I was very excited to learn that Paul Murray had written another book, after having recommended his previous book, "An Evening of Long Goodbyes" to all of my friends and given it as a gift to as many people as I could manage.
Skippy Dies is the tale of Daniel Juster (Skippy), a boy named after a kangaroo in a TV series, primarily because of his unfortunate dental formation. He is sensitive, romantic and lacks confidence, living life against a backdrop of difficult circumstances. We meet his friends at Seabrook College, possibly the best boarding school for boys in Dublin; Ruprecht, whose huge IQ is matched only by his girth, Mario the Italian who advises the rest of the boys in matters of love, with insight drawn from his imaginary romantic conquests, the dark and shady Carl, and the girls from St Brigit's Convent next door.
The essential themes of life are to be found in the book, tragedy v comedy, good v evil, truth v falsehood, youth v adulthood, the rosy past v today's gritty reality, bleak pessimism and foolish optimism.. And it also has some excellent jokes and stonking one liners !
So many important places and events of teenage life also appear - the compulsory ' social ' disco for the second years , the do-nut shop ( a place of happiness and immense sadness ), raids on the girls' school next door in the name of science, swimming galas; the plot is so inventive with twist after twist including many interwoven sub-plots.
The characters, both the teenagers and the adults, are drawn in detail and depth with pathos and with humour.
I loved it, could not recommend it strongly enough. It's a marvel .....
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