- Culture
- 19 Feb 20
Book Review: Threshold by Rob Doyle
Rob Doyle's Threshold takes readers on a drug-fuelled adventure through punchy and darkly funny prose.
Although Threshold is only Rob Doyle’s second novel, he’s already achieved cult status, and for good reason. The novel follows narrator “Rob Doyle” on a drug-fuelled adventure through various countries. Semi-autobiographical in nature, it blends fiction and reality seamlessly.
Doyle abandons a conventional narrative structure, instead telling the story through a series of vignettes about his past, threaded together by real-time letters.
The prose is punchy and darkly funny, as Doyle – or his character, if there’s even much of a difference – writes about failed relationships, hedonism and anxiety.
He’s constantly grappling with the meaning of life – searching for a purpose at times, at others running away from the very idea that life needs a purpose. There isn’t much of a discernible plot, though Threshold doesn’t suffer for it. Overall, a gripping and fun read.
RELATED
- Culture
- 03 Feb 25
The Most Anticipated Books of 2025
- Culture
- 13 Nov 24
Samantha Harvey becomes first female Booker Prize winner in 5 years
RELATED
- Culture
- 21 Oct 24
Bram Stoker story discovered in Dublin after 130 years
- Culture
- 09 Sep 24
Michael Magee wins John McGahern Prize for Fiction
- Culture
- 02 Jul 24