ASH by Roddy Doyle (New Yorke, May 2010)

Ash 　　This is an up-to-date story. Doyle used the Iceland volcanic eruptions in May effectively. One day Kevin’s wife leaves him though he doesn’t want her to, but that night she comes back to ride him. He doesn’t know whether she is really going to leave him or not. The relation between Kevin and his “wife,” Ciara is unstable and fragile, almost at the verge of divorce. When Ciara comes back the third time, the Iceland eruptions take place. As he, his wife, and their daughters watch the news on TV, he says to his daughter, “It’s just for a while. Things will get back to normal when the ash drifts away. Or falls.” The last words suggest that their relation will also get back to normal. 　　 Doyle spends most of the pages depicting the unstable relation between Kevin and Ciara. This is a foreshadowing technique for introducing the fall of the volcanic ash, which symbolizes the resume of the normal relationship between the couple. 　　 Another technique of the story is that most of the story consists of unusual length of dialogues between Kevin and his brother, Mick. The third page consists of only dialogues. I do not understand the writer’s intention, although I understand that you can write a short novel consisting of dialogue in most of the pages. It is irritating that the reader must a pay careful attention as to who is saying which dialogue