Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

…a fantastic writing talent

Shortlisted for the 2010 Costa Novel Awards and currently being adapted for the silver screen, Skippy Dies is a novel which is both beautiful and brilliant.

From slide splitting funny to extremely dark humour, this story covers all sorts of emotions with a cast of characters so individual you will love them all.

Set in a Dublin Boys School the story follows the students and teachers through some turbulent times. As the school descends into chaos you realise how the pupils are shockingly misguided in the attempts to survive school and family life. The same can be said about the teachers who aren’t coping much better.

In the first chapter you briefly meet Daniel Juster (nickname: Skippy) before he dies, leaving a school bereft in many ways than one. In the following chapters Murray takes you back in time to the lead up of his death where you discover all the stories and people which have an impact on Skippy’s tragic end.

Even though you would put this novel on the comic section shelf in a book shop, there are some serious and dark questions that Murray presents you with that will stay with you once the last page has been turned. Murray’s style of writing is so unique that will have you raiding the shelves for other books he has written. He is a true talent, one I will be keeping a close eye on in the future.

I can not recommend the book enough so add it to your reading list this year. One word of warning though. Savour each chapter, each page, each word because when it’s gone, it’s gone.

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