I’ve always classed Roddy Doyle as one of my favourite writers, so was keen to read his first venture into non-fiction, "Rory and Ita". Yet "Rory and Ita" is not wholly Doyle's work since it is mainly written in the own words of the titular couple, Doyle's parents. "Rory and Ita" is their story, from their earliest childhood memories to the present day, encompassing all the changes of daily life in Ireland.
"Rory and Ita" is the sort of book I would love to have written. When people die, their memories die with them, as do all their lifetime experiences and history. Reading this book is a little like opening a time capsule and examining the contents. It is full of wonderful characters, intriguing folk legends and everyday things that developed into long-held family traditions.
So, did I enjoy reading it? Sadly, I'm afraid the answer to this question is a resounding no.
Had the book been about my own relatives then I'm sure the narrative would have captivated me. However, I found "Rory and Ita" too personal to the author and am afraid I grew bored far too easily, a great disappointment since I so wanted to enjoy the book.
I can appreciate that Rory and Ita are delightful people and excellent raconteurs and that they have a lot of valuable life wisdom to share. I can also appreciate the immense changes they have seen in their lifetimes and the need for these changes to be documented before they are irretrievably lost forever. However, personally, I don't have much interest in history, particularly modern history and thus failed to appreciate the finer points of this book. There are numerous photographic illustrations - many of which I found too small to be of value to the book's content.
Make no mistake; "Rory and Ita" is a lovely book. It is a warm, humourous and highly charming story, but, to quote Ita Doyle from the inside front cover of the book, "In all my life I have lived in two houses, had two jobs and one husband. I'm a very interesting person." That, for me, was the book's biggest downfall.
It doesn't change my opinion of Doyle as one of the greatest fiction writers of the 20th and 21st century, yet there is a first time for everything and reading a Roddy Doyle book that I didn't thoroughly enjoy came as quite a shock. Sadly, it just wasn't to my taste, but please remember this is only a personal opinion and one with which you may well disagree.
Publisher: Johnathon Cape
ISBN: 0224069233
Price: £16.99 / $23.95 h/b
Date Reviewed: March 2003
My Rating: 2/5
