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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
"I was thinking how right ma was--Mrs Nugent all smiles when she met us and how are you getting on Mrs and young Francis are you both well?...what she was really saying was: Ah hello Mrs Pig how are you and look Philip do you see what's coming now--The Pig Family!"
This is a precisely crafted, often lyrical, portrait of the descent into madness of a young killer in small-town Ireland. Short-listed for the Booker Prize.
Product Description
A shockingly funny story of lunacy and murder in small-town Ireland.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After reading McCabe's Modern Gothic classic 'The Dead School' for my A-level English Literature course, I was inspired to search out his other works. I have just finished reading 'The Butcher Boy' and don't quite know how to react! I can only describe the style of narrative as a kind of 'fragmented stream-of-consciousness' - the narrator is a disenfranchised boy, Francie, living in late-1950s Ireland who loses his mother and father to suicide and drink respectively and subsequently becomes violently obsessed with well-brought-up schoolboy Philip Nugent, whose own family is in many ways the antithesis of Francie's.
Packed full of bizarre characters such as the paedophilic priest, 'Tiddly', who Francie exploits whilst having a spell in approved school (for defecating on Mrs Nugent's carpet no less!) and Francie's Uncle Alo, with his unrequited love for Francie's mother making him just one example of the sad and deluded lives contained within the book. The tale has enough of the gothic within it to remind me of 'The Wasp Factory', whose narrator leads a similarly confused existence, however the end is far more cruel and will surely have you feeling pity for Francie, no matter how monstrous he has become.
Packed full of bizarre characters such as the paedophilic priest, 'Tiddly', who Francie exploits whilst having a spell in approved school (for defecating on Mrs Nugent's carpet no less!) and Francie's Uncle Alo, with his unrequited love for Francie's mother making him just one example of the sad and deluded lives contained within the book. The tale has enough of the gothic within it to remind me of 'The Wasp Factory', whose narrator leads a similarly confused existence, however the end is far more cruel and will surely have you feeling pity for Francie, no matter how monstrous he has become.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Patrick McCabe's mind must be one dark and strange place. The Ireland he writes of is a country riddled with religious guilt and perverse senses of loyalty. There is a lot of Shamrock on the surface of McCabe's writing, but the bunch is tied with barbed wire dipped in vinegar and chilli. It's testament to the author's skill as a writer that the main character, Francie Brady, holds our sympathy even though he's capable of the most horrific acts. Violently gothic, but bloody funny with it.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the compelling story of a young man's desent into madness set in an Irish town in the late 50s and early sixties (a thinly disguised Clones). Before Francie pulls us along the slide into insanity, the early descriptions of town life, through a boy's eyes, are compelling.
The Christmas scene where a relatives and townsfolk party at the family home is brilliant, with Francie's miscomprehension throwing the cruelties of town life into razor-sharp focus.
In the later parts of the novel Francie's narrative becomes more self-obsessed, offering hope that the young man can grasp his few opportunities for a normal life and despair as reality slowly slips away.
The second best Irish novel I read in 2008 - the best was the truly exceptional 'That They May Face the Rising Sun' by John McGahern - The Butcher Boy was a really close second.
The Christmas scene where a relatives and townsfolk party at the family home is brilliant, with Francie's miscomprehension throwing the cruelties of town life into razor-sharp focus.
In the later parts of the novel Francie's narrative becomes more self-obsessed, offering hope that the young man can grasp his few opportunities for a normal life and despair as reality slowly slips away.
The second best Irish novel I read in 2008 - the best was the truly exceptional 'That They May Face the Rising Sun' by John McGahern - The Butcher Boy was a really close second.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
School book...
I'm doing this book for A2 English Literature and i needed it to be delievered quick.. and it was.
Great book, but hard to understand at times.
Great seller!
Great book, but hard to understand at times.
Great seller!
Published 16 months ago by Siobhan
Bloody wonderful!
Irish gothic tragi-comedy of the darkest kind. Heart breakingly sad and hilariously funny. I love this book.
Published 21 months ago by Nicola Doig
A little dissapointing
I bought this book because I really liked Breakfast on Pluto and because it won a Booker (never trust the Booker!) but I felt a bit let down to be honest. Read more
Published on 7 Aug 2009 by A. Guimaraes
the tragedy of fading love
Well, I read this book many years ago but it still resonates with me today. It's the unusual mix of innocence and hurt expressed via a young lad with a great turn of phrase.. Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2006 by M. L. Sheppard
Uncomfortable reading with some wry smiles thrown in
The story of a young Irish boy called Francie who never quite gets the help he needs and ends up killing someone in a particularly brutal way. Read more
Published on 13 Aug 2006 by B. Remy
thats so irish!
Patrick McCabe manages to convey Francie Brady's childhood so well he makes us relate it to our own. The realism of a childs humor in this book is as cruel as the murder itself. Read more
Published on 3 Sep 2001
a very sad but very readable book
At first I found this difficult to read, no punctuation was very strange. But once I had got the hang off it I couldnt put the book down. Read more
Published on 13 May 2001 by akelaanne@hotmail.com
You just have to know what happens to Francie Brady!
This is a creepy, yet funny novel of a boy who has a tragic life. It keeps you reading right until the last page to know what happens to the young lad in the novel. Read more
Published on 17 Nov 2000
brilliant
McCabe shows us francie's life exclusively through Francie's eyes. As we go through life with him it becomes impossible for us not to feel the pain he feels. Read more
Published on 13 Oct 2000
a poignant tragedy
the butcher boy can I think be accurately described as "The wasp factory" meets "A clockwork orange" via holden cauldfield all transposed onto 50' rural ireland... Read more
Published on 27 Mar 2000
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