For The Good Times

I was always under the impression I'd have joined the RA if they weren't so body fascistic. I got on the Martins coach up to Belfast from Limerick in 1989 with the pen in my hand. I went off looking for Gerry or whoever to sign on the dotted line. I encountered him and offered my services like, told him I had the toothbrush up with me and all my tablets. He boomed into my face, the richter scale would have been tested. Chased me all the way down Donegal street toeing my hole back on to the same coach I'd arrived in on, you big grotty boy he bellowed. Turned out it was Brian Blessed up doing Panto at the Opera House and not Gerry at all. Sliding doors eh!

IRA does inbetweeners

A stunning new work from Keenan, whose ‘This is Memorial Device’ I’d also highly recommend. This is a brutal, bracing account of life in and around the IRA in the 1970s, shot through with pitch-black celtic mysticism and fantastical allegory. Shocking, inventive and probably the most powerful novel I’ve read since Blood Meridian. For all its untethered originality this rattles along like a good thriller. Do give it a try.

This novel and "Milkman" both examine the same period and the same small place - Ardoyne (though this book, annoyingly, refers to it as "the Ardoyne" every time).Neither are conventional narratives but while Milkman told me something more about the world, I found this disappointing and rather cliched.The constant anachronisms and use of Scots words never heard in Belfast were also irritating.

This book had me gripped from the beginning, plunging me straight into the nightmarish world of 1970s Belfast through the eyes of IRA footsoldier Sammy. Having grown up in Northern Ireland's warped environment, Sammy and his friends initially seem oblivious to the horrendous acts they witness and carry out in the name of the cause.The great skill of David Keenan is creating characters who would have just been normal young men had they had the fortune to have been brought up in less chaotic surroundings.Fashion, music, women and comic books are what really interest Sammy and his friends. Acts of murder and violence are merely the day job, performed almost out out routine, although such heinous acts eventually take a huge psychological toll.There's a dark humour to For The Good Times to avoids the book becoming a harrowing read and most of the book rattles along at a great speed.There are some darker passages that much harder to read, most notably a visit to the pub that takes us down an unexpected alleyway towards homo-eroticism. As Sammy's mental state becomes less and stable, haunted by the evils he has seen, there are also some stream-of-conciousness passages that test your patience a little.Ultimately, though, that adds depth to the book and lifts it above merely recounting the adventures of Sammy and his fellow volunteers, even though those are the sections I enjoyed the most.It's also ultimately a book about friendship, with Sammy's relationship with charismatic best pal Tommy driving the whole book.Sammy stays true to Tommy even after learning a dark secret, proving he values their friendship more than any ideological crusade.

This book manages to pull the darkest humour out of the grimmest situations. Set during the troubles in the north of Ireland the book was never going to be a light-hearted romp but it manages to be very funny even in descriptions of executions and hallucinogenic trips, a great read

Unsubtle. Unfunny. Cliched second hand ideas. A poor Trainspotting in 1970's Belfast An excuse to include dreadful offensive jokes as an aside to pad out a dreadful text. For a funny incisive intelligent account and perspective of the Troubles read Milkman' and leave this tosh well alone. The previous reviewers have clearly not read Milkman.

Absolutely astounding work of fiction with true to life stories representing a left-field capsule of life in 1970s Belfast. A brilliant journey away from the tired clichés of Troubles fiction into a whole new realm of understanding this tumultuous period in history.

Das ist heftiger Lesestoff. Eine Spirale der Gewalt und Ausweglosigkeit. Es ist zu hoffen, dass Nordirland nie wieder so schlimme Zeiten erlebt. Die Witze zwischendurch waren allerdings echte Schmunzler.