En cours de chargement...
Belfast, 1970s. Sammy and his three friends live in an impoverished area of the city that has become the epicentre of a country seemingly intent on cannibalising itself. They love sharp clothes, a good drink and the songs of Perry Como, whose commitment to clean living holds up a dissonant mirror to their own attempts to rise above their circumstances. They dream of a Free State, and their methods for achieving this are uncompromising.
But For The Good Times is not just a novel about the IRA. It is about the heartbreak and devastation that commitment to 'the cause' can bring — violence, betrayal, breakdown and rebirth.
Perry Como vs Frank Sinatra : how old American crooners influence IRA followers
The Troubles in Belfast have inspired countless novels since the 1970s attempting to make sense of the complexity of the sectarian violence extending beyond a struggle of Catholics versus Protestants. David Keenan takes an original and irreverent twist on this bloody tale in the story of four young Catholic men from Belfast with few solid professional prospects but an appetite for violence curiously wed with an improbable interest in the aesthetic values of American crooners! The reader will alternate between cringing and laughing over this grimly funny quartet's poorly considered involvement in their struggle against British rule. An energetic writing style making use of phantasmagoria and Irish humour gurantees a unique reading experience.