The commitments

Take a group of fame-starved, working-class Irish youths who call themselves The Commitments, give them a paradoxical passion for the music of Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, and a mission -- to bring Soul to Dublin -- and you have the makings of one of the most engaging and believable novels about rock 'n' roll ever written, a book whose brashness and originality have won it mainstream acclaim and underground cachet. Roddy Doyle, a young Dubliner, writes about the band with a fan's enthusiasm, about his city with a native's cheerful knowingness. His book captures all the shadings of the rock experience: ambition, greed, and egotism - and the redeeming, exhilarating joy of making music. --back cover