- Paperback: 208 pages
- Publisher: Picador; New edition edition (12 Mar 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330352946
- ISBN-13: 978-0330352949
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 1.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 264,684 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Patrick McCabe hit paydirt with his third novel The Butcher Boy, shortlisted for the 1992 Booker, filmed by Neil Jordan, and acclaimed as "a masterpiece of literary ventriloquism". In his fifth, Breakfast on Pluto, also Booker-shortlisted, McCabe produces another inimitable voice to amuse and infuriate; ventriloquising perfectly the overwrought, near-hysterical style of a character whose emotional processes were cruelly halted somewhere around the fourth form, and whose tale requires English literature's highest concentration of exclamation marks.
Patrick "Pussy" Brady is recording her memoirs for the mysterious Dr Terence, and it's quite some story. After randy Father Bernard gets carried away with his temporary housekeeper, a dead ringer for Mitzi Gaynor, the result is Patrick Braden, abandoned on a doorstep in a Rinso box and condemned to a foster home with the alcoholic Hairy Braden. Escape comes in fantasies of Vic Damone and the occasional glitzy frock, and eventually, inevitably, the rebaptised "Pussy" heads for life as a transvestite rent boy on Piccadilly's Meat Rack. But this is not just Pussy's story, and as hitherto-muffled paramilitary violence blows up in her face, Pussy falls apart, providing a vivid and unsettling final comment on the human price paid in 1970s Ireland. -- Alan Stewart --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"'Wild, hilarious, merciless and fiendishly clever' Independent on Sunday 'He is the fortunate possessor of a save and unfettered imagination; his books... dissect life's miseries with a gleaming comedic scalpel' The Times 'It finds humour in places that other writers are afraid to look for it' Sunday Telegraph 'This is a savagely funny and authentically tragic novel of an Ireland in unhappy transition and beneath McCabe's perfectly delivered black comedy lies an angry heart' GQ"
--This text refers to an alternate
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Although I'm afraid I don't get too many clients these days! Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
'Breakfast on Pluto' introduces Patrick 'Pussy' Braden, born in 1955 in an Irish border village of Tyreelin in the thick of political trouble, and dumped unceremoniously into the care of Hairy Ma Braden, 'the Baby Farmer' leaving a young Patrick to work out his origins and develop a sense of belonging. This is very much Pussy's story - transvestite, cabaret performer, prostitute and self-described 'sad nutty fairy' - scribbled down with inimitable style as Pussy struggles to find meaning in his life in London through the '60s and '70s. I had some trouble empathising overly with Pussy's situation, especially as he uses people in much the same way as they use him. Pussy's increasingly drugged-up narration makes it hard work for the reader to separate fact from fiction and, whilst overall McCabe has fairly convincingly captured Pussy's voice, the tone wasn't as incisive, acerbic or downright bitchy as I would expect from a drag performer used to defending their appearance or a sex-worker leading a rough life.
Curiously, a number of chapters of 'Breakfast on Pluto' concern IRA events in which Pussy has no direct involvement - indeed, the main narrative of Pussy's story seems largely, almost entirely, disconnected from IRA issues. Nevertheless, in terms of content, these chapters are amongst the most interesting and effective in the book: Pussy's childhood friend Irwin Kerr would have made a particularly interesting character for further development. Despite suffering somewhat from structural and character-development problems, overall, 'Breakfast on Pluto' is a challenging and entertaining read: as an added bonus, Pussy's narrative comes with its own soundtrack of the times that guarantees going to bed humming classics like 'Heard it Through the Grapevine' or Lindsay de Paul's 'Sugar Me'.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
"Pussy" Braden's attitude should teach us all how to find happiness in the darkest places
5 Jan 2009
Format:Paperback
Patrick McCabe's beautifully told tale follows the eccentric adventures of the wildly witty and wonderfully weird cross-dressing prostitute, Patrick "Pussy" Braden. Set during the 1970s, "Pussy" Braden narrates his story against the harsh backdrop of troubled Northern Ireland. McCabe manages to incorporate love and hilarity amidst themes often regarded as too dark for humour as the story follows Braden's unrelenting search for love and a place to call home.
