A Star Called Henry

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A Star Called Henry (1999) is a novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle. It is Vol. 1 of The Last Roundup series. The second installment of the series, Oh, Play That Thing!, was published in 2004.

The setting of the novel is the era of political upheaval in Ireland between the 1916 Easter Rising and the eventual truce signed with England in 1921, seen through the eyes of young Henry Smart, from his childhood to early twenties. Henry, as a member of the Irish Citizen Army, becomes personally acquainted with several historical characters, including Patrick Pearse, James Connolly and Michael Collins. Later, he becomes a gunman in the ensuing guerilla war against the British, setting barracks on fire, shooting G-men and training others to do the same. It is only at the end of the novel that Henry realises how little the endless violence and killing of innocent people has to do with the concept of a free Ireland, or the prospect of a better life in Ireland. "A Star Called Henry" depicts the War of Independence as the struggle for power by an elitist middle class with no room for people with ideals.

Although "A Star Called Henry" may be concerned with an anti-colonial movement in the first place, it is the class conflict which is at the heart of the story. Likewise, it reveals how abstract ideals like freedom and Irishness are used as justifications for actions of primitive aggression, as is seen in the character of Ivan, a warlord brought into power by the I.R.A.

Doyle mixes fact and fiction by interweaving the text of historical documents with Henry's own words, though sometimes in a rather abrupt manner.

He also creates several extraordinary female characters: a bibliophile grandmother who only reads books by women; Dolly Oblong, a fat and bald old prostitute whom Henry almost falls for (like his father did twenty years before), and last but not least his lover and wife, Miss O'Shea, who disdains gender roles, wearing trousers and fighting the British while her husband stays at home watching the baby.