Why does Skippy, a fourteen-year-old boy at Dublin’s venerable Seabrook College, end up dead on the floor of the local doughnut shop?
Could it have something to do with his friend Ruprecht Van Doren, an overweight genius who is determined to open a portal into a parallel universe using ten-dimensional string theory?
Could it involve Carl, the teenage drug dealer and borderline psychotic who is Skippy’s rival in love?
Or could “the Automator”—the ruthless, smooth-talking principal intent on modernizing the school—have something to hide?
Why Skippy dies and what happens next is the subject of this dazzling and uproarious novel, unraveling a mystery that links the boys of Seabrook College to their parents and teachers in ways nobody could have imagined. With a cast of characters that ranges from the hip-hop-loving Eoin “MC Sexecutioner” Flynn to the basketball-playing midget Philip Kilfether, and packed with questions and answers on everything from Ritalin to M-theory to bungee jumping to the hidden meaning of the poetry of Robert Frost, Skippy Dies is a heartfelt, hilarious portrait of the pain, joy, and occasional beauty of adolescence, and a tragic depiction of a world always happy to sacrifice its weakest members. As the twenty-first century enters its teenage years, this is a breathtaking novel from a young writer who will come to define his generation.
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Fair. A readable copy of the book which may include some defects such as highlighting and notes. Cover and pages may be creased and show discolouration. Seller Inventory # GOR005573951
Book Description Condition: VeryGood. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. Seller Inventory # wbs5785493181
Book Description Soft cover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. A fine UK first edition, first printing 3 volume paperback original- in a fine cardboard slipcase - All my books are always securely packed with plenty of bubblewrap in professional boxes and promptly dispatched (within 2-3 days) - SIGNED, DATED & LOCATED BY THE AUTHOR - Pictures of the book are available upon request. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 009119
Book Description Soft cover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. First UK Edition, First Printing. This first edition, first printing (first impression) with the number "1" to the copyright page to indicate a true first print. Released simultaneously as a Box Set of three paperbacks and also as a single paperback original, this is the box set, in sliocase. Books are fine and unread. SIGNED by Paul Murray to the title page of Book 1. Accompanying the set is a slip "Win a Limited Edition, Signed Skippy Dies Boxset with Hodges Figgis" Which is the famous Dublin Bookshop. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 016589
Book Description Soft cover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. 1st Printing. Signed. 665 pages. Published in 2010. The author's breakthrough second novel. One of the best novels of and for our time. The true First Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, including the single-volume edition that was originally intended for the British Export Market only. Published in a small and limited first print run as a slipcased three-volume softcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. The book is ingeniously conceived and produced as such, mimicking children's and young adult's serialized novels, in keeping with its subject. Presents, in its true First Edition format, Paul Murray's "Skippy Dies". With each consecutive volume individually subtitled: Volume One, "Hopeland"; Volume Two, "Heartland"; and Volume Three, "Ghostland And Afterland". Murray daringly abolishes conventional suspense starting with his very title. Now, death is NOT a suitable subject for teenagers, much less grownups, these days. But here it is, Paul Murray's challenge to established narrative formulas - not just in books, but in ALL other media, especially film - whose underlying "message" is, and will always be: "The Hero Never Dies". Instead: "Why does Skippy, a fourteen-year-old boy at Dublin's venerable Seabrook College, end up dead on the floor of the local doughnut shop? Could it have something to do with his friend Ruprecht Van Doren, an overweight genius who is determined to open a portal into a parallel universe using ten-dimensional string theory? Could it involve Carl, the teenage drug dealer and borderline psychotic, who is Skippy's rival in love? Why Skippy dies and what happens next is the subject of this dazzling and uproarious novel. A heartfelt, hilarious portrait of the pain, joy, and occasional beauty of adolescence, and a tragic depiction of a world always happy to sacrifice its weakest members" (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Paul Murray collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page of Volume One by Paul Murray. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a great book. This is one of few such signed copies of the Slipcased First Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Precedes and should NOT be confused with the single-volume edition. A rare signed copy thus. Longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2010 for "Skippy Dies". One of the most brilliant writers of our time. A fine collectible copy. ISBN 0241141826. Signed by Author. Seller Inventory # 23800