Breakfast on Pluto

Patrick McCabe's books always have an interesting relationship to the grotesque, the bizarre -- and "Breakfast on Pluto" is not different. To begin with, he always chose a strange topic to write about. In "The Butcher Boy" he depicted the childhood of a psychopath. This time round he tells the life and times of a young transvestite who floats his way though `70s Ireland and London. Patrick "Pussy" Braden is the offspring of a prohibited love between a Catholic priest and his cleaning lady. The boy is given to adoption as soon as he is born. In his early childhood, the boy finds a special attraction to feminine clothes and gadgets, like make-up. After some problems with his foster family, Patrick moves to London and assumes his new identity. In the capital, the boy is up to new adventures in those turbulent times. He is involved with all sorts of things, some of them not by his choice, like prostitute killers, IRA and bombing. The character is the narrator of his own story, and he provides some interesting insights about those times, and his own life. McCabe usually adopts the black comedy tone, and Patrick's comments add some genuine fun to the narrative of "Breakfast on Pluto". His Candide-like journey is scary and, at the same time, illuminating. The fragmented structure and the oral language reproduced in the text may be a drawback for some readers. Nevertheless, those who aren't put off by these devices are up to read one of the strangest novels produced in English language in the `90s -- which is a nice treat.

I just finished this book, and while I don't often write reviews, I felt inclined to do so upon reading so many negative ones. Simply stated, this book was wonderful. Utterly captivating in its hilarity, as much as its anguish. Pussy Braden will sweep you up and carry you off. Her journey is devastating, yet eternally optimistic as she searches for the mother she never had, yet always yearned for, and dreams up vengeful plots against the father that never wanted her. You may just fall in love with her along the way...I know I did.

Patrick McCabe may have hit pay dirt with "The Butcher Boy", but he has produced a masterpiece with "Breakfast On Pluto". In the character of Patrick "Pussy" Braden, McCabe has found the perfect metaphor for a troubled Ireland. Just as the Irish struggle to define their identity in a climate of political strife and conflict, Pussy yearns to be reunited with his mother (a dead ringer for Mitzi Gaynor) but seethes with hatred and plots revenge on his father (no pun intended) whose identity remains a secret to all but the reader. Like his country, Pussy is sexually and emotionally in no man's land. His life as a transvestite, who does smashing impersonations of 60s English divas Dusty Springfield and Lulu, mirrors the pain and confusion of the times. McCabe's novel is a collage of incidents and minor sequences which flash back and forth in time to produce a criss cross matisse of images which somehow hang together. Short bursts of shocking violence alternate with dreamy ruminations of the past (mostly about Pussy's origins). As a satirist, McCabe's command of the genre shines through the use of a rapid fire tongue-in-cheek style to great effect. "Breakfast On Pluto" is truly deserving of its Booker Prize nomination. It is a massive literary achievement and will be enjoyed by all who read to be entertained and more !

. Pussy Brady, the hero, struggles with life in Northern Ireland as a transvestite prostitute. . For all of his scathing remarks, he is vulnerable and the reader will be drawn to read on. He seems caught in a world that overwhelms him. Although he plays the sophisticated sarcastic woman of the world, it is obvious that he is not. It is this gap between how Pussy would like to be seen and how he is that is so compelling. One hopes for better things but knows that they are unlikely to happen for him.

Once in a long while of hoping, wishing, weeping and praying does a book like this come along. Pardon me while I gush, but this book is quite simply one of the best first person narratives I have ever read, for one simple reason. I could actually hear our Puss' voice ringing inside my head, bouncing off my own cochlea. This in not only a nifty party trick my friends, but also an indication of some of the bravest, fiercest compassion and empathy put to good use I have ever had the pleasure to witness. It constitutes as redefinition of narrative "voice" and the extraordinary use to which it can be put. Inversions, run on sentences, horrifyingly extended metaphors, a grammarians nightmare. To hell with the sanctity of the English language in case there ever was any. To spare you all a worthless plot and to give any encouragement (or as the French say...encouragement) to those of you desperately searching for plot events let me say, release yourself from your struggle. The point of this book is to experience, yea bathe, in someone elses psyche for a while. And not the kind of repetitive, dull, mortifying psyche of say "Strange Interlude" but the psyche of a lively, severly troubled, struggling, unloved young person who none the less has learned somehow to live in a world that quite specifically denies his right to exist. This book goes beyond wordsmithing (ach, hateful word, get thee behind me wordsmiths) and moves into the exalted place of those who have created entire universes that draw in distract trouble traumatize and inspire. Thanks to the author for making my bookreading life worthwhile. Again. A Political Sidenote: I recommend picking up the Butcher Boy in case this book hasn't taught you enough about what happens to the unloved. A responsible sidenote: The ending is a little weak. I doesn't ruin everything, it just kind of makes you shrug and say "Hmnh" or some such unidentifiable syllable.