Customer Reviews

Breakfast on Pluto: A Novel

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

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.

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 !

The novel, Breakfast on Pluto by Patrick McCabe is a prime example of "smart literature". An appropriate definition of smart literature is, "a book you have to think about to like". I am guilty of turning my brain off the first time I read this piece of work. I thought it was vulgar and uncontrolled. When I actually turned my brain on for the second reading, I learned how wrong it was in that assumption.

This novel follows the story of a young transvestite prostitute in Ireland who was abandoned at birth. He is searching for love, money, revenge, and his mother. The Northern Ireland War is the stunning backdrop for this novel. The conversation and insight by the protagonist is intriguing and his struggles to find himself and his mother are heart wrenching. When he finally spirals down in to depression and insanity, the reader feels the innocent little boy trying to grasp at one last little piece of a dream. His vengeful fits explode like searing fire off of the pages.

Breakfast on Pluto is a short, fast read. If your brain is on, that is. If you don't get it the first time, read it again and the piece will fall together like a Chanel scented puzzle. Some people may be turned off to the graphic sex and rape, (I was one of them) but it is crucial to the story. This is a book that deserves to be read and Patrick McCabe is an author that deserves to be highly credited for his work. For a rating of this book, I give it a 4 out of 5 stars. (Hey, that 2 time reading irked me a lot at first, what can I say.)

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.

Music plays a part in this novel and the title itself was taken from a song recorded by Don Partridge in 1969. The lyrics are silly: "Go anywhere without leaving your chair/and let your thoughts run free/Living within all the dreams you can spin/There is so much to see." Silly or not, these lyrics are central to the plot of Breakfast on Pluto.

Set in the tumultuous Ireland of the 1960s and 1970s, Breakfast on Pluto is the story of a transvestite named Paddy "Pussy" Braden, a character who uses the silly and the sentimental as a shield against the horrors of the modern world.

The book is written as a memoir. Paddy, who has a crush on his psychologist, Terence, pens the memoir, ostensibly for the benefit of Terence and his (Paddy's) own analysis, but he does harbor ulterior motives all his own. The tone of the novel is flirtatious, effusive and, at times, completely unreliable. The details of Paddy's life are predictably sordid, unsavory and truly awful.

Paddy has been abandoned by just about everyone and Breakfast on Pluto is thus a novel about loss and love and the loss of love, about violence and loveless sex and even encroaching insanity. McCabe, however, is such a talented writer that he can, and does, relate these depressing details in a prose style so vivid, so utterly original and lively and witty that Paddy Braden becomes almost charming. He is, by turns, caustic, sardonic, colorful, naïve, explosive, poignant and yes, even hilarious. He is simply one of the most audacious characters I have ever met, and this audacity, combined with the glee with which he relates the horrible events in which he take sheer delight, only makes him all the more compelling.

The son of a priest and a beautiful woman who looked like Mitzi Gaynor, Paddy grew up in patriarchal, provincial Ireland unloved and unwanted in the home of a wicked foster mother. Paddy is not a character who was able to transcend the bad and turn negatives into positives. The absence of maternal affection in his life affects him deeply and he turns to silly, attention-getting antics.

As Paddy matures, his penchant for women's clothing grows. It is a penchant that certainly doesn't endear him to his neighbors. Paddy, though, really doesn't care. Although it might be hard to believe, some of the book's funniest and most poignant moments, as well as some of the best dialogue, come when Paddy's frilly and fussy sensibilities clash with the grim reality of civil war.

A recurring theme of McCabe's is his perception of hypocrisy in the Catholic church. In Breakfast on Pluto, McCabe explores this perceived hypocrisy in an eccentric and hilarious manner. Nowhere is it highlighted better than in a scene where Paddy goes into a church to confront his father. We realize that Paddy: sodomite, thief, liar, cheat, is no more of a sinner than is his sanctimonious father or the pious souls who come into the priest's confessional to bare their sins and be purified.

As the book gains momentum, so does the cycle of violence and counter-violence and Paddy, for a time, escapes to England where things are different, but not much better. From this point on, the book deals in real trouble: torture, murder and betrayal.

While some of the campy plotline has been left behind, Paddy's unique voice can still be heard. As his problems reach grotesque proportions, Paddy seeks his salvation, in, of all things, a bottle of Chanel No. 5. Even when Paddy returns to Ireland (for what Irishman can remain out of Ireland for long?), his indomitable spirit keeps him afloat. The silly and the sentimental are, for Paddy Braden, more than song lyrics. They are, sadly, his only source of hope.

Often, when I'm reading a book or watching a movie, I'll think about the villain or the eccentric character or the wacky character - they're always so interesting, and yet, rarely are we given a privileged look at the *why* of their lives. Why are they so different from the rest of us? Why do they dress like that? Why do they act the way they do? Patrick McCabe is an author who is concerned with the why.

Patrick "Pussy" Braden, the hero(ine) of McCabe's Breakfast on Pluto, is an Irish Transvestite, who - believe it or not - is just looking for the simple life. Sure, she likes silky jackets and false eyelashes. But all Pussy *really* wants is a sweet little home; a strong, masculine husband; and a loving family. Unfortunately, her desires are complicated by the deteriorating social system in her small, Irish hometown; by violent IRA attacks; by her dysfunctional childhood; and - of course - by her sexuality.

As with McCabe's The Butcher Boy, Breakfast on Pluto is a fascinating exploration of the life of a social deviant. Once again, McCabe masterfully captures the humorous and extraordinarily idiosyncratic voice of his protagonist, and the combination of Pussy's charismatic narration and her tragic life story make for another bittersweet novel. Breakfast on Pluto is at once hilarious and heartbreaking.

If I were to compare the 2 texts, I'd have to say that Butcher Boy is the superior; for one thing, it's more fleshed out than the very brief Breakfast on Pluto. But, if you enjoyed Butcher Boy, chances are, you will also enjoy this work by McCabe.

. 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.

Patrick McCabe sure knows how to depress you. Every book he has ever written is filled with characters who either are no longer in control of their own lives, or never had much of a chance to begin with. This book is about a psychologically crippled transvestite prostitute who somehow gets involved in late 70s IRA political conspiracies, and is so unable to understand what is going on that his own life becomes a graphic farce, something that were he in his right mind he would cackle and puke about in some bar he was out picking around for the next Sugar Daddy to take care of him for a while. It is a story that takes a little while to get in to, the language weird and seemingly disconnected from the actual events of the plot. But bear with it, as the overall quality of the prose, the story, the idea, will soon come to overwhelm you. And