent decision. He has a very unique writing style where he will jump around without making it explicit when or who is talking. You have to figure it out on your own and I love that. This was a fun and very different style read and I look forward to reading more of Roddy. The plot was also a ton of fun.
This is apparently the second book in a trilogy about a one time Irish freedom This was a great book. He has recently escaped Dublin in the early 20's after the new politicians are trying to clean up their violent IRA pasts. Henry first goes to new york, where he is generally a hustler until he pisses off some bad dudes. He then escapes to Chicago where he befriends Louis Armstrong and because somewhat of a partner.
He is basically just a white guy that hangs around with Louis so he doesn't get taken advantage of. The two of them manage to get into some scrapes and bad situations and eventually take off for New York where Louis's music can really blow up. The bad men from earlier recognize Henry and he is forced to take off again. This time he ends up riding the rails and basically becomes a legendary hobo.
Not entirely true, but Henry does fall into a kind of advertising and starts learning how to con people by telling, then selling, them what they want. This allows Doyle to examine the jazz age and racism from a complete outsider's perspective; Henry knows discrimination and violence, but the lack of non-whites in Ireland makes racism fairly new to him.
He certainly doesn't understand the subtle interplays of crime, politics, and race; but he learns. Miss O'Shea also comes to America, and her tragic love story with Henry continues there. Like Okies, they become riders of the rails, hoboes on the trains with their daughter. Doyle takes the reader through so many aspects of American life in the twenties and thirties, I'm surprised Henry wasn't a Wall Street banker at one point. Mar 30, Stephen Wallace rated it liked it. I've got to say that I don't know how to rate this book.
By 50 pages I was wondering whether to put it down and not bother with it again. After reading the preceeding book of the as yet uncompleted trilogy, I picked up this book almost immediately. In Chicago, Henry meets and hangs out with Louis Armstrong. I'm not really sure this worked and I found in places of this book that Roddy Doyle w I've got to say that I don't know how to rate this book. I'm not really sure this worked and I found in places of this book that Roddy Doyle was really struggling to stretch the book out to a publishable amount of pages.
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That said the last pages of this book were excellent, and unputdownable?!? Again I finished this book and started looking to find the third and final book, only to discover that it is as yet unwritten. Doyle's comedic look at Depression-era immigrants' chaos, hardships, and excitement, his "combo jazzed-up sassy Booker Prize-winning Doyle Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha has taken a few missteps with his latest offering, the second in a projected trilogy.
Jan 24, dannymac rated it liked it Recommends it for: Roddy Doyle has a way with the smallest of sentences. I enjoyed this book if only because the protaganist's arrival in this country coincides with that of my decedents. I'm second gen, which means I'm more Irish than my dad or mom who would deny any real attachment to the auld sodh since their evolution growing up was to be as American as possible and forget about the land of origin.
The book has a lot of movement, as does Doyle's prose. The main man character doesn't possess a typically Irish na Roddy Doyle has a way with the smallest of sentences. The main man character doesn't possess a typically Irish name.
Oh, Play That Thing
Last time I looked, the name "Smart" probably originated in the Dutch or German vernacular. But none the less, it was a good time read, though I would recommend Paula Spencer and the anthology, the Deportees, as being far superior to this novel. Not too Irish but just Irish enough, sums up this novel perfectly, I think. Aug 20, Kate rated it it was ok. I read A Star Called Henry several years ago, which was obviously several years too long. A true sequel, the story does not stand on its own and is best read shortly after finishing ASCH, since there are multiple sections that reflect back.
Although I love Doyle, and enjoyed ASCH, I felt that this book was a little too unfocused and it's difficult to connect with Henry until the last chapter. While the adventures themselves are fun and interesting from a historical fiction perspective, Henry fail I read A Star Called Henry several years ago, which was obviously several years too long.
While the adventures themselves are fun and interesting from a historical fiction perspective, Henry fails to connect with the other characters, which makes it difficult to connect to him. He is always looking in the window to America, even when he is doing his best to bleed the country dry. Doyle's lyrical writing sometimes becomes a little too metaphorical which leaves sections of the story feeling disjointed. Mar 20, Carmen rated it liked it Shelves: This book had lots of sad elements in it.
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It also had a lot of dialog. Set in Chicago before the crash of 29 it features Henry Smart. This is the second book featuring him. He is on the run having left his family back in Ireland. He finds himself in New York and gets into trouble again. So now he is on the run for the second time. He goes to Chicago. There he meets Louis Armstrong. The racial prejudice of the time is protrayed by little things.
Like how when Henry and Louis are walking down the This book had lots of sad elements in it.
Like how when Henry and Louis are walking down the street, they can't walk side by side and have a discussion. Makes reading it really hard. At the end of the book, he has found his family again and then lost them again. He seems to have a knack for that. Aug 08, Kellyk rated it liked it Shelves: I'm thinking that this is my least favorite of the trio in this particular Doyle trilogy. Personally, I wasn't all that excited that the book was not set in Ireland but rather was in Chicago and New York in the 20s. This is an interesting time period to explore in general in American history, but I would have rather had the book set in Ireland so that I could have learned I'm thinking that this is my least favorite of the trio in this particular Doyle trilogy.
This is an interesting time period to explore in general in American history, but I would have rather had the book set in Ireland so that I could have learned the results of Henry Smart's rebellions and protests against the British government. Altogether, I enjoyed Doyle's unique writing style and thought this book was much more crude than the first; I am interested to see where the third one will lead. Nov 25, Randine rated it really liked it. First thing I've read by Roddy Doyle, I liked it very much.
I didn't realize when I checked it out that it is the second book in a trilogy but I didn't feel cut off from information by not reading the first book. I never realized how the mob various mobs controlled everything that made money in the big cities back in the twenties and that Armstrong was a prisoner of whomever was in control. A tough, amazing read.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in He won the Booker Prize in Doyle grew up in Kilbarrack, Dublin. He spent several years as an English and geography teacher before becoming Roddy Doyle Irish: He spent several years as an English and geography teacher before becoming a full-time writer in Other books in the series. The Last Roundup 3 books.
Books by Roddy Doyle. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Is he merely self-confident or delusional? Talk about the women in the novel. Does Henry take her advice? Such figures have abounded both in American literature and pop culture. Think of some examples and their impact on American society. How do you as a reader react when you encounter a real person in a work of fiction?
What do you think the author is trying to achieve by doing this? Why do you think Louis Armstrong connects with Henry? Is Henry good or bad for Armstrong? Were you surprised to discover at the end of the novel that the whole of World War II has gone by, unnoticed by Henry? What does this suggest about Henry? Does it suggest anything about what Roddy Doyle might be trying to say? Roddy Doyle is planning on this being the second book in a trilogy.