Bibliofemme Bookclub An Irish Bookclub

‘Yeats is Dead!’ is a rather bizarre story about a missing James Joyce manuscript and a mysterious formula – Y8s=+! – supposedly for hand cream.

Roddy Doyle starts the ball rolling in a caravan in Dublin with Nestor and Roberts. They are interrogating Reynolds on the instruction of Mrs Bloom and what Bloom says goes, after all she’s the woman “who had tried everything but drew the line at honesty.” Unfortunately the interrogation doesn’t go as planned due to the fact that Nestor shoots Reynolds. And so begins the mystery…

Reynolds Jnr wants revenge for his father Tommy. Eamon Dunphy, “no not that Eamon Dunphy”, wants to avenge the death of his son, who took his own life when he was framed for the murder of Reynolds. So the story continues with people appearing on the scene because they are in some complicated way connected to the last person who was killed off.

Fifteen chapters by fifteen Irish authors, including Marian Keyes, Frank McCourt, Pauline McLynn and more, with each chapter containing more dead people than the last. There are copious characters in the book, as each author introduces yet another person. The end result is a somewhat disjointed novel and a whole pile of dead bodies. The book’s saving grace is that it’s in aid of Amnesty International so at least you know it isn’t a complete waste of money.