Skippy Dies

By: Paul Murray

Narrated by: Nicola Barber, Fred Berman, Clodagh Bowyer, Terry Donnelly, Sean Gormley, Khristine Hvam, John Keating, Lawrence Lowry, Graeme Malcolm, Paul Nugent

Length: 23 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

This touching and uproarious novel by author Paul Murray made everyone’s best fiction of 2010 lists, including The Washington Post, Financial Times, Village Voice, and others. Why Skippy dies and what happens next is the mystery that links the boys of Dublin’s Seabrook College (Ruprecht Van Doren, the overweight genius obsessed with string theory; Carl, the teenager drug dealer and borderline psychotic; Philip Kilfether, the basketball-playing midget) to their parents and teachers in ways that no one could have imagined.

This unique production of Murray’s heartfelt exploration of the pain, joy, and beauty of adolescence features an all-star narrating cast of 16 Audible favorites: John Keating, Graeme Malcom, Khristine Hvam, Nicola Barber, Fred Berman, Clodagh Bowyer, Terry Donnelly, Sean Gormley, Lawrence Lowry, Paul Nugent, Tim Smallwood, Fiona Walsh, Fiana Toibin, Declan Sammon, Heather O'Neill, and Ed Malone.

©2010 Paul Murray (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Hilarious, haunting, and heartbreaking, it is inarguably among the most memorable novels of the year to date." ( Booklist)

"Dazzling... If killing your protagonist with more than 600 pages to go sounds audacious, it's nothing compared with the literary feats Murray pulls off in this hilarious, moving and wise book." ( Washington Post Book World)

"Extravagantly entertaining." ( The New York Times Book Review)

Rambling and Disconnected

I look so forward to a book narrated by Irishmen. I loved Frank McCourt's books when they were read by the author. "Angelas Ashes" is on top of my all-time list.
I believed that this book was among the same genre. I thought it was about young, Irish students trying to make a go of life. Turns out, it was a long and detailed list of the angst of teenage boys and the turmoil they face while struggling through daily life.
It was just No big deal. I did NOT like the characters. They didn't bring me into their heads. If I cared about them, I may have paid better attention. I hope to struggle to the end of this book and find out why and how Skippy dies. That will be enough for a credit lost.

Forced myself to finish it

I agree with some of the other comments. There should be a return policy. By the time I finished this book, I felt I had been to hell and back. I actually found the last third of the book to be its only redeeming section and even that is stretching it. Torment.

No thanks

What would have made Skippy Dies better?

Realized not my type of story early so quickly removed it from my MP3 and listened to the next book in my library.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Presently listening to and enjoying "Then Came You".

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of the narrators?

Any narrator could have read it and I still wouldn't have listened.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Skippy Dies?

If I'd been the editor, I wouldn't have published the book.

Any additional comments?

I'm sure some listeners really liked it, I didn't but to each his/her own.

Don’t Bother

This book was utter dreck, mediocre in every way! Mystified as to the comparison to Infinite Jest, which was well written and hilarious. Voice actors were very good though

Sorry I bought this

Interminably boring and painfully slow. Like literally reliving every second of a long, dull, idiotic teenagerhood! Who would ever want to do that?
I put it down when I realized I wanted to dope slap most of the characters for their moronic behavior - the ensuing brawl would be more interesting than the book.
The large cast of readers make the book painful to listen to as well. If I could give less than one star I would

Slow to Capture the Listener

I am a few hours into the book and still haven't found a character in the book that I care about. Maybe I need to listen more, but I don't think I'm strong enough.

Extremely unsatisfying ending

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I can't think of anyone who I would recommend this story to. I would feel guilty knowing, that when they got to the end, they would undoubtedly feel disappointed and annoyed.

Has Skippy Dies turned you off from other books in this genre?

In all honesty, I have no clue what genre you could call this book. It's certainly a work of fiction, but it is not funny enough to be a comedy, dark enough to be a horror story, and the ending is too vague and unclear for it to be a satisfying mystery. I most likely will not seek out other books by this author.

What character would you cut from Skippy Dies?

I would have cut the part of the geography teacher, as she, despite seeming very important in the first part of the book, becomes relatively pointless as the story goes on.

Any additional comments?

If you are a fan of closure and if you prefer to have all your questions answered and loose ends tied up, you will not enjoy this book. For a book that is almost 24 hours long, one would assume that Paul Murray would have made a thorough and well planned ending, but no, The story just sort of cuts off, Villains go unpunished, Heros go unrewarded, and characters are left floating in the ether. It is a long lead to a very dissatisfying end.

Bizarre coming of age novel

This book is about boys in a school coming of age but drugs, suicide, beatings, not my cup of tea. I read the whole thing and was very happy it was over. 3 parts?! "Probably won a Pulitzer", she said sarcastically.

boring

What disappointed you about Skippy Dies?

I never got past the first 60 minutes. I could not care less about the characters or their plight. After paying for the book, I decided to keep going for an hour but was too bored to continue. This is only the second book I have downloaded in years that was not even worth listening to while sitting in traffic.

What three words best describe the narrators???s voice?

good

Audible should let you return books like this one

Would you try another book from Paul Murray and/or the narrators?

No.

What was most disappointing about Paul Murray???s story?

Unlistenable. Could not understand the brogue, nor which character was speaking, nor why they were saying what they were saying. Did not finish the book. Very sad. It has such positive reviews. Who wrote them?

How could the performance have been better?

If you could understand the spoken word and the complications were not so complicated.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

I'm still pissed off at waisting a credit on this book.

Any additional comments?

Think about instituting a return policy. Bookstores had them.