Meet Matthew, Rez, Cocker, and Kearney. They've just finished school, and are facing the great void of the future, celebrating their freedom in this unpromising adult reality with self-obliteration. They roam through Dublin, their only aims the next drink, the next high, and a callow, fearful idea of sex. Kearney, in particular, pushes boundaries in a way that once made him a leader in the group, but increasingly an object of fear. When a trip to the U.S. turns Kearney's violent fantasies ever darker, the other boys are forced to face both the violence within themselves and the limits of their own indifference.
Here Are the Young Men portrays a spiritual fallout, harbinger of the collapse of national illusion in "Celtic Tiger" Ireland. Visceral and chilling, this debut novel marks the arrival of a formidable literary talent, channeling an unnerving anarchic energy to devastating effect.
Industry Reviews
"Darkly exhilarating . . . God may be dead, but a new literary star is born." --The Sunday Times
"What we see when we pass through the sullen, monosyllabic and defensive exteriors that comprise most teenage boys will terrify parents everywhere - a vast, swarming cesspit of troubled thoughts, anxiety, turbulent sexual desires and disturbing violent ideation. . . . [Doyle] has a remarkable way of articulating the innermost thoughts of young men . . . [He] perfectly describes the disaffected experience of most suburban teenagers, the feeling of waiting for life to begin. . . . The result is a dark and intoxicating debut." --Irish Independent
"A Clockwork Orange, Less Than Zero, Trainspotting, Fight Club delinquent fiction warrants a bookshelf of its own. Rob Doyle's debut novel, Here Are the Young Men, merits special attention . . . Here Are the Young Men probably won't go down well in polite society . . . So be it: brutalism is a young man's game . . . It's a rough but powerful debut." --Irish Times Darkly exhilarating . . . God may be dead, but a new literary star is born. "The Sunday Times"
What we see when we pass through the sullen, monosyllabic and defensive exteriors that comprise most teenage boys will terrify parents everywhere a vast, swarming cesspit of troubled thoughts, anxiety, turbulent sexual desires and disturbing violent ideation. . . . [Doyle] has a remarkable way of articulating the innermost thoughts of young men . . . [He] perfectly describes the disaffected experience of most suburban teenagers, the feeling of waiting for life to begin. . . . The result is a dark and intoxicating debut. "Irish Independent"
"A Clockwork Orange," "Less Than Zero," "Trainspotting," "Fight Club" delinquent fiction warrants a bookshelf of its own. Rob Doyle's debut novel, "Here Are the Young Men," merits special attention . . . "Here Are the Young Men" probably won't go down well in polite society . . . So be it: brutalism is a young man's game . . . It's a rough but powerful debut. "Irish Times"" "Darkly exhilarating . . . God may be dead, but a new literary star is born." --"The Sunday Times"
"What we see when we pass through the sullen, monosyllabic and defensive exteriors that comprise most teenage boys will terrify parents everywhere--a vast, swarming cesspit of troubled thoughts, anxiety, turbulent sexual desires and disturbing violent ideation. . . . [Doyle] has a remarkable way of articulating the innermost thoughts of young men . . . [He] perfectly describes the disaffected experience of most suburban teenagers, the feeling of waiting for life to begin. . . . The result is a dark and intoxicating debut." --"Irish Independent"
""A Clockwork Orange," "Less Than Zero," "Trainspotting," "Fight Club" delinquent fiction warrants a bookshelf of its own. Rob Doyle's debut novel, "Here Are the Young Men," merits special attention . . . "Here Are the Young Men "probably won't go down well in polite society . . . So be it: brutalism is a young man's game . . . It's a rough but powerful debut." --"Irish Times"
