A Greyhound of a Girl

A Greyhound of a Girl - Roddy Doyle Twelve yearold Mary meets a woman named Tansyn on her way home from school. When she tellsher mother Scarlett about it she learns that her great-grandmother’s name was Tansyn,too. It occurs to Mary that her Tansyn and Scarlett’s Tansyn might be one andthe same. An impossible thought since Tansyn died of the flu when Mary’sgrandmother Emer was only three.

I had funreading this book but it was definitely more of a fleeting pleasure. Still I’drecommend it to anyone looking for an engaging read. I especially liked themagical realism and how Roddy Doyle fit it effortlessly into a story about a familysaying their goodbyes to a dying grandmother. I often felt that the authorcould have gotten into the story more, told it with more layers and colours.Instead the tale stays mostly on the surface, which is sad but it is a worthreading none the less.

Thecharacters the reader meets in this novel are as unique and inventive as theycome. I especially liked the snappy dialogue, very Irish and laced with irony.This makes it both a bit bizarre and a joy to read. More than once I laughedout loud at the characters’ surreal conversations and I have memorized quite afew catchphrases as well. In short I must say ‘it was grand.’

This is a charm of a book, which you will enjoy most if you lovemagical realism just as much as I do.