And nobody alive uses filthy language with such exuberant expressive virtuosity. Hardly any other writer alive can create families and neighborhoods full of mutually involved people with such easy authority. The novel is filled with sharply observed, amusingly distinctive characters, including even Paula's young children. Doyle's masterly use of jabbing, staccato sentences and emotional repetitions produces a nervous intensity that exactly reproduces how his heroine-and she is that, no other word will do-lives out her imperilled days. It's as simple as that, and as stupid and complicated.") Charlo's uncontrollable thuggishness eventually removes him from her life for good, but that isn't the end of her trouble. And the core of her adult life is her terrified relationship with abusive husband Charlo, a charismatic monster whose unpredictable swings between tenderness and violence keep the hopeful Paula in a constant state of submissive confusion. Indeed, Paula's a match for any of them as she recalls episodes from her experiences as competitive sibling and worldly-wise schoolgirl, moonstruck young wife, and, finally, embattled mother. Doyle's protagonist and narrator, Paula Spencer, will remind readers of the hilariously feisty, foulmouthed women of his earlier books. A skillful mixture of buoyant farce and wrenching drama from the popular Irish author (The Commitments, 1987 Booker-winner Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, 1993, etc.).
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