The Deportees and Other Stories

Erica Wagner

All these stories are about blended worlds and the problems inherent in that blending, no matter what wealth or luxury a place affords. The guys and dolls in Jimmy Rabbitte's new gang have last names like Boro, Bunuel, Stefanescu and Ivanov, and when he tries to bring them together as he had with the Commitments it seems as if it can't work: "The dynamic was different; they were older, foreign, the country was too prosperous, they weren't hungry—something." That "something" lies at the heart of this collection, and its elusiveness is captivating. As, of course, is Doyle's sense of humor.
—The New York Times

Publishers Weekly

Doyle's dynamic first collection of short stories offers light and heartfelt perspectives on the effects of immigration on Irish culture. Originally serialized for a Dublin newspaper, all eight stories draw from the conceit of "someone born in Ireland [who] meets someone who has come to live" there. The opener, "Guess Who's Coming for the Dinner," covers familiar ground-a self-proclaimed "modern" father is taken aback when his daughter invites a "black fella" to dinner-but Doyle's wry sense of humor saves the narrative from triteness. Fans of Doyle's previous work will revel in the title story, a follow-up to The Commitments that finds Jimmy Rabbitte masterminding a multicultural revival of Woody Guthrie music. The later stories find Doyle experimenting with different styles and voices: "New Boy" charts an unlikely friendship between a nine-year-old African immigrant and two "small, angry Irish boys," while "Black Hoodie" finds a timid, indifferent teenager discovering his passion for civil rights and a Nigerian girl. There are some abrupt endings that veer toward the convenient, though this may be an unavoidable consequence of their serial origins. Doyle's immense talent as a writer is neatly showcased throughout, and his sharp wit adds a richness to every tale. (Jan.)

Library Journal

This first short fiction collection by Booker Prize winner Doyle spotlights the street-level impacts of Ireland's recent transformation into a multicultural, multiracial country because of an immigrant influx from Africa and Eastern Europe. Originally published as 800-word chapters in a magazine devoted to Irish immigrants, these eight energetic stories depict the exhilaration of a newly prosperous society in flux. The title story brings back irrepressible Jimmy Rabbitte from The Commitments, who forms a band representing the new face of Ireland and then some. In the darkly comic "Guess Who's Coming for the Dinner," traditional dad Larry, proud of what he believes to be his very forward-thinking views, is flummoxed when his daughter invites a "black fella" to meet the family. Other tales introduce a Polish nanny taking horrific revenge on obnoxious employers, a (literally) black Irishman seeking his ethnic roots in New York City, and assorted young adults coping impressively with rapid social shifts. Every selection reflects the author's mastery at creating authentic dialog and a realistic sense of place; readers will find themselves drawn into the sounds, sights, and highly charged atmosphere of contemporary Dublin. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ9/15/07.]
—Starr E. Smith

Kirkus Reviews

The novelist's first story collection holds more socio-cultural than literary interest. One of Ireland's most popular and prolific contemporary writers, Doyle (Paula Spencer, 2007, etc.) offers eight stories focused on a single phenomenon-the proliferation of immigrants to his native land and the transformation of what it means to be Irish. Doyle writes in the foreword that in the 1990s he "went to bed in one country and woke up in a different one," a country inhabited by newcomers from Poland, Nigeria and other places who serve as the protagonists for these stories. He has continued to write short fiction for the weekly Metro Eirann, which bills itself as Ireland's multicultural newspaper, and where each of these stories first appeared in monthly 800-word installments. While Doyle's employment of dialogue and vernacular are characteristically colorful, the short fiction lacks the depth of his novels, with some of the characters seeming more like types than fully fleshed. The longest is the title story, a sequel of sorts to Doyle's The Commitments, with manager Jimmy Rabbitte returning to assemble a United Nations lineup to perform the songs of Woody Guthrie and others. Why? No clue. Another story, "Home to Harlem," concerns a student of literature who comes to America to research his questionable conjecture that the Harlem Renaissance had a profound influence on 20th-century Irish literature. Why does he think so? He can't really say, as the story mainly serves to show his confusion over a form that has an African-American category for race/ethnicity but none for African-Irish. As Doyle says of his stories, "Almost all of them have one thing in common. Someone born in Ireland meetssomeone who has come to live here . . . . Today, one in every ten people living in Ireland wasn't born here."Point taken, but what might have been entertaining as a newsprint monthly series seems slight in book form.

The Barnes & Noble Review

Dubliner Roddy Doyle's first short story collection describes the "new Ireland" that emerged in the 1990s, a land of booming economic opportunity and burgeoning immigration. "I went to bed in one country and woke up in a different one," writes Doyle. Each one involves someone new to Ireland interacting with a native, with much cross-cultural confusion and dark humor ensuing -- along with Doyle's furious and consistent compassion for the underdog. But true understanding often results. The first story centers on Larry, a "hip" Irish father whose daughter Stephanie brings home a Nigerian suitor. Larry's level of discomfort, his terror at saying the wrong thing, creates hilarity and exquisite tension, but Doyle never falls back upon stereotypical encounters. The title story is a sequel to Doyle's The Commitments. Lovable Johnny Rabbitte is back, assembling a band of misfits: a Romanian, a Russian, and an African singer named King Robert. The best here is, "New Boy," in which a nine-year-old African immigrant fights off bullies and struggles to adapt to a new school. There isn't a bad story in the bunch, and each introduces vivid characters struggling with self-identity in a newly multicultural Ireland. Roddy Doyle has long been a treasure, and this collection wonderfully reflects his richly comic humanity. --Chuck Leddy