Here are the Young Men by Rob Doyle

Published: 2014, Bloomsbury

Genre: Fiction

Themes: Youth in Dublin, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, violence, crime

My rating (out of 5): ❤❤❤❤

Please note that the pills used as props in the picture are indigestion tablets.

Reading this book is very much like picking a scab. The sensible part of your brain tells you to leave it alone for God's sake, but there is this other part of your brain that makes you just keep on going even though you know it is not going to end well.

I have given this book a score of 4/5 because there is no doubt about the high quality of writing, but the subject matter is so horrible I wouldn't find myself recommending it to anyone. The saddest part about it is that the story-line reflects reality for a great many young people who spend far too many hours a week getting 'off their heads' on drugs and alcohol.

The book follows Cocker, Matthew, Kearney, Rez and Jen through the summer holidays that follow their last day at school. They are all barely 18 but clearly familiar with excessive drinking and use of drugs such as weed and ecstasy. As the story moves along they encounter 'alcos' and 'junkies' who live on the streets of Dublin, and they all clearly make a distinction between these lost souls and their own lifestyles. Those who live on the street are shunned and to be looked down upon, as they have tipped over the edge of acceptability, but the friends consider their own drinking and drug habits to be having a laugh or just a bit of fun.

As I progressed through the book I found myself getting anxious and I turned each page with a growing sense of dread. There are clear indicators for where the story is heading, but the actual words on the page are almost too much to bear in places. There is one piece of graphic description that I had to skim-read in an effort to minimise what I might remember afterwards, but I'm afraid that little plan didn't work.

There is nothing uplifting about this book, and every element of it is depressing, from the behaviour of the young men, to the terrible impact it has on their families who are left to cope with the damage that drink and drugs can inflict on young minds and bodies. If you are a parent of boys in their late teens, read this with caution as it will stop you sleeping at night. If you like books with happy endings, then don't read it at all.

Comments

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