Roddy Doyle's novels include The Commitments, the Booker Prize-winning Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, The Van (a Booker Prize finalist), and The Guts. He lives in Dublin.From his Q & A with Allen Barra for The Daily Beast:
The Commitments was published, or rather self-published, by you in 1987. Why did you wait 27 years to check in on Jimmy Rabbitte?--Marshal Zeringue
Actually I went back to Jimmy in 2001 in The Deportees—I gave him a wife, Aoife, and four children. In 2012 I decided to make him the main character in The Guts. He’s older, of course, as are his children, and he has a dog…
And cancer. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more … let’s say, upbeat—novel about someone with cancer. What made you decide to give Jimmy cancer?
I had a good friend who died of cancer some years ago, and I’ve had other friends who have fought cancer. I heard the phrase a lot—“fighting cancer.” I wanted to see if Jimmy in his middle age had it in him to fight cancer and how his sense of...[read on]