Skippy Dies
Ruprecht Van Doren is an overweight genius whose hobbies include very difficult maths and the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. Daniel ‘Skippy’ Juster is his roommate. In the grand old Dublin institution that is Seabrook College for Boys, nobody pays either of them much attention. But when Skippy falls for Lori, the Frisbee-playing Siren from the girls’ school next door, suddenly all kinds of people take an interest – including Carl, part-time drug-dealer and official school psychopath. While his teachers battle over modernisation, and Ruprecht attempts to open a portal into a parallel universe, Skippy, in the name of love, is heading for a showdown – in the form of a fatal doughnut-eating race that only one person will survive.
4.7 out of 5 based on 7 reviews
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Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Fiction |
| Genre |
General Fiction |
| Format |
Paperback |
| Pages |
672 |
| RRP |
£18.99 |
| Date of Publication |
February 2010 |
| ISBN |
978-0241141823 |
| Publisher |
Hamish Hamilton |
| |
Ruprecht Van Doren is an overweight genius whose hobbies include very difficult maths and the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. Daniel ‘Skippy’ Juster is his roommate. In the grand old Dublin institution that is Seabrook College for Boys, nobody pays either of them much attention. But when Skippy falls for Lori, the Frisbee-playing Siren from the girls’ school next door, suddenly all kinds of people take an interest – including Carl, part-time drug-dealer and official school psychopath. While his teachers battle over modernisation, and Ruprecht attempts to open a portal into a parallel universe, Skippy, in the name of love, is heading for a showdown – in the form of a fatal doughnut-eating race that only one person will survive.
Reviews
The Daily Mail
Eithne Farry
"A triumph… Murray's turn of phrase is lovely; a combination of knock-about, laugh-out-loud humour married to an observational poetry that celebrates the elegiac beauty of the ordinary. Genius."
05/03/2010
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The Observer
Tom Webber
"This is an extraordinarily well-observed portrait of early teenage life… It is an amazing and humane feat to take such a chaotic state as adolescence, or for that matter the dungeon of dreams that is a school staffroom, and turn it into such brilliant comedy."
28/02/2010
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The Daily Telegraph
Philip Womack
"[A] gigantic, marvellous, witty, heartbreaking novel… The writing is second to none, the banter between the boys brilliant, their non-responsiveness to adult figures keenly observed. Murray is excellent on atmosphere, whether it’s the stifling, squeaky-clean environment of Lorelei’s mansion, Howard’s depressing suburban home, or the wild, strange beauty of the woods at night."
09/05/2010
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The Sunday Times
Adam Lively
"It sounds as though we are being invited into stereotyped fictional territory. But, in fact, the novel is a triumph — it is maybe too long and suffers in places from unoriginality, but it is also brimful of wit, narrative energy and a real poetry and vision. In the boys, especially, Paul Murray proves that he can conjure up a whole psychic world, from its darkest, most savagely funny cruelty to its wildest flights of fantasy-fuelled innocence."
07/02/2010
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The Guardian
Patrick Ness
"One of the most enjoyable, funny and moving reads of this young new year… Is a 661-page boarding-school comedy, no matter how funny or touching, rather too much of a good thing? Perhaps here and there, but for the most part, Skippy Dies is so appealing and surprising that the pages pass with ease."
06/02/2010
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The Times
Kate Saunders
"It’s noisy, hilarious, tragic and endlessly inventive… Murray’s writing is just plain brilliant — look out for this one on the prize shortlists."
27/02/2010
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The Independent
Jonathan Gibbs
"The book strays near some dark territory (self-harm, domestic violence, bereavement, sexual abuse), but maintains its light, utterly readable, skippy tread throughout. In this it is reminiscent of Zadie Smith's White Teeth – intricate of structure, charming of surface, adept at winding science and history into its design, it can't in the end decide how serious or funny it wants to be."
12/02/2010
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