MandyLindsay

Apparently this is a best seller? Basically this text chronicles the musings of a middle-aged, aimless discontent on an ill conceived business trip. Completely anti-climactic and utterly unresolved. Not quite a waste of three hours but maybe I'm feeling generous.

Skippy Dies is an extremely enjoyable read. After the title character experiences a mysterious death in the opening sequence, we are thrust backwards in time to the complex tapestry of events leading up to his final moments.Entwined with the story of Skippy are those of his classmates and friends, teachers, enemies, and other peers whose lives encompass the mini-universe of Seabrook, a Catholic school for boys in Ireland. We're given access to the inner-workings of a polyphony of characters and in result develop sympathies for even the most villainous of characters. At once realistic while imbued with a certain quality of magic, this is definitely one of my favorite reads this year.Suspenseful to the end with momentum that just keeps rising... good luck putting it down after about 400 pages in!

Overall I enjoyed this book but I wasn't as altogether impressed as I assumed I would be with a Newberry winner. The protagonist is an interesting character and the cast of side characters even more so but as the narrative progressed it felt as though I was missing out on large, important portions of the story. I kept comparing it to what I imagine would have been the result if J.K. Rowling had decided the story contained within the seven Harry Potter books should be crunched into one 350 page volume. It seemed we only were given a glimpse where entirely more detail could have been provided. I guess my biggest critique is that the story was executed in such a way that made the scope seem too wide to do Nobody's story justice.On the plus side it was certainly entertaining, surprisingly macabre for a children's/YA book, and contained a positive message overall.

I thought it was garbage