Awards
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2010 Powell's Staff Top 5s
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2011 Morning News Tournament of Books Nominee
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Staff Pick
Yes, Skippy dies, but what happens next is a perfectly told tale of an Irish boys' school, which is both hilarious and horrible. Here you will find the typical types: the geek, the jock, the drug dealer, the clueless teachers, the clueless administrators, the clueless parents. Murray is a wonderful writer, and he imbues his characters with the quirks, motives, and humanity that make this a stand-out school story. One of my favorite reads of 2010. Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Why does Skippy, a fourteen-year-old boy at Dublins venerable Seabrook College, end up dead on the floor of the local doughnut shop?
Could it have something to do with his friend Ruprecht Van Doren, an overweight genius who is determined to open a portal into a parallel universe using ten-dimensional string theory?
Could it involve Carl, the teenage drug dealer and borderline psychotic who is Skippys rival in love?
Or could “the Automator”—the ruthless, smooth-talking headmaster intent on modernizing the school—have something to hide?
Why Skippy dies and what happens next is the subject of this dazzling and uproarious novel, unraveling a mystery that links the boys of Seabrook College to their parents and teachers in ways nobody could have imagined. With a cast of characters that ranges from hip-hop-loving fourteen-year-old Eoin “MC Sexecutioner” Flynn to basketball playing midget Philip Kilfether, packed with questions and answers on everything from Ritalin, to M-theory, to bungee jumping, to the hidden meaning of the poetry of Robert Frost, Skippy Dies is a heartfelt, hilarious portrait of the pain, joy, and occasional beauty of adolescence, and a tragic depiction of a world always happy to sacrifice its weakest members. As the twenty-first century enters its teenage years, this is a breathtaking novel from a young writer who will come to define his generation.
Review
"At 672 pages, this is an extremely ambitious and complex novel, filled with parallels, with sometimes recondite references to Irish folklore, with quantum physics, and with much more. Hilarious, haunting, and heartbreaking, it is inarguably among the most memorable novels of the year to date." Booklist (starred review)
Review
"The novel is a triumph....Brimful of wit, narrative energy and a real poetry and vision." The Sunday Times
Review
"[A] splendid, sardonic magnum opus....Long and impossibly involved, but also beautifully written, with much truth and not a wasted word. A superb imagining of a strange world — that of pimply-faced kids, that is." Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Review
"One of the most enjoyable, funny and moving reads of this young new year." The Guardian (U.K.)
Review
"An utterly engrossing read." Elle
Review
"Noisy, hilarious, tragic, and endlessly inventive...Murray's writing is just plain brilliant." The Times (U.K.)
Review
"A blast of a book." The Irish Times
Synopsis
Why does Skippy, a fourteen-year-old boy at Dublin's venerable Seabrook College, end up dead on the floor of the local doughnut shop?
Could it have something to do with his friend Ruprecht Van Doren, an overweight genius who is determined to open a portal into a parallel universe using ten-dimensional string theory?
Could it involve Carl, the teenage drug dealer and borderline psychotic who is Skippy's rival in love?
Or could "the Automator" — the ruthless, smooth-talking headmaster intent on modernizing the school — have something to hide?
Why Skippy dies and what happens next is the subject of this dazzling and uproarious novel, unraveling a mystery that links the boys of Seabrook College to their parents and teachers in ways nobody could have imagined. With a cast of characters that ranges from hip-hop-loving fourteen-year-old Eoin "MC Sexecutioner" Flynn to basketball-playing midget Philip Kilfether, packed with questions and answers on everything from Ritalin, to M-theory, to bungee jumping, to the hidden meaning of the poetry of Robert Frost, Skippy Dies is a heartfelt, hilarious portrait of the pain, joy, and occasional beauty of adolescence, and a tragic depiction of a world always happy to sacrifice its weakest members. As the twenty-first century enters its teenage years, this is a breathtaking novel from a young writer who will come to define his generation.
Synopsis
Why does Skippy, a 14-year-old boy at Dublin's venerable Seabrook College, end up dead on the floor of the local doughnut shop? Why Skippy dies and what happens next unravels a mystery that links the boys of Seabrook College to their parents and teachers in ways nobody could have imagined.
Synopsis
“Extravagantly entertaining . . . One of the great pleasures of this novel is how confidently [Paul Murray] addresses such disparate topics as quantum physics, video games, early-20th-century mysticism, celebrity infatuation, drug dealing, Irish folklore and pornography.”
