Brilliant, new childeren's novel by Roddy Doyle: review

Brilliant, a new novel for children by Roddy Doyle, deals with the issue of depression and how the children of Dublin have to deal with the Black Dog haunting adults

Roddy Doyle in June 2013 Photo: Clara Molden

By Martin Chilton, Culture Editor online

The Telegraph -  08 May 2014

"The mumbles had almost become creatures," says a character in Roddy Doyle's new children's novel, Brilliant. Doyle is not writing about the recent production of Jamaica Inn, however, he's referring to the mumbling and whispering that grown-ups do when there are difficult subjects to discuss and they don't want children to hear what they are saying.

Ireland has faced tough problems in recent years. Unemployment, financial instability, government spending cuts, emigration and the term "recession depression" even became current. The World Health Organisation says that mental health conditions due to anxiety about jobs and finances is growing. So there is a serious backdrop to Doyle's wry novel about struggling adults. In Brilliant, the whole of Dublin seems depressed. So many people look unhappy. Feeling (and being told) that you're useless has an inevitable and demoralising consequence. But it's only the children who spot that this insidious mood has taken the form of a giant and malicious Black Dog.
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