Boekverslag : Roddy Doyle - The Snapper
De taal ervan is Engels en het aantal woorden bedraagt 1716 woorden.
De taal ervan is Engels en het aantal woorden bedraagt 1716 woorden.
Title
The Snapper
Author
Roddy Doyle
Copyright date
1990
Physical descr.
183p.; 20cm.
Edition
1st Ed.
Brief Summary
The family where the book is about (The Rabitte family) live in Barrytown, a North-Dublin suburb. It's one of those working-class suburbs with tiny houses, a lot of children in the street, alcoholism, unemployment, poverty and Criminality. But there's also a great sense of togetherness and having a family where you feel comfortable with. Where the book is all about, is when a young girl gets pregnant and refuses to say whom the father is. She has to go a lot of hard times. Times of lies and embarrassing but also with love and respect.
One day after dinner twenty-year old Sharon Rabbite tells her parents that she is pregnant. Her father Jimmy is more shocked than her mother Veronica, but i seems that there is no big row. She won't tell anyone who the father is, because she says she cannot. What she will tell is that the father is not married and will not marry her. Jimmy carefully suggest an abortion because he does not like the idea of having an unmarried daughter whom is pregnant, without having a father for the child. But for Sharon and Veronica is this out of the question. In a few days she 'd tell the rest of the family (her twin sisters-Linda and Tracy- and her three brothers-Jimmy JR. Darren and Leslie-) that she is pregnant. They all take it well. But they all asked the same question: Who is the father? And she will never answer that question. Now that her family, take the news well she can concentrate on her pregnancy. She buys a book about pregnancy and is afraid for the things that can go wrong in those nine months. When she's in her eleventh week the signs start to show: she is sick in the mornings and her breasts start to hurt. Now she can tell her friends the news, but she put it off all the time, because she finds it difficult to say. And she won't answer the following question: Who?
When finally, in her thirteenth week Sharon tells her friends one night in the pub, they take it very well. Some times later Bimbo confides to Jimmy that one of their mates, George Burgess, told the lads in the pub that Sharon is "a great little ride". Jimmy is furious about this. He also warns Sharon. The next day Sharon visits Mr. Burgess, who is the father of one of their mates, Yvonne. She tells him she will tell his wife if he doesn't stop saying things about her. They were both drunk the night they did it and they both made a terrible mistake. A few days later Jimmy is still furious and visits George Burgess. A few days later Mr. Burgess has disappeared from home. He writes to Sharon that he loves her and that he wants to see her. His wife now also knows and she makes up the story that Sharon seduced her husband. Because of the fact that it is getting difficult for the Rabbite family, Sharon comes up with the idea of telling everyone that the father is a Spanish sailor. But not everyone believes her. Jimmy feels ashamed by the way the neighbourhood thinks and laughs behind their backs. He thinks Sharon is the problem. He avoids and denies her for weeks. But now Sharon wants to leave the house for good. Later they make up with each other. The Rabbits are getting ready for the baby. The baby is born and it is a girl. She looks anything but Spanish. Sharon will give her the name Georgina, and she will call her George.
Genre
I read a realistic novel. It could have been everyone to play the part of Sharon or someone else in the family. It could have been me. It's also very realistic because of the fact the author, Roddy Doyle, assimilates a lot of things from his youth. This would make it autobiographical. All over the world there are the same suburbs and the same problems as well. He shows the world the truth with his book.
Comparison
This book reminds me of a film that I've seen in the English class. The film was about The Commitments .It also reminds me of some information that I've read about the books. The Commitments, The Snapper and The van were bundled and published as "Barrytown Trilogy". The themes in the three books were the same: the togetherness and warmth in the family. The books are about the same family, the Rabbits. In The Commitments is the plot about Jimmy JR. He start a band with the sound that he calls 'Dublin-soul'. It doesn't remind me of a Dutch book or film. I haven't read The Commitments so I can't say if it is the same. But the ambience is the same (in book and film). They used the same language. Although in the book they used more spoken language than in the film. I think I like the film better because of the long-winded of the book. It is all about one thing, the whole book. The film was livelier. The characters that played in the film where also in the book(s). But in some of the books there were more characters because it is not the same plot. But the main characters that played in the film were also in the books (so I've read).
The film
I'm a director and I'm going to make a film about the book I've read. I must tell you that Stephen Frears has made a film of it already in 1990. I haven't seen that film but I've seen the trilogy of the three books. What I want to include in the film is that the characters are livelier. They are already, but I want them to be real human beings because I like that. What I also want to change is the plot, not the hole plot but I just want that it isn't so monotonous and long-winded anymore. I think the characters are just great and I don't want to leave any out. They fit in "as fish in a fish bowl". The languages are a bit rude though. So I want to change them a little bit. The film that I want to make is exactly the same as the book. Accept the things that I have described.
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