Bullfighting: Stories
About this audiobook
Roddy Doyle has earned a devoted following for his wry wit, his uncanny ear, and his ability to fully capture the hearts of his characters. Bullfighting, his second collection of stories, offers thirteen bittersweet takes on men and middle-age, revealing a panorama of Ireland today. Moving from classrooms to local pubs to bullrings, these tales feature an array of men taking stock and reliving past glories, each concerned with loss in different ways—of their place in the world, of their power, their virility, health, and love.
"Recuperation" follows a man as he sets off on his daily prescribed walk around his neighborhood, the sights triggering recollections of his family and his younger days. In "Animals," George recalls caring for his children's many pets and his heartfelt effort to spare them grief when they died or disappeared. The title story captures the mixture of bravado and helplessness of four friends who go off to Spain on holiday.
Sharply observed, funny, and moving, these thirteen stories present a new vision of contemporary Ireland, of its woes and triumphs, and middle-aged men trying to break out of the routines of their lives.
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About the author
Roddy Doyle is the author of ten acclaimed novels, several collections of stories, and several works for children and young adults. In 2009 he received the Irish PEN Award for Literature. The Commitments was made into a motion picture in 1991, and Paddy Clarke Ha-Ha-Ha won the Man Booker Prize, Britain’s highest literary award. The Van was a finalist for the Booker Prize. He lives in Dublin where he was born in 1958.
Lorcan Cranitch is an Irish actor. He has starred in Ballykissangel, Shackleton, Hornblower, and the HBO/BBC production of Rome. He has appeared on stage with the Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre and with the RSC, notably as John Hall in The Herbal Bed.
