Two old friends are chatting in a pub in Dublin. They haven't seen each other for a while and over a few (!!) drinks the conversation is varied. While they were friends in their youth Davy moved to England so sees Joe only when he comes back to visit his father. They both have issues in their lives that they have not told one another about. What will come out in the course of a night of drinking?

This tale is colloquial (in an Irish way) and unstructured. Mine was a review copy however it had no chapters at all. The narrative moves place and time without any real indications. At times we are in the current era; at others we are back in a drinking haunt of their youth. Equally parts of the narrative take place while one of them has gone to the "jacks" or is otherwise occupied and these are more monologues recalling past events.

If all that sounds rather negative it's not intended that way but this book is a little different to the run of the mill ones. There is a rhythm or cadence to this for me which I enjoyed. We have humour and sadness too. I do think that this is quite a "blokey" book though. I found parts of it very easy to relate to. There are things said and not said between old friends. The more I read the more I got into it. Mine was a proof copy however the line "There is a reason why men don't talk about their feelings" I found very telling and might be a cornerstone of the book. That said there is plenty of talk which relates to underlying feelings.

I think this may be a Marmite book. The parts that worked for me really did work powerfully well at times. I found Davy and Joe, and their stories, easy to relate to. My biggest problem with this is that at times it was simply very slow. Old friends chatting over many drink tend to talk rubbish at times and that slows this down. However the good stuff was great!

This book wasn't for me. I was intrigued by the idea of it - two men in a pub in Ireland discussing past love. Sounds right up my street - I love reading dialogue between characters and think it is a great way to develop characters. Unfortunately, this novel missed the mark for me. It was hard to follow the dialogue, the conversation felt long-winded and unnatural and the flashbacks (albeit being all the more interesting) were inserted seemingly at random. Some of these issues I think could have been rectified with some better formatting, but the longwinded and boring dialogue was the nail in the coffin for me and I DNF'd this book. It's very possible that "it's not you, it's me", but ultimately I lost the patience with this book. Will definitely be trying another of Roddy Doyle's books as I have read other reviewers say that this book is not his usual style.

Joe and Davy meet up in Dublin for a nostalgic reminiscence about their past, and the women they have loved. The whole book is one long evening, as they make their way through different pubs, and is virtually all dialogue between the two men. The characters are well drawn, and their differing voices made it easy to follow who was speaking. However, I struggled to care about them, particularly Joe. He has left his wife for a woman called Jess that both the men lusted after in their youth, but he refuses to take any blame for leaving his wife, and circuitously rambles on about how it feels like his life with his wife has disappeared and he has always been with Jess. It was an interesting insight into a man having a mid-life crisis, self-justifying his actions, but it was hard to care about him. Davy seemed much duller, but I gained interest in his story as it went on and the very last part of the book packed an emotional punch. In general, the whole story was a bit too rambling and slow for my taste. - Roddy Doyle has been too successful in capturing the atmosphere of two sad old men chatting nonsense in a pub!

If I am interpreting his intentions correctly, I can appreciate what Roddy Doyle has done here. The structure of the book is perfect. The evening the two men spend drinking, catching up with each other’s lives and reminiscing about their early friendship, slowly descends into near incoherence and the conversation becomes circular and boring (anyone could recognise the feeling of being the designated driver/teetotaller on a night on the town). My problem was my lack of engagement with either of the men, I’d have preferred to read about their wives on a similar outing, both come across as far more interesting and entertaining. The object of desire in this story (the beautiful Jessica) is enigmatic to the point of barely existing at all and I am guessing this is the intention. If we were to know anything more about her, the mystique would be shattered.

After listening to Joe’s attempts over a whole afternoon and evening to justify the way his life has turned out, I was just wishing it would all be over. But then the focus switches towards the end to Davy’s situation and that is heart-breaking, classic Roddy Doyle, and redeemed the whole experience. Nicely done.

