“The novel is set in a Catholic boys' school in modern day Ireland and I'm not giving anything away by staying that Skippy dies in the first few pages. The story moves forward and backwards, fleshing out Skippy and his fellow students, teachers, and many others (it is over 600 pages after all). What I liked: there's a lot of story and Murray writes it well. I enjoyed the straightforward prose alternated with dreaming, drugged out interludes. What I didn't like: teenage characters with adult insight. While I did buy that all the teenagers dealt with sex, violence, eating issues, pregnancy, etc., many of them handled the issues like 30 somethings. But the main problem was, for me, the heavy-handed, neatly wrapped up, karmac ending (specifically with the teacher, Howard and Father Green). It just didn't ring true.”
