I particularly enjoyed both the humor and the natural self-centeredness in both mens' internalized personal home movies, if you will, but found the treatment of their respective wives to be a bit too similar for comfort. The men are clearly drawn, but the women are unfortunately not so much and end up falling into stereotypical behavior in nearly all scenes; that's a huge weakness for me and the reason I couldn't give this 5 stars, much as I thought it was masterfully written in all other respects.
Feb 14, P rated it did not like it Shelves: So lousy I am amazed it got published! The contrived plot, the unsympathetic protagonists, the one-dimensional women, the super annoying caricatured Irish tone. What precisely was McCabe's point?
The Dead School
Irish women should never be in charge of their own destinies because they will either cheat on their husbands and traumatize their sons, walk out on the guy who will never be able to love again, or have abortions and ruin a school along with the life of its dedicated principal? Was this a warning to any So lousy I am amazed it got published! Was this a warning to any man who plans to take up a career in teaching--watch out, it will drive you crazy?
Postal service, ok but teaching third grade: Or maybe it was a dirge for a Catholic boy's school filled with Irish nationalism and severe discipline? The author bio says McCabe has a wife and two daughters. If this novel is an accurate reflection of his views, I feel sorry for them. Dec 31, A. Mary rated it it was amazing Shelves: This is the story of two lives, which intersect briefly, and then careen off on their own trajectories. McCabe explores the ways in which a life of effort and duty and uprightness and achievement can suddenly be sideswiped and spin off into outer space.
He shows how some shattering event in childhood can lie in wait and become a festering wound in later life. Not everything is rational and methodical and predictable. Life in bumper cars is what McCabe presents here. Sometimes we don't understand This is the story of two lives, which intersect briefly, and then careen off on their own trajectories.
The Dead School by Patrick McCabe
Sometimes we don't understand. Everybody is in danger, no matter how secure life seems. It doesn't make sense. There are threads we can trace along the narrative, but sometimes they're pretty delicate. Ultimately, life can be shining along and then turn to a rotting mess.
That's just how it is. Rafael and Malachy are thoroughly drawn characters, developed over the full span of their lives, and McCabe makes a page turner out of their parallel lives. Feb 06, Sue rated it did not like it Shelves: I had to give up after 60 pages, I found this a highly frustrating reading experience. The elements of the story I did read before giving up, was dark and the female character were almost caricatures.
It probably didn't help me that early on I felt that the narrative was like Dougal a character from the TV show Father Ted stream of consciousness, and couldn't g I had to give up after 60 pages, I found this a highly frustrating reading experience. It probably didn't help me that early on I felt that the narrative was like Dougal a character from the TV show Father Ted stream of consciousness, and couldn't get that out of my mind while reading!
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Jun 23, Chris rated it liked it Recommends it for: I was not a big a fan of this book as I had been of McCabe's other work, but the plot is sort of fun, in a horrible sort of way. Two characters on a simultaneous plummet towards the depths because of their obsessions with the way things were. It could have been any two people, but the fact that it's about a teacher and a headmaster made it a little more applicable to my personal experience.
At least no one's ever died on my watch. Apr 11, Nicholaus Patnaude rated it it was amazing. To draw a classroom in chalk and cobwebs while a child drowns confirms the worst day of work imaginable to be a spiral not only carved in ice but also a hollowing to the very soul of a flippant, Midnight Cowboy existence beset by dreams scrawled on the bathroom walls of a pub where the music playing might be a a tendril linked to a new leaf covered with dew tears.
Oct 28, Hannah Young rated it liked it. This is an excellent book. Do not read this book. If you do read this book, do not read the end before bed. This is a profoundly, existentially horrifying book. It's also very funny, because that's how the Irish sort of are, but this book is not a book to read if you want to feel mildly pleasant about the act of being alive. Sep 21, Adrian rated it liked it. The characters sort of disintegrated in a not particularly nice way so I didn't know how to take the book Teacher friends of mine liked it which surprised me as it didn't portray teachers in a great light.
Jul 18, Michelle rated it it was ok. To be honest I didn't enjoy this book one bit I'm just glad the chapters were kept short enough to keep me reading I couldn't wait to get to the end of it, I saw no reason for these 2 men to be joined together, a very melancholy story indeed. Jul 22, Kate Walsh rated it really liked it. I have read very few Irish books. I enjoyed the '.. Jan 22, Derek Bridge rated it really liked it.