I must confess that I have never a Roddy Doyle book before. Don’t shoot me, I know I should have, but for some reason I haven’t. Until now, I have now and it’s an experience to be sure. I love the dialogue of Love. You’re not being told about Davy and Joe, you’re spending time with them and as a result it feels like you’re genuinely getting to know them.

The relentless dialogue, it is basically one long conversation on a night of reminiscing and storytelling as the two old friends catch up with each other, possesses you. There are no natural breaks where you can put the book down and do the things your life needs you to do, some stories come to a bit of an end but they flow straight into some other memory or question and off you go again.

It may partly be the layout of the digital version that I was reading, but it was confusing at first as I attuned myself to the voices but before long you’re part of the conversation and you instinctively recognise the changes in tone. Davy, Joe, their representations of Faye, Trish and Jessica, all come alive for you, real.

Davy and Joe are nearly sixty now. They’ve known each other since they were young but now they keep in touch only occasionally when Davy is back from England visiting his ageing father. They’re catching up over a night out eating and drinking, mostly drinking. There is a sense of duty about their getting together but as the beer flows their desire to slip away slips away.

I can understand why it might not be for everyone. It's a long rambling conversations between two older men as they traipse around the pubs of Dublin. At times it's infuriating, but that is just another part of what makes it an authentic story of male friendship. We don’t generally keep in touch well and we don’t often dig deep into our feelings and share them, so when we do try it can be infuriatingly round about.

Ultimately, it will probably come down to whether you connect with characters and for me that wasn’t a problem at all. Davy and Joe felt like familiar friends, picking things up naturally after long periods apart, reflecting on their shared memories, niggling each other and, when it matters most, putting everything aside to be there in the other’s time of need. Faye, although only ever met through Davy’s reflections is mesmerising with her bold Irish voice.

It isn’t so much a traditional, complete story as a window into the lives of two old friends. It covers friendship, family, shared experience and the art, as opposed to science, of memory. As such, it manages to be both moving and profound whilst also feeling unresolved. There are no certainties in Love, but there is much to reflect upon.

As a fan of previous fiction by Roddy Doyle I was expecting Love to be full of the humour and sharp wit that is his trademark. Without a doubt this book has wit and "crac" in every page but the story (is there one?) is impossible to follow. Joe and Davy two old childhood friends meet up for a drinking session, visit local hostelries and in doing so recall the rather drunken and naughty days of their respective youths. Sounds good? The only problem is I could not understand or make any sense of the dialogue. We are thrown straight into their mispent adventures, the stories they have to tell are impossible to follow and leave the reader very frustrated. We love you Roddy but is this just a case of a writer acting just a little blase and by so doing treating his readers with contempt? Many thanks to the good people at netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written.

A nostalgic bender around the pubs of Dublin, Roddy Doyle's dialogue flows like the many pints his protagonists knock back.

Covering more than the odd numbers of the Seven Ages of Man, you could easily believe that some of the characters from The Commitments are there somewhere, rubbing shoulders with Joe and Davy.

Anxiety about the future is something we all feel, particularly at the moment. The love of a good friend is both a cure and a curse. They make us laugh and cry in equal measure. They are there to catch us when we fall.

#Love #NetGalley

This is a brilliant book. Doyle has honed his skills over the years and it shows. The dialogue is superb, the interaction between the two main characters is sharp and extraordinary. He has become an incredible voice for the thoughts and feelings of men as they age. Here we see two men in their sixties, meeting after a several year gap, and trying, in one drunken evening to encompass the changes they have undergone and what it means to them. At times the dialogue is combative and they veer between their old, punchy selves, and the new, more vulnerable thoughts and feelings that assail them as they feel less and less able to deal with the huge changes in their lives. Language is just not enough. There is almost a Beckettian feel to this book. At times I found it really hard to figure out who was saying what to whom, and I wanted to see it as a film or a play. It would be electric. It's amazingly accomplished, although very sad and at times, brutal.

