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The Butcher Boy
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The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe
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*** 1/2
A sad and sordid slow descent for a kid from a dysfunctional family in country Ireland. It is probably the closest you can get to experience and understand a worsening and self-destructive mental condition. Crude and rude, but there was no other way this could have been written. Finally, a contemporary Irish novelist that I don't end up hating.
5 stars
This was a brilliant book. One in which I enjoyed despite the dark subject matter. Francie Brady is a poor Irish boy with an alcoholic father and a mother with problems; a dysfunctional family. I had great sympathy for Francie as the story starts with the innocence of youth. The reader is foretold that something bad has happened as the first sentence of the book states “...they were all after me on account of what I done on Mrs. Nugent.” The story is told from Francie's point of view much of it stream-of-consciousness and this is the first time I have enjoyed this technique. Patrick McCabe is a wonderful writer. I was drawn into the story and wanted to continue on the journey knowing it would not end well.