BOOK OF THE WEEK

LOVE by Roddy Doyle, Jonathan Cape, £18.99 (ebook £9.99)

HHHH H

LOVE, brings together old friends, Davy and Joe, who embark on an unplanned drinking session in their hometown of Dublin.

The close mates have drifted apart, and as the night spirals they both want to talk but also avoid sharing truths – why Davy feels guilt towards his father, dying that night in a hospice; why Joe’s love affair with the woman of their shared youthful dreams is not all it initially seems. At times it is a frustrating read, with Davy’s boredom and Joe’s inability to get to the point or just let him go home.

However, the fast fluctuations of emotions between them, bawdy humour, nostalgia for times gone by and a deeply moving ending are all worth holding on for.

Questions go annoyingly un-answered – but that’s how a drunken night out with an old, but no longer close, friend can leave you feeling...