This is the story of the growing up of Martin Brennan: a troubled boy in troubled times, a boy who knows all the questions but none of the answers. This is Belfast in the late sixties. Before he can become an adult, Martin must unravel the sacred and contradictory mysteries of religion, science and sex; he must learn the value of friendship; but most of all he must pass his exams - at any cost. A book that celebrates the desire to speak and the need to say nothing, The Anatomy School moves from the enforced silence of Martin's Catholic school retreat, through the hilarious tea-and-biscuits repartee of his eccentric elders to the awkward wit and loose profanity of his two friends - the charismatic Kavanagh and the subversive Blaise Foley. An absorbing, tense and often very funny novel which takes Martin from the initiations of youth to the devoutly wished consummation of the flesh, Bernard Mac Laverty's new book is a remarkable re-creation of the high anxieties and deep joys of learning to find a place in the world.

Print length

354 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Jonathan Cape Ltd
Publication date

16 Aug. 2001
ISBN-10

0224062026
ISBN-13

978-0224062022
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Product details

Publisher : Jonathan Cape Ltd; 1st edition (16 Aug. 2001)
Language : English
Hardcover : 354 pages
ISBN-10 : 0224062026
ISBN-13 : 978-0224062022

Best Sellers Rank: 2,108,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 147,558 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- 153,974 in Contemporary Fiction (Books)
- 215,913 in Teen & Young Adult (Books)

Customer reviews:
28 ratings

Product description

Amazon Review

With The Anatomy School, his first novel since 1997's Grace Notes, Bernard MacLaverty returns to the dual concerns that animated that Booker-nominated success, and his earlier novels Lamb and Cal--the troubled politics of late 20th-century Ireland, and the familiar comedy of working-class Irish life.

We meet innocent Belfast Catholic teenager Michael Brennan as he enters a three-day retreat at Ardglass on the eve of his final year at school, resitting his A levels, to the increasing despair of his mother; by the end of the novel, at the end of the 1960s, Michael's innocence is somewhat tarnished, both by his own sexual awakening with an Australian girl in the local university's anatomy department, and by the sectarian bombs providing an inappropriate soundtrack outside. The bulk of the novel is given over to the schoolboy adventures of Brennan with his two friends, the popular sportsman Kavanagh and the sexually and politically mysterious new boy Blaise Foley. Seeking to spice up their workaday world of mocking their schoolmasters and sniggering about masturbation and pornography, together they embark on a torturously complex plot to hijack the year's A level papers--in Foley's eyes a blow against British imperialism but also a self-serving prank that leaves the ethically serious Michael in no small torment.

MacLaverty is at his best in the humorous moments, spinning out tense situations with the wandering skill of a stand-up comic and breathing new life into the compulsory old-folks' tea-party, the "dotery coterie" of Michael's fastidious mother, Nurse Gilliland, Father Farquharson and Mary Lawless. But undercutting the easy whimsy is a harsher tale of the inevitable death of innocence in a world of religion, politics and deception.--Alan Stewart

Synopsis

5 star		33%
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3 star		16%
2 star		10%
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Evidence-seeker

Coming of age, religion, ireland - a time of transition and honesty

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 November 2020

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This is a story which has strong hints of biography. It is about a somewhat religious boy (he successfully struggled to decline the chance to become a catholic priest) growing up in Northern Ireland. The story ends with him in his early 20's working in an anatomy room as a technician. This slightly surprising setting turns out to be where he has his earliest encounter with a friendly young woman who has a less ascetic past.
I admit my fascination with these topics as someone who shares much of this background, albeit with minor variations . I think it is a terrifically honest account of what coming of age means to someone who was in an educational environment where the dominant religion prizes chastity and celibacy above all - and which seems to recruit young people who are as yet naive about the adult world.
Very well written and interestingly unexpected in its twists and turns.

Helpful

eamon bradley

Book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 October 2018

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Loved this book.

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Amazon Customer

Reading about lives different from ours

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 November 2020

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The beauty of the language and his insight into human relationships

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Highbury Sue

Quick delivery.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 March 2019

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Book was in very good condition. Very happy with it.

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R. T.

Vastly over-rated.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 November 2008

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I have just read this book for our book club. I found it boring, repetitive, condescending, over-long due to pointless detail, and without real meaning. I generally find some virtue in most books that we read but this one was a struggle. I doubt the authors veracity. How I wish I could have these wasted hours returned to me.

Helpful

Sheila Knox

although the background descriptions were very good.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 February 2015

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It was a bit rambling at times, although the background descriptions were very good.

Helpful

Growing up Catholic in working-class Belfast.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 December 2002

Confronting the usual thorny, coming-of-age issues of sex, religion, and morality, Belfast teenager Martin Brennan and his friends, with their hormones in high gear, are stunningly naïve, their primary concern, sex, remaining a mysterious, dark realm into which they must feel their own way. Unable to gain much needed knowledge of basic biology from home or school, they try to sublimate their urges, exploring the mysteries of faith, the example of Christ, the meaning of sin, and the importance of family and friends, while privately garnering as much information as they can about the Big Secret.
Brilliantly creating the jokey banter, braggadocio, and innuendoes of teenage conversations, MacLaverty introduces a main character who, while a bit more serious and naive than some of his friends, is still a typical teenager facing typical teenage problems. And that, to me, is both the attraction and limitation of this novel. Many readers will chuckle out loud as they relive their own pasts through Martin, but at the conclusion, some may also ask, "Is that all there is?" The superficial resolution of normal teenage predicaments, no matter how well presented here, may not be satisfying for readers who expect a broader treatment of themes and a deeper exploration of inner conflicts. The author's introduction of the Catholic/Protestant violence at the end of the novel seems gratuitous, an overly strong element used to make a generalized point about morality and religion--Martin is almost untouched by The Troubles.
The book pulses with the drama of teenage life, kooky characters, a wonderful feel for the tenuous relationships between teens and adults, and often hilarious repartee--especially with the "dotery coterie" of Martin's mother, the local priest, and her two friends. These individual delights are not fully integrated into a thematic whole, however, and the reader may be left feeling a bit short-changed at the end--thoroughly entertained, but no wiser. Mary Whipple

Helpful

Entertaining and funny

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 March 2012

Seventeen year old Martin Brennan has failed his exams and is retaking the year, in his new class he finds himself befriended by the popular and athletic Kavanagh, a friendship that surprises but also pleases Martin. This is Belfast in the 1960s, troubled times for that city, but also for Martin, a Catholic boy whose mother hopes might choose the priesthood, who is under pressure to pass his exams, a rather naive boy who has a lot to learn about much including sex and friendship.

With Kavanagh's help Martin makes progress, a progress accelerated with the appearance of a new boy in school, Blaise Foley. The mysterious and irreverent Blaise attaches himself to to Martin and Kavanagh with potentially disastrous results as among other things they hatch a scheme to pass their exams.

We follow Martin and Kavanagh later at the anatomy school where we find Martin helping his friend, but also where Martin also finally discovers much to his delight some more earthly pleasures.

Interspersed with Martin's schooling are episodes in his family life where his mother's regular weekly evenings at home to the local priest and a couple of opinionated parishioners provide further humour.

Frequently very funny, The Anatomy School is a very entertaining account of a likeable young boy finding his way through the uncertainties of life discovering the value of friendship and eventually the delights of the flesh.

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