The novel explores its main themes of identity and disassociation with moving passion and enlightening optimism - the conflict between the Republican and Loyalist groups as they fight for identity in Ireland provides the contrasting backdrop to Braden's own identity crisis and personal conflict as he struggles to make a connection to his parents as a means of determining who he really is. McCabe penetrates the darkness via satire and his comic perspective on dangerous reality - "Pussy" Braden's irreverent attitude curtails the horror around him. His unflinching positivity in his search for true love creates hope despite the explosive and dramatic tragedies he is faced with.
The characters explored within the novel (as well as the events that take place around them) are viewed through the perspective of "Pussy" Braden. The character's own imagination and wild fantasies could be seen to have an impact on the reliability of his narration - nonetheless, McCabe's own background provides a sense of authenticity. He competently integrates his Irish upbringing, combining politics and pop culture to create this poignant story. "Pussy" Braden seems to act as a metaphor for modern Northern Ireland and its troubles with identity and borders through the way the protagonist struggles with his own sexual identity and crossing boundaries amidst a very restrictive and religious context.
The novel explores its main themes of identity and disassociation with moving passion and enlightening optimism - the conflict between the Republican and Loyalist groups as they fight for identity in Ireland provides the contrasting backdrop to Braden's own identity crisis and personal conflict as he struggles to make a connection to his parents as a means of determining who he really is. McCabe penetrates the darkness via satire and his comic perspective on dangerous reality - "Pussy" Braden's irreverent attitude curtails the horror around him. His unflinching positivity in his search for true love creates hope despite the explosive and dramatic tragedies he is faced with.
The characters explored within the novel (as well as the events that take place around them) are viewed through the perspective of "Pussy" Braden. The character's own imagination and wild fantasies could be seen to have an impact on the reliability of his narration - nonetheless, McCabe's own background provides a sense of authenticity. He competently integrates his Irish upbringing, combining politics and pop culture to create this poignant story. "Pussy" Braden seems to act as a metaphor for modern Northern Ireland and its troubles with identity and borders through the way the protagonist struggles with his own sexual identity and crossing boundaries amidst a very restrictive and religious context.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Accomplished Irish writer Patrick McCabe followes up the brilliantly anarchic The Butcher Boy, and the disturbing yet utterly engrossing modern gothic of The Dead School, with this novel about an Irish transvestite living in the 1970s; a time when sexuality was non-negotiable, and the shadow of para-military violence was a constant cloud on the nation's horizon.
Despite this, our hero(ine) the brilliantly named 'Pussy' is relentlessly optimistic, and glides through the novel, seeminglu unaffected by all she experiences. Of course this cannot be true, but like all McCabe's protagonists Pussy keeps her true feelings obscured by a patina of bluster and defiance, and this is partly what makes them so interesting and realistic.
Despite this, our hero(ine) the brilliantly named 'Pussy' is relentlessly optimistic, and glides through the novel, seeminglu unaffected by all she experiences. Of course this cannot be true, but like all McCabe's protagonists Pussy keeps her true feelings obscured by a patina of bluster and defiance, and this is partly what makes them so interesting and realistic.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Breaking out in style
I love this book. The story is brilliant, full of clever humour and can be quite shocking really. I don't think I've seen a book written in such a way before, it is a compelling... Read more
Published on 24 Aug 2006 by L. Groves
Looking for love in all the wrong places.
With his grim humor, ironic detachment, and mordant examination of profoundly disturbed psyches, McCabe always provides thrills and chills for the reader, forcing us to share the... Read more
Published on 23 Dec 2002 by Mary Whipple
Clever yet strangely uninvolving
This is an easy read, with interesting if rather sad characters, admirably written - yet somehow it left me completely cold. Read more
Published on 20 Aug 2000
Brilliant
Pat McCabe does it again. With his unique wit and black humour, we are invited into the life of a transvestite IRA bomber. It makes you really realize how funny life is. Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2000
Nothing like a cross-dressing IRA bomber to stir the soul...
As a dumb American, I could probably know more about the troubles in Ireland, but I didn't come to McCabe's third novel looking for that history lesson. Read more
Published on 13 Dec 1999
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