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Skippy Dies

From the author of The Bee Sting

Paul Murray

$27.99

Paperback

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English
Penguin
09 June 2011
'Marvellous, witty, heartbreaking, intensely moving, excellent. The writing is second to none, the banter brilliant. Crazy, but beautiful' Daily Telegraph

'Skippy and Ruprecht are having a doughnut-eating race one evening when Skippy turns purple and falls off his chair . . .'

And so begins this epic, tragic, comic, brilliant novel set in and around Dublin's Seabrook College for Boys. Principally concerning the lives, loves, mistakes and triumphs of overweight maths-whiz Ruprecht Van Doren and his roommate Daniel 'Skippy' Juster, it features a frisbee-throwing siren called Lori, the joys (and horrors) of first love, the use and blatant misuse of prescription drugs, Carl (the official school psychopath), various attempts to unravel string theory . . . while at the same time exploring the very deepest mysteries of the human heart.
By:  
Imprint:   Penguin
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 198mm,  Width: 129mm,  Spine: 41mm
Weight:   462g
ISBN:   9780141009957
ISBN 10:   0141009950
Pages:   672
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

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.

Reviews for Skippy Dies: From the author of The Bee Sting

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 * 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 * Extravagantly entertaining * New York Times Book Review * Skippy Dies is one great high-octane fizz bang of a book -- Patrick McCabe * Irish Times * I loved Skippy Dies . . . three novels fused into one ignited tragicomic tour de force -- Ali Smith * Times Literary Supplement * 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 * Hilarious, heartbreaking, totally engrossing. A triumph * Daily Mail * 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 * Darkly comic, dazzles, every line drips ideas for fun. Unputdownably funny, captivating. A masterpiece * Metro * One of the most enjoyable, funny and moving reads of this year. A rare tragicomedy that's both genuinely tragic and genuinely comic * Guardian * Savagely funny, brimful of wit, energy, poetry and vision, unflaggingly entertaining. A triumph * Sunday Times *


  • Short-listed for Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize 2010
  • Short-listed for Costa Novel Award 2010
  • Shortlisted for Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize 2010.
  • Shortlisted for Costa Novel Award 2010.

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