One down!

I am pleased to report that I finished MacLaverty's The Anatomy School this evening, and don't know what form of boredom overtook the previous reviewer who gave up at page sixty.  I was fairly riveted, although this may be something to do with my Catholic past and Northern Irish Roman Catholic ancestry, and my recent reacquaintance with Macbeth, which is quoted extensively throughout. I enjoyed everything about this book apart from the swearing, blaspheming and adolescent male obsession with sex, which MacLaverty absolutely nails. The dialogue sounds authentic, both the filthy, irreverent banter between the three school friends who are the main characters, and the older authoritarian figures. The priests, especially Condor,are brilliant,and I love the way that the author ratchets up the tension as the all-important exams approach. At this stage in Part 1, I found I couldn't put the book down. 

I could see this making a great film, and don't know why it hasn't made it to the silver screen yet. There would be some fabulous characters for actors to get their teeth into.

Anyway, my advice is to find some MacLaverty and read it. I definitely want to check out his other stuff if he can write so well. Let me not get side-tracked though. It's back to the hessian bag for me, and my second choice: Douglas Coupland's  The Gum Thief. This was picked up from the sale table at a local branch library for 50p. Too good to resist!