SMILE

The title of Roddy Doyle's audiobook is a misdirection. It refers to a moment when the main character, Victor Forde, is singled out as a young student by an abusive, tormenting teacher who states he can't resist Victor's smile. It's a dark moment that leads to a series of equally difficult passages told both in the present and through unreliable memories. Much of the audiobook takes place in a pub--that most relevant of Irish locales--where Victor encounters a former classmate from that dark past. Doyle weaves the story from this locale, narrating his own work. While it's not safe to assume an author is a natural narrator, Doyle's unaffected tone engages listeners from the start. S.P.C. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2017]