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The Butcher Boy

By Patrick McCabe

(24)

| Paperback | 9780385312370

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Book Description

"When I was a young lad twenty or thirty or forty years ago I lived in a small town where they were all after me on account of what I done on Mrs. Nugent."

Thus begins Patrick McCabe's shattering novel The Butcher Boy, a powerful and unrelenting journey into the heart of darkness. The Continue

"When I was a young lad twenty or thirty or forty years ago I lived in a small town where they were all after me on account of what I done on Mrs. Nugent."

Thus begins Patrick McCabe's shattering novel The Butcher Boy, a powerful and unrelenting journey into the heart of darkness. The bleak, eerie voice belongs to Francie Brady, the "pig boy," the only child of and alcoholic father and a mother driven mad by despair. Growing up in a soul-stifling Irish town, Francie is bright, love-starved, and unhinged, his speech filled with street talk, his heart filled with pain...his actions perfectly monstrous.

Held up for scorn by Mrs. Nugent, a paragon of middle-class values, and dropped by his best friend, Joe, in favor of her mamby-pamby son, Francie finally has a target for his rage--and a focus for his twisted, horrific plan.

Dark, haunting, often screamingly funny, The Butcher Boy chronicles the pig boy's ominous loss of innocence and chilling descent into madness. No writer since James Joyce has had such marvelous control of rhythm and language... and no novel since The Silence Of The Lambs has stunned us with such a macabre, dangerous mind.

Critics

  • King of Bog Gothic

    In a phone-call to arrange our meeting, Pat McCabe begins by complaining about profiles of him in the past: "Journalists always come over and end up writing all this stuff about Sligo and its relevance to my work," he grumbles down the line from his ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

  • Never Call a Boy a Pig

    During this century small town and village life in Ireland hasn’t lacked for literary detraction and exposé. In fiction the line begins with George Moore; his short stories, collected in The Untilled Field (1903), depict monotonous and stunted lives ... (read full critics)

    nybooks published on Sat, 21 Aug 2010

2 Reviews

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  • 2 people find this helpful

    Excellent book. Throws you right into the mind of a really messed-up kid living with his abusive, drunken dad and depressed mom with a very dim future ahead of him. As every bad thing that could befall him starts to pile up, upon breaking point he finally decides to even the odds. The stream of cons ... (continue)

    Excellent book. Throws you right into the mind of a really messed-up kid living with his abusive, drunken dad and depressed mom with a very dim future ahead of him. As every bad thing that could befall him starts to pile up, upon breaking point he finally decides to even the odds. The stream of conscious internal dialogue can be quite hard to grasp and but it accurately captures his sinking into delusion, insanity and chilling violence. Very disturbing.

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    Danelectrico said on Dec 6, 2007 | Add your feedback

  • 1 person find this helpful

    Reminded me of The Wasp Factory. A great read if you enjoy trawling through the mind of a complete psychopath. A bit too.. how shall I put it.. violent.. for me at least.

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    annemarie said on Jan 9, 2007 | Add your feedback

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ISBN Edition List Sale Seller
9780385312370 Paperback $15.00 $12.82 bn.com
$15.00 $10.19 The Book Depository
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