Skippy Dies | A+

Out of the drought for genuinely good fiction came a wonderfully cool drink of water in the form of the novel Skippy Dies by Paul Murray (Aug. 2010). The story revolves around Daniel "Skippy" Juster, a jaded 14-year-old student at Seabrook College in Dublin and his overweight roommate Ruprecht Van Doren, a whiz kid who happens to be more than a little obsessed with the 10-dimensional string theory. What ensues is both pure comical and dark genius, backed with genuine heart and spirit and one heck of a story.

The characters steal your heart and mind right from the start; Murray truly holds nothing back while capturing the tragic hilarity of what it means to be an adolescent on top of the world and not sure where to go from there. Within the first five pages, Skippy ends up dead on the floor of a local doughnut shop, his last cryptic words to his friend Ruprecht scribbled in jam on the floor with one finger: "Tell Lori." Immediately, the reader is drawn into the tale: Exactly who is Lori and what on earth happened to Skippy in that doughnut shop on that fateful day? While presenting a comical front, there is no mistaking the dark and almost sinister undercurrents always running beneath Murray's lyrical writing. Skippy serves as both a cynical hero and anti-hero of sorts, holding the novel together cohesively and beautifully much like the strawberry jam that he inscribed his last words with.

Murray's writing style and emotional breadth are also something to be admired. He manages to craft a portrayal of adolescence that is hilarious, heartbreaking and painfully bittersweet all in one novel. This is Murray's second novel. He is also the author of An Evening of Long Goodbyes, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award in 2003.

Without a doubt, this is one of the best new fiction books this reviewer has had the pleasure of reading in a long time.Skippy Dies is the whole package, with a depth unparalleled by many of the "bestsellers" being published today. If you want a read that will make you laugh, cry and feel like your heart might just burst out of your chest from the gravity of it all, Skippy Dies is the perfect choice.