The pregnancy itself is treated a bit briefly, more a prop for the development of the father character. I must confess that the whole Rabbitte family is a highly unwholesome, comical, yet tender hearted clan. I actually rediscovered the Rabbitte family when I stumbled across Doyle's recently written and published sequel "The Guts" (a must read, too! I was familiar with the films of The Commitments and The Snapper but had never read the books, and I knew nothing about The Van.

Georgina "Gina" Rabbitte – sharon's daughter, born in The Snapper and featured as a toddler in The Van, often repeating in baby talk the profanity used by family members.Many of the actors involved in The Commitments went on to pursue various acting and musical careers. The Snapper (1993) premiered at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation. Here's an odd thing: one book at a time and Doyle's Barrytown tales - set in Dublin during the late 80s and early 90s - are perfectly constructed packages: each unique, though seamlessly interconnected .

This fleshes out his character, it gives him depth and resonance because when he does something cringe-worthy you actually cringe and find yourself saying "Ah for fuck sake Jimmy".

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Tracy and Linda Rabbitte – the two youngest children, twin girls, who frequently behave mischievously, provoking the ire of the parents.Doyle was given creative freedom by the BBC over the adaptation of The Snapper, for which he wrote the screenplay. The Van focuses on the elder Jimmy Rabbitte and his efforts at going into business with his best friend Bimbo, after both lose their jobs. He has the archetypal Dublin bowises as friends, the lad who can get you anything from the back of a truck, the grumpy auldfella and the best mate who he shares more with than his wife.

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, a spin-off published in 1993 by Secker and Warburg, won the Booker Prize for that year, with an epilogue novel, The Guts, published in 2013. I read the Barrytown Trilogy back to back and thoroughly enjoyed it - as much as the movies which I had watched more 2 decades ago. I stumbled on this trilogy by accident and, unlike the film, it was though I came in at the beginning. The trilogy introduces us to the family and, with great skill, Roddy Doyle leads us through several years of their life so that, at the end, I wanted more. Reading the tales herein made me appreciate the film of THE COMMITMENTS more on rewatch (after a lukewarm reaction when it first came out).Jimmy Sr courts a young, thirty-something lady named Dawn while Bimbo focuses his eyes on Anne Marie. For the film adaptation of The Van, Doyle and Myles formed their own production company, Deadly Films, and the author was given creative control over the selection of its cast and director.