Review | 'The Deadly Republic': An aging Henry returns to Ireland, his legend askew

The years have not been kind to Henry Smart, the hero and antihero of Roddy Doyle's spirited trilogy. In the verve-driven first book, A Star Called Henry, Henry, Doyle's embodiment of Ireland, was all swagger and hope, a scrappy Sein Fein lad who fought the Brits in the GPO in 1916. In Oh, Play That Thing, an older, wiser Henry lit out for America, part of the great wave of immigrants forced out after the failed Irish uprising. Doyle's new -- and final -- book of the series opens ...