Irish is all different now, as is every other Euro "identity", inflected by new arrivals in much the same way America has always been. These stories look at what happens. They're feckin' grand. As Doyle and most of his characters would say. ( )

"Ireland America was never Ireland America to me." It's Langston Hughes rewritten, but the message works an ocean away from Harlem. And that's what drew me into Roddy Doyle's stories. Racism isn't just an American issue, nor is immigration. I'm sure the world will like to think so, but Doyle has painted a clear picture that it's not. But it's those topics that hit home. That made these stories memorable.

The book collects nine stories - eight of which are set in Ireland, one in New York - and each deals with the xenophobiaracism of a nation.

The title story is a sequel of sorts to Doyle's novel, The Commitments, in which Jimmy Rabbitte decides it's high time for another band. No whites, he wants to write in the ad. In fact, that's part of the interview. Do you like the Corrs? Are you sure you're not white? With a rag tag of immigrants, Jimmy decides that the name of this new band is The Deportees and they will sing folk songs rather than soul.

"The Pram," a Polish nanny decides to seek revenge on her troublesome charges, two daughters who seemingly sabotage her romantic life, by telling them a ghastly story. Only the hauntings enter her waking life rather than their nightmares. The story echoes The Turning of the Screw with a slightly different ending.

In "Guess Who's Coming for the Dinner," a liberal-thinking father is faced with the fact that one of his daughters might be seeing a black man. How he acts surprises him and his family. Luckily, they're there to make sure he doesn't embarrass himself.

A group of teenagers shine some light on racism and stereotypes at local shops and how it hurts the stores financially in "Black Hoodie."

The Deportees and Other Stories is an eye opener at the state that we're in. Cross out Ireland and Irish and replace with America and American, and you'll see how this stories echoes across the sea. It makes the reader take a side step and evaluate how low we've come as a people by refuses others the seem benefits and dreams that we hold close to our hearts. ( )

I love Roddy Doyle, have read most of his books. This one's by far his easiest read, consisting of fluffy, mostly feel good short stories about immigrants in Ireland. He notes the swiftly changing dynamics of Ireland, once one of the poorest countries in Western Europe, now a booming economy.

Doyle has the ability to populate his books with realistic, empathy arousing people. He's also one of those rare male authors who "gets" women and children. Read all of his books! ( )

This was a fun read. [[Roddy Doyle]] describes in eight stories how immigrants go in Ireland. Sometimes it was so funny that I could laugh out loud. I liked the story where an Irishman founds a band made up only of immigrants. The experiences and the enthusiasm are great. Doyle can very much challenge the Irish themselves. He can describe an Irish father whose daughter brings a 'black man' home. The father steps from one fat cup to the next. On the one hand, he is not friendly with immigrants, on the other hand, he would like to stand in front of his daughter and her companion as a cosmopolitan man. Each of the eight stories is a pearl in itself. ( )

In The Deportees and Other Stories, Roddy Doyle presents eight stories about the immigrant experience in contemporary Ireland. The stories were from a wide range of perspectives including a father confronting prejudice within himself, a high school boy confronting racism from authority, and a man asked to develop a test of how Irish perspective citizens are. The title story is a story about Jimmy Rabbitte, from Doyle's The Committments, once again putting together a band. I enjoyed reading these stories. Doyle tackled some serious issues, but always included humor. The characters were multidimensional and genuine. I would definitely like to read more from Doyle in the future. ( )