In summary an enjoyable read that really put you in the atmosphere of the rougher edges of Dublin early-90s life. The Van focuses on the elder Jimmy Rabbitte and his efforts at going into business with his best friend Bimbo, after both lose their jobs.

Also, for the occasionally rough language, Doyle really spreads the love around, without it getting schmaltzy -- the locale, the characters -- it makes for warm reading.Roddy Doyle's winning trio of comic novels depicting the daily life and times of the Rabbitte family in working-class Dublin. I'm proud to be a Dub for reading this and all I want after reading it is a heap of Guinness and "a large and a battered Dunphy". I laughed out loud through all three books, welled up a number of times, and recognized my own Irish family -- sometimes painfully -- on every page. The setting, fictional Barrytown, is perfect as it reminded me of stories I heard growing up, one's like my Ma and Da owning the only phone in their estate in the late 80's so they'd have a queue outside their gaff every Sunday. At the 1992 British Academy Film Awards, the film won four of six BAFTA Awards for Best Film, Best Direction, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing.

It's a short story with a lot of page space afforded to the act of verbalising the songs the band is singing. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. The surname of the Rabbitte family was changed to the maiden name of Curley for the film adaptations of The Snapper and The Van, as 20th Century Fox owns the rights to the Rabbitte name from The Commitments, who were not involved in the adaptations of subsequent works in the trilogy. The Barrytown franchise, is an Irish comedy-drama media franchise centred on the Rabbittes, a working-class family from Barrytown, Dublin. I also loved the touching, and generally very funny, scenes between Jimmy and his sons which we hadn't really got to see in the other books.And his friend Bimbo after they are made redundant and they set up a chip van during the madness that was Italia 90 (the high point in Irish football). It might have started out slow, but in the end it provided me with a good insight into a certain irish society.

Due to Ireland's surprising success at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, their business starts off well, but the relationship between the two friends soon becomes strained as Bimbo behaves more like a typical boss. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. An image of four of the actors of the original film, in character, was featured on an Irish postage stamp as part of the Ireland 1996: Irish Cinema Centenary series issued by An Post; the image includes lead singer Deco Cuffe (Andrew Strong), along with the three "Commitmentettes" – Imelda Quirke (Angeline Ball), Natalie Murphy (Maria Doyle Kennedy) and Bernie McGloughlin (Bronagh Gallagher). He is at times sweet, especially to his daughters but he can also be needlessly obtuse to the detriment of his own welfare. He has the archetypal Dublin bowises as friends, the lad who can get you anything from the back of a truck, the grumpy auldfella and the best mate who he shares more with than his wife.They slag each other endlessly, each trying to outdo the other and at times ganging up on one of the group of there's a bigger laugh to be had. Many of the actors involved in The Commitments went on to pursue various acting and musical careers. Even though their raw talent and lofty aspirations gain the group notoriety, the pitfalls of fame began to tear at their newfound friendships as they prepare for their big show. The third novel, The Van, is more somber and ambiguous, which is appropriate since it's about a later stage of life. I must confess that the whole Rabbitte family is a highly unwholesome, comical, yet tender hearted clan.