Boekverslag : Roddy Doyle - The Snapper
De taal ervan is Engels en het aantal woorden bedraagt 700 woorden.
De taal ervan is Engels en het aantal woorden bedraagt 700 woorden.
Book: The Snapper
Author: Roddy Doyle
The book is about Sharon Rabbitte, a twenty-year old girl from Barrytown, a north-Dublin suburb. After a night of going out, she is so drunk that she has a one-night-stand with Mister Burgess, a married man. It grows worse when Sharon turns out to be pregnant by him. She tells everybody that she is pregnant by a Spanish sailor. In first instance they all believe this story, until Mister Burgess runs away from home. Then it is rumoured that maybe he is the father of Sharon’s baby. Now Sharon is very worried about what will happen when they find out that Mister Burgess is the father indeed.
I have chosen this book, because the introduction of the book made me very curious about who the father of the baby could be.
The principal characters in the book are:
- Sharon Rabbitte; a twenty-year old girl from Barrytown, who turns out to be pregnant
by a married man called George Burgess.
- George Burgess; the man who had a one-night-stand with Sharon and made her
pregnant, although he is married and has two children. He is a doctor by profession. His qualities of character are
talking big to his friends, insipidity when Sharon confronts him with her pregnancy
and appeasing to Sharon to make sure that she will tell no one about their affair.
- Jimmy Rabbitte Senior; the father of Sharon. Although he looks hard-hearted and
gruff, he is very tender and loving to his children when they are in trouble.
- Veronica Rabbitte; the mother of Sharon. She often argues with her husband.
Other characters in the book are:
- Jimmy junior, Les, Darren, Linda and Tracy Rabbitte; the brothers and sisters of
Sharon.
- Yvonne, Mary and Jackie; the best friends of Sharon.
- Doris Burgess; the wife of George Burgess.
- Bimbo, Bertie and Paddy; the best friends of Jimmy Rabbitte Senior.
I could not find a character in the book that I found sympathetic, because I think that every character in the book has one or several negative qualities of character. I think that George Burgess is the most unsympathetic person in the book, because he does not take his responsibility’s by taking care of Sharon and her baby. He would rather ignore her completely and forget the whole incident. I think that this is not fair to Sharon. I also think that Sharon does not take her responsibility’s for taking care of the baby, because she drinks too much alcohol in the pub.
The story takes place in the 1980’s. This is shown by the fact that all modern equipment like a radio and a television is present in the Rabbitte’s house. There are also cars outside.
The time in which the story takes place is not important for the story itself, because it will not have any influence on the events in the book.
The story takes place in Barrytown, a north-Dublin suburb. In this case the place of action does have influence on the story. Barrytown is namely a working-class with a poor population, heavy drinking and a lot of unemployment. This characterises also the people in the book; they drink a lot and they swear in almost every sentence. There is a great sense of togetherness in Barrytown too, both within the family and in the local community. This is an important difficulty in the book: what will everybody say about Sharon’s pregnancy?
The story is told by an all-knowing narrator, who does not take part in the story itself. His point of view is completely neutral, only the opinions of the characters from the book are being given.
I do not think that the writer added a moral to the story, because he has not given an opinion of his own at all.
I would not like reading a book with the same subject as the book, because I am afraid that it will become monotonous. I would like to read a book from the same author, because he writes very clear and he does not use really complicated words.
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