Two Irishmen walked into a pub…

That might sound like the beginning of an unfunny joke, but it is actually the premise of Roddy Doyle’s latest novel - “Love”. Davy and Joe were drinking buddies in their youth. They are now close to sixty, and Davy has lived in England for more than three decades. However, on his visits to Ireland to check on his aging and ailing father, he still occasionally meets Joe for the sake of old times.

The novel unfolds over one such long pub crawling evening. Joe has surprising news for Davy – he has broken up with Trish, his wife of thirty years, and settled down with Jessica, an old flame whom Davy remembers from their old drinking haunts. In a mixture of self-justification, self-pity and barely concealed pride, Joe tries to explain the reasons for leaving a wife whom he still loves and is attracted to. Davy acts as interrogator and interlocutor, by turns fascinated and irritated at Joe stealing the show. Joe’s story nudges memories of Davy’s youth – his difficult relationship with his father, his meeting and falling in love with his firebrand wife Faye. At the end of the story, we also learn of the real reason why Davy has decided to meet Joe on this particular day.

Roddy Doyle’s latest is certainly interesting in both theme and execution. It explores the various facets of “Love” – not just love between the sexes (with its mixture of attraction, lust, desire for companionship), but also between parents and children; between friends; love for one’s roots and homeland. “Love” is also formally adventurous, most of it being in the form of a dialogue. Even Davy’s reminiscences involve long stretches of conversation. Doyle’s mastery is apparent in the way the dialogue degenerates (both in coherence and lewd content) as Davy and Joe become tipsier. There are also the snatches of that dark humour for which the author is well known.

Yet, even while I admired various elements of this work, I had to make an effort to finish the novel. Part of the reason for this lies in my difficulty with following the dialogue. It felt like reading a script, except that I regularly had to re-check who was saying what. I often found myself thinking that a conversation between two drunk men is greater fun when you’re one of them. The arguments going round in circles, the swing from irritation to sentimental camaraderie… it’s all fine if you’re tipsy and in the midst of it but as a mere “fly on the wall” I eventually found it quite tiresome. There’s also the issue that certain of the novel’s questions remain unresolved. For instance, at the end of it all, we still are not sure why Joe left Trish and which parts of his story are true, which ones he has embellished for effect and which ones he’s remembering incorrectly. Indeed, the novel is not just about love, but also about memory and the way we fashion it to our ends.

For me, “Love” is an interesting experiment but one which is not wholly successful. If this novel were a girlfriend, I would have broken up with her, albeit admitting that possibly “it’s not you, it’s me”.

This is an unusual book which relies largely on an extended conversation between two middle-aged men. It is set in a Dublin pub for the most part and follows a meandering narrative about a long-standing, but recently revisited, love affair with an woman they both knew in their youth. Through various rounds of drinks and sparring banter the two men explore their own lives and relationships through the intervening years, ending in an inevitable drunken climax and subsequent understanding. It is thoughtfully structured through all the gradual inebriation and self-discovery, and thankfully allows a little narrative to break through the dialogue in places, which helps to lighten the mood and the dependence on the two men talking. I found the two men well drawn and interesting, coming from separate paths and experiences, and I enjoyed the touching and, for me, satisfying ending. An original and entertaining novel.

Many people will absolutely love this book, they will be able to appreciate the style, the humour, the dialogue-heavy story. I'm just not one of those people, I don't get this book. I had a brief moment when I almost enjoyed it, but after a while, I got bored and tired of the style, and the neverending story of a romance.
In the beginning, the idea of two old friends meeting for a night of heavy drinking and sharing secrets seemed interesting. It has a different writing style, the author relies heavily on a dialogue of the two main characters. It's an Irish author, and there are some fun Irish phases I learned recently. This was all nice. But there was nothing else in this book for me. The dialogue became tedious, more and more drunk and meandering. I was expecting more of a drama from the stories they shared, more strong emotions. It was not there. I cannot say it is a bad book, it has an interesting concept and deals with issues many readers will relate to. The book is just bad for me.

