"In one neat hop he'd have the leg off and their heads open and the leg back on before they hit the ground. He was a good bouncer, the king of the bullies. He often went a full week without having to take off the leg. He was pointed and agile. He stepped aside a let the men in, the ones with clear faces, decent men looking for a ride or a bit of after-hours singing. They often tipped him. The girls like him too. They paid him to buy them cigarettes and sweets. Dolly Oblong would never let them out, she wanted them white-skinned and captured."
             In the past, Doyle's raw portrayal of working-class Ireland has received as much censure as praise in his native country. "I've been criticized for the bad language in my books--that I've given a bad image of the country," said Doyle. "There's always a subtle pressure to present a good image, and it's always somebody else's definition of what is good" This quote gives really great insight into Doyle's writing. Before a Star Called Henry, Doyle's writing was uplifting and painted a bright picture about Ireland. Of all Doyle's books so far, this one is by far the most emotional and bleak of his works; the picture of living conditions of the poor in turn of the century Dublin are quite shocking and even hard to read at times. His portrayal of conditions of extreme poverty have drawn the inevitable comparisons to Charles Dickens, whose influence Doyle readily acknowledges. The quote I pulled from the text shows another bleak side of Ireland but Doyle discusses the topic in a light manner, like he has in earlier books.
             The point I want to most examine with this quote is the syntax. Doyle plays with syntax quite masterfully. In the first sentence, Doyle wants to show what Henry I can do all in one fell swoop. The best sentence for this would of course be an elongated sentence, which has no commas but is very flowing and continuous. This is of course what we get! Unfortun
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