—Dan Kois,
The New York Times Book Review “Murrays humor and inventiveness never flag . . . Skippy Dies leaves you feeling hopeful and hungry for life.” —Entertainment Weekly (
Synopsis
Why does Skippy, a fourteen-year-old boy at Dublins venerable Seabrook College, end up dead on the floor of the local doughnut shop?
Could it have something to do with his friend Ruprecht Van Doren, an overweight genius who is determined to open a portal into a parallel universe using ten-dimensional string theory?
Could it involve Carl, the teenage drug dealer and borderline psychotic who is Skippys rival in love?
Or could “the Automator”—the ruthless, smooth-talking headmaster intent on modernizing the school—have something to hide?
Why Skippy dies and what happens next is the subject of this dazzling and uproarious novel, unraveling a mystery that links the boys of Seabrook College to their parents and teachers in ways nobody could have imagined. With a cast of characters that ranges from hip-hop-loving fourteen-year-old Eoin “MC Sexecutioner” Flynn to basketballplaying midget Philip Kilfether, packed with questions and answers on everything from Ritalin, to M-theory, to bungee jumping, to the hidden meaning of the poetry of Robert Frost, Skippy Dies is a heartfelt, hilarious portrait of the pain, joy, and occasional beauty of adolescence, and a tragic depiction of a world always happy to sacrifice its weakest members. As the twenty-first century enters its teenage years, this is a breathtaking novel from a young writer who will come to define his generation.
Synopsis
"For its darkness and its glee, I loved this novel." —Robin Sloan, author of Mr. Penumbras 24-Hour Bookstore A high school music festival goes awry when a young prodigy disappears from a hotel room that was the site of a famous murder/suicide fifteen years earlier, in a whip-smart novel sparkling with the dark and giddy pop culture pleasures of The Shining, Agatha Christie, and Glee
Synopsis
"For its darkness and its glee, I loved this novel." —Robin Sloan, author of Mr. Penumbras 24-Hour Bookstore Fifteen years ago, a murder/suicide in room 712 rocked the grand old Bellweather Hotel and the young bridesmaid who witnessed it. Now hundreds of high school musicians, including quiet bassoonist Rabbit Hatmaker and his brassy diva twin, Alice, have gathered in its cavernous, crumbling halls for the annual Statewide festival; the grown-up bridesmaid has returned to face her demons; and a snowstorm is forecast that will trap everyone on the grounds. Then one of the orchestras stars disappears—from room 712. Is it a prank, or has murder struck the Bellweather once again?
The search for answers entwines a hilariously eccentric cast of characters—conductors and caretakers, failures and stars, teenagers on the verge and adults trapped in memories. For everyone has come to the Bellweather with a secret, and everyone is haunted.
Full of knowing nods to the shivery pleasures of suspense and the transporting power of music, this is a wholly winning new novel from a writer lauded as “charming” (Los Angeles Times), “witty” (O, The Oprah Magazine), and “whimsical” (People).
Synopsis
This hilarious and heartwrenching novel follows eleven-year-old Harri Opuku, recently immigrated from Ghana to the rough housing projects of London, as he tries to navigate inner-city life. See what makes our good-hearted protagonist dope-fine, become acquainted with his bo-styles, and find yourself wanting this touching debut to last donkey hours.
Synopsis
Lying in front of Harrison Opoku is a body, the body of one of his classmates, a boy known for his crazy basketball skills, who seems to have been murdered for his dinner. Armed with a pair of camouflage binoculars and detective techniques absorbed from television shows like CSI, Harri and his best friend, Dean, plot to bring the perpetrator to justice. They gather evidenceand#8212;fingerprints lifted from windows with tape, a wallet stained with bloodand#8212;and lay traps to flush out the murderer. But nothing can prepare them for what happens when a criminal feels you closing in on him. Recently emigrated from Ghana with his sister and mother to Londonand#8217;s enormous housing projects, Harri is pure curiosity and ebullienceand#8212;obsessed with gummy candy, a friend to the pigeon who visits his balcony, quite possibly the fastest runner in his school, and clearly also fast on the trail of a murderer. Told in Harri's infectious voice and multicultural slang, Pigeon English follows in the tradition of our great novels of friendship and adventure, as Harri finds wonder, mystery, and danger in his new, ever-expanding world.
About the Author
Paul Murray was born in 1975. He studied English literature at Trinity College in Dublin and creative writing at the University of East Anglia. His first novel, An Evening of Long Goodbyes, was short-listed for the Whitbread Prize in 2003 and was nominated for the Kerry Irish Fiction Award. Skippy Dies, his second novel, was long-listed for the Booker prize and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Table of Contents
The Program Prelude: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1982
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1997
Andante Misterioso
1. Heaven Help Me for the Way I Am. . . . . . . . . . 11
2. Rabbit Makes an Entrance.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3. Roommates and Mothers.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4. Natalie Takes the Elevator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
5. The Face of the Bellweather.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
6. Bad Rabbit.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
7. Who You Are.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
8. Alice Sees the Future. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1997
Scherzo Agitato
9. Clear as Crystal.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
10. Return of the Unremarkable Cupcake.. . . . . 115
11. Alice in the Morning.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
12. Declarations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
13. Dangerous Girls.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
14. Big Dance Number. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
15. Surprises.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
16. In the Dark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1997
Allegro Furioso
17. Alice, the Next Morning.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
18. I Want to Believe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
19. Connections.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
20. Accelerando. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
21. Solo Viola. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
22. What Hastings Saw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
23. Found.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
24. Lost.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1997
Grave e Cantabile
25. Only One Afternoon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
26. Songs for Two Voices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
27. Hatmakers Descending. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Postlude: AND AFTER
Reading Group Guide
1. What were your initial theories about why Skippy died?
2. Why cant Howard be happy with Halley? Is his obsession with Aurelie any different from
Skippys obsession with Lori?
3. Who are the heroes and villains in this novel? Is the bad behavior due to bad parenting, high testosterone levels, materialism, lack of belief in a difficult God? Other factors?
4. How does Seabrook compare with your high school? Which characters most closely resemble you and your circle of friends?
5. What do the novels priests have to say about the nature of the suffering they see at Seabrook? Do they defy or fit the stereotype of prep-school priests?
6. When Carls parents fight loudly (David versus jealous mother Lucia), what do you think theyre teaching him about love? How do they manage to stay so clueless about their son?
7. With his emphasis on marketing, branding, and public relations, does the Automator (Greg Costigan) reflect a typical trend in education today?
8. Would the novel have been as interesting if it had been set at the all-girls school St. Brigids? Are teenage girls as destructive as teenage boys?
9. Howard tells the Automator that Skippy earned his nickname because he has buck teeth, which cause him to make a kangaroo-like noise when he speaks. What makes Skippy an easy target? Are those who pick on him (including Father Green, badgering Skippy about obscenity in front of the whole French class) sadistic?
10. Google “M-theory.” What do the articles seem to say about the search for order in the universe, even before the Big Bang? Why is it an ideal theory for Ruprechts obsession, and for this novel?
11. Part I closes with a blend of Professor Tamashis interview on the eleventh dimension and scenes from Skippys “seduction” by Lori. What does it take to give and get love in Skippy Dies? What do those scenes say about the reality that love creates? What does the novel say about the reality that drugs create?
12. Loris father, Gavin Wakeham, is an alumnus of Seabrook, and he is eager to share with Skippy his recollections of the faculty (which included a fondler, alumni who returned to their alma mater to teach when other opportunities didnt work out, and the perennially socially conscious Father Green). What impressions did the school make on Mr. Wakeham? What impressions will it leave on Skippys class?
13. Discuss Ruprechts quartet and the musical performance he links to communicating with the dead. Is it a step forward or backward for him, mentally?
14. Which came first: Carls drug use or his obsession with power and violent sex? When he became haunted by Dead Boy, did you think he was seeing a hallucination or a ghost? Reread his explosive closing scene. Is he a Demon, or the victim of one?
15. After Skippys funeral, his father tells Howard that Skippys great-grandfather served in Gallipoli. Does Skippys generation lack valor?
16. Howard and Father Green are appalled to see the Automator defend Coach Roche. Is Tom worthy of defense?
17. Ultimately, who is to blame for Skippys death?
18. Discuss part IV, “Afterland.” Is Gregs message a victory letter? Did he get everything he
wanted?
Guide written by Amy Clements / The Wordshop, Inc.