At first I didn't like it couldn't get into it. After I was about a third of the way through I started to want to know what would befall the two main characters. I didn't really like the way the book was laid out or the style of the narrative and I found it hard to have any sympathy for the characters maybe it was because they where teachers and I found teachers in Primary school where often people who where often unkind to they're pupils and so myself have a little bit of a thing against the type of teachers Malachy and Raphael where. It is sad there lives took that turn but I don't believe that everything that happens in you in your childhood no matter how tragic has a direct effect on how your life turns out I think you ultimately make the decision to fight or else self destruct. That being said the book was very intriguing and it did make me want to find out more and so keep reading. I thought there would be a comical element with it being Pat Mc Cabe who wrote it but anything funny about it was overshadowed by the depression of it all. I do however feel that it would appeal to a reader of certain age that people who grew up in the time of Malachy would enjoy the nostalgic elements of the book.
Is it ever too late to forgive?Two men, a generation or so apart, begin to plumment, in Dublin in the 1970s. Their descents are oddly parallel, notwithstanding the age difference; and yet they intersect, once, twice. One is a headmaster; the other a teacher. Events from their childhoods gestate, percolate and perhaps ultimately destroy. Their histories make them both time bombs.So too the stories of these two men are written parallel to each other, but intersecting from time to time. Their lives are told in the third person, semi-omniscent. Oddly, the voice seems the same regardless of which of the two of them is on stage.But, as to the question first posed: The headmaster, at a barman's urging, brings flowers to his wife of many years. The younger man returns to his first love, a music record in his coatpocket. The mother cheats on her husband, caught in the act by the son. In each instance it is not clear who is the injured and who needs to forgive. This was a compelling read, as in it was a page turner. It demands to be read quickly. I wonder if I was seduced by the Irish voice and rated it higher as a result.In any event, I will be reading more of McCabe, and soon.
What do You think about The Dead School (1996)?
McCabe has the haunting ability to immerse you in interior monologue that deftly describes fits of anxiety, bouts of unbelievable joy, philosophical pondering, suicidality, and madness, all with seeming ease and in a completely believable vernacular. You spend most of your time in this novel inside the head of one of two protagonists, both of them completely drawn and intriguing in nearly opposite ways. 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.
—Kasandra
I had to give up after 60 pages, I found this a highly frustrating reading experience. The narrative seems really forced, falling into a stilted 'bog irish' voice, it was only missing an occasional 'begosh & begorrah'!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 get that out of my mind while reading!
—Sue