Thank you Net Galley. (Four and a half stars rounded to five.) I loved this book. It was simple and funny and thought provoking. Always readable. Loved it.

It took me quite a long time to really get in to this book,although I had read and enjoyed other books by Roddy Doyle.It takes place over one afternoon and night,when two old,friends ,Joe and David get together to catch up when David comes back to Dublin for an annual visit.And that's really it- the whole book deals with their conversations and reminiscences ,going back almost forty years.Joe has just left his wife for a woman he first met with David in their youth and tries to explain his reasons for doing so.David is married to Faye and now lives in England but comes back to Dublin to spend time with his father.
There are some truly,touching moments in the book,especially towards the end,and it certainly deals with the subject of its title,but it just wasn't my kind of book.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in return for an honest review which reflects my own opinions.

Love is a novel about two old friends and the nature of love throughout their lives. Joe and Davy were close when they were young, but are now further apart, and have big things in their lives the other doesn't know about. One evening, they meet up in a restaurant in Dublin to catch up, and dinner turns into one drink, then more. As the conversation unfolds, the ghosts of the past haunt them, and the difficulties of explaining the present to somebody else become clear.

The concept—two men talking over one evening, with flashbacks—is a classic literary set up, and the dialogue does feel like a long, rambling conversation. Davy's flashbacks and thinking about his past suggest the way that in a conversation, people can be focused on relating what they hear to their own lives and problems, and not always getting what the other person is saying, and it makes for an interesting way of looking at how people relate to each other. However, the way the secrets and explanations unfold just didn't make it very gripping, which meant that it didn't quite have the emotional weight by the end because I felt like I was just trying to get through it.

A lot of people will probably really like this novel, and it is well-written and it offers an insightful look into relationships, but I just couldn't engage with it deeply enough to feel the emotional point of it.

I loved this book, moving, funny and profound. On the surface this is the story of two, now estranged friends, nearing their 60's meeting up after many years to catch up and spend some time together drinking in the pubs of Dublin. However, underneath there is much more. As the day turns into night, and the number of pubs visited increases, Davy and Joe contemplate their lives and their past. Each is hiding a secret from each other and it may be the last time that they will meet.

The dialogue is so believable and at times you almost believe that you are sitting in the pub with them. Although the novel is set over the course of one afternoon and night, it also moves back and forth to their former friendship when young adults in the 1980s.

There will inevitably be comparisons with Joyce and Becket but rather it reminded me of France's, Patrick Modiano, one of my favourite authors, who in much of his work explores the vagueness of incomplete memory when trying to determine the actuality and significance of events. Can you trust a narrative when it may be incomplete and less than truthful? This is a theme that predominates during Davy and Joe's encounter. A very recommended read.

I can’t help but succumb to the Irish writers cliche and compare this novel to Joyce (the dashes to mark speech!) or to Becket (the rambling incoherence of two drunk older men) but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy this. Doyle can write (what seems to me to be) supremely believable dialogue, which is just as well because Love is about 90% a conversation between two old friends catching up over drinks in a single night. But the novel also moves back and forth between their early adulthood in 1980s Dublin and the narrator, Davy, looking back over his life and family up to the present day. At surface level, Love follows Davy’s friend, Joe, into a rekindling of an old relationship with Jessica, but it’s really about storytelling and about love in all its forms.

Only Roddy Doyle (or Flann O’Brien in his day) could make an engrossing tale out of two mates on a pub crawl around Dublin, reliving their youth and love lives. Written almost entirely in dialogue, the hilarious (and very bawdy) banter between the two men keeps the reader engaged, even as they become more and more inebriated and incoherent. It’s another literary tour de force from a comedy genius which would work just as well on the stage, as Doyle can use his talent as a playwright for both occasions.

I thought this was a slightly different story from Roddy Doyle. It looks at friendship and how it develops and changes over the years. I enjoyed the story and think it is one of Doyle’s best books in recent years.