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This early McCabe has the distinction of charting the descent into madness of not one, but two characters. Their collision is expertly and entertainingly plotted. There is, too, a freshness that, for me, has deserted the later McCabe, forever treading this ground. Jun 20, Paganqueen rated it did not like it. Started off promisingly enough but quickly ground to a halt. I found the characters' regression really annoying and whiny. Maybe I am missing something but I finished it out of spite and will not recommend it to anyone.
Mar 31, Aishling O'Neill rated it really liked it. This book was very good but you really need to be in the right frame of mind for it because it's very depressing.
I did have to break half way through and read something a bit lighter. But I stuck it out after and I'm glad I read it. I am now going on to read The Butcher Boy. I thought this was a great exhilarating read although the subject matter is very bleak. Not read a writer that can pull this off before - did feel down for a while when I finished it as it is a very depressing story beneath the humour.
Will read Butcher Boy at some point. Oct 08, Scott rated it it was ok Shelves: This was a tough read for all the adults being so messed up. Another good example, although only literature, that adults shouldn't teach anything to anyone in a classroom ever. Apr 29, Annie Pearce rated it really liked it. I had to read this as part of my A-Level literature course in college and absolutely loved it it made a change from the other books we were forced to read!
It's dark humour and creepy storyline are fanatically written, I recommend! May 09, Liam J rated it really liked it. Like the Butcher Boy in style. Mar 08, April Coffey rated it it was amazing Shelves: Patrick McCabe is probably one of the most underrated Irish writers of all time.
As Dark as Ian Banks. Didn't think he could top the Butcher Boy but he did! Mar 31, Kerrie O'Neill rated it it was amazing. I don't have to words to do this justice, it's an amazing book.
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I don't know how he does it. The dialect is spot on. It's tragic and darkly comic a book that will stay with you for a long time. View all 5 comments. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. McCabe's strength as an author lies in his ability to probe behind the veneer of respectability and conformity to reveal the brutality and the cloying and corrupting stagnation of Ir Patrick McCabe came to prominence with the publication of his third adult novel, The Butcher Boy , in ; the book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in Britain and won the Irish Times-Aer Lingus Prize for fiction.
McCabe's strength as an author lies in his ability to probe behind the veneer of respectability and conformity to reveal the brutality and the cloying and corrupting stagnation of Irish small-town life, but he is able to find compassion for the subjects of his fiction. His prose has a vitality and an anti-authoritarian bent, using everyday language to deconstruct the ideologies at work in Ireland between the early s and the late s.
His books can be read as a plea for a pluralistic Irish culture that can encompass the past without being dominated by it. McCabe is an Irish writer of mostly dark and violent novels of contemporary, often small-town, Ireland. McCabe lives in Clones, Co.
Haunting lesson of 'The Dead School'
Monaghan with his wife and two daughters. Pat McCabe is also credited with having invented the "Bog Gothic" genre. Books by Patrick McCabe. Trivia About The Dead School. No trivia or quizzes yet.
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Quotes from The Dead School. McCabe's method is to contrast two teachers of different generations in a Dublin academy. The senior man, Raphael Bell, is a product of the Cork working class and represents discipline, order, Catholicism and classicism. His younger colleague, Malachy Dudgeon, stands for the emerging Ireland of sexual liberty, secularism and personal freedom. The difference between them is neatly embodied in their musical tastes. But, whatever the generational divide, both men are driven towards madness.
You need to be Irish to understand all the resonances of McCabe's hectic, kaleidoscopic play. But what comes across clearly is that the schoolroom is a symbol of the decay of the twin Irish gods of nationalism and religion and of the new rampant individualism. While the play has a strong elegiac quality, it is also mordantly funny. There's a wonderful moment when Raphael plucks up courage to propose to his girlfriend by shyly asking her: Even if the play sometimes resembles an overstuffed suitcase, it is given a vividly surreal production by Padraic McIntyre for the Livin' Dred Theatre Company.
In Marie Kearns's decrepit schoolroom set, door panels suddenly open up to reveal intruding hands and faces and a window flies apart to disclose a choric beggarman.