I needed a laugh in this stressful season, so I re-read (third time!) "The Van" by Dubliner Roddy Doyle. It's the tale of a couple of middle-aged, laid-off workers, faced with becoming useless appendages to their families, who rescue an abandoned food truck, held together primarily by a thick veneer of grease.
They restore it to life as a chipper — a van selling French fries — redeeming their sense of self-worth as family providers in the process.
Doyle clearly loves his oh-so-fallible characters, their creative additions to the Irish language, and the poignancy of their attempts to retain their pride as heads of families (quirky but loving families indeed), all laced with hilarious missteps along the way. (That object they just deep-fried was not a fillet of cod; rather, the grandbaby's diaper.) Indeed, a bit of drink is involved.
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