Skippy Dies

Description: Paul Murray's "Skippy Dies" is a tragicomic masterpiece about a Dublin boarding school. It is longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010. Ruprecht Van Doren is an overweight genius whose hobbies include very difficult maths and the Search of Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. Daniel 'Skippy' Juster is his roommate. In the grand old Dublin institution that is Seabrook College for Boys, nobody pays either of them much attention. But when Skippy falls for Lori, the frisbee-playing siren from the girls' school next door, suddenly all kinds of people take an interest - including Carl, part-time drug-dealer and official school psychopath...A tragic comedy of epic sweep and dimension, "Skippy Dies" scours the corners of the human heart and wrings every drop of pathos, humour and hopelessness out of life, love, Robert Graves, mermaids, M-theory, and everything in between. "That rare thing, a comic epic...Murray is a brilliant comic writer, but also humane and touching, and he captures the misery and elation, joy and anxiety of teenage life". (David Nicholls, "Guardian"). "Novels rarely come as funny and as moving as this utterly brilliant exploration of teenhood and the anticlimax of becoming an adult ...one of the finest comic novels written anywhere". (Eileen Battersby, "Irish Times"). "I loved "Skippy Dies" ...three novels fused into one ignited tragicomic tour de force". (Ali Smith, "Times Literary Supplement Books of the Year"). "An unforgettably exuberant saga set in an Irish boys' school. The insulting repartee is Shakespearean, the minor characters hilarious, and Murray captures the fleeting joys and lasting sorrows of adolescence perfectly". (Emma Donoghue, "Daily Telegraph"). "A triumph ...brimful of wit and narrative energy". ("Sunday Times"). "The sprawling brilliance of Paul Murray's darkly comic second novel works on many different levels...When you finish the last page, you may be tempted to start all over again". ("Metro"). Paul Murray is the author of "An Evening of Long Goodbyes", shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award in 2005, and "Skippy Dies", longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010.

Review: Savagely funny, brimful of wit, energy, poetry and vision, unflaggingly entertaining. A triumph Sunday Times One of the most enjoyable, funny and moving reads of this year. A rare tragicomedy that's both genuinely tragic and genuinely comic Guardian Darkly comic, dazzles, every line drips ideas for fun. Unputdownably funny, captivating. A masterpiece Metro Ambitious, wise, funny, fiercely intelligent. The beauty of this cynical, hopeful, beautifully written book is that it builds a detailed world to explore life, the universe and everything Sunday Express Hilarious, heartbreaking, totally engrossing. A triumph Daily Mail Novels rarely come as funny and as moving as this utterly brilliant exploration of teenhood and the anticlimax of becoming an adult ... Skippy Dies is intuitive, truthful and one of the finest comic novels written anywhere. Dies? Never! Skippy lives -- Eileen Battersby Irish Times I loved Skippy Dies ... three novels fused into one ignited tragicomic tour de force -- Ali Smith Times Literary Supplement Skippy Dies is one great high-octane fizz bang of a book -- Patrick McCabe Irish Times Extravagantly entertaining New York Times Book Review A comic epic. Murray is a brilliant comic writer, but also humane and touching, and he captures the misery and elation, joy and anxiety of teenage life. A brilliant depiction of the heaven and hell of male adolescence -- David Nicholls Guardian Murray's writing has earned a place in the contemporary international canon ... Murray's characters are so three-dimensionally drawn and brought to such vivid life that they may haunt your dreams Irish Independent


Prizes: Shortlisted for Costa Novel Award 2010 and Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize 2010.

Author Biography: Paul Murray is the author of An Evening of Long Goodbyes, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award in 2003 and is published by Penguin. Skippy Dies is his second novel.