Irish author Rob Doyle returns with a mischievous and metafictional new novel that gleefully skewers the modern literary world and the era of culture wars. 'Cameo' is a dizzying, hall-of-mirrors narrative that follows the cartoonishly dramatic life of a fictional bestselling Dublin novelist.
A Fantasy of Literary Celebrity
Moving on from the blackly comic travelogue of his previous novel, 'Threshold', Doyle's latest work is a perky send-up of the book world. The story centres on Ren Duka, a gazillion-selling author famed for a sprawling novel cycle drawn from his own jet-setting, peril-filled life. His adventures, which form the bulk of 'Cameo', are far from the domestic confines of some autofiction.
Duka mixes with drug dealers, terrorists, and spies, serves time for tax evasion, develops a crack habit, indulges in Parisian threesomes, and makes an unlikely return to Catholicism. In one particularly absurd episode, while recording propaganda for Islamic State after being abducted in Iraq, he uses the platform to denounce his literary rivals back in Dublin.
The Satire of the Culture Wars
Doyle's satire is at its most wicked when tackling contemporary discourse. At one point, Duka reinvents himself as an anti-woke comedian and becomes a sought-after right-wing talking head. The novel sharply lampoons bad-faith debate tactics, noting that whenever an interlocutor bests him with facts, Duka simply accuses them of racism or, in a tight corner, paedophilia.
The narrative is punctuated by monologues from figures connected to Duka, including a bitter actor, a punk novelist, and, naturally, a character named Rob Doyle. This blending of reality and fiction creates a vertiginous effect, making it deliberately tricky to distinguish between the life of the fictitious author and the escapades of his fictional avatar.
More Than Just Laughs
While 'Cameo' is primarily a larky, energetic romp narrated in a winningly deadpan style, it is not without emotional depth. A kernel of genuine feeling emerges in a Berlin-set scene where "Rob Doyle", on the brink of a drug-induced breakdown, calls his sister for help. The call ends disastrously as she remains hurt by her portrayal in a previous book, a plight he is too self-absorbed to notice.
Such moments of raw exposure are rarer than in Doyle's earlier work, like 'Threshold' or his 2022 memoir 'Autobibliography'. This shift makes 'Cameo' a harder-to-pin-down slippery jeu d'esprit. It raises the question: is Duka's improbably action-hero narrative a comic riposte to critics who claim autofiction is navel-gazing?
Ultimately, 'Cameo' is a bold and frequently hilarious fantasy of literary fame. Some readers will undoubtedly hate its irreverent, chaotic energy, but one suspects that Rob Doyle wouldn't have it any other way. The novel is published by W&N, priced at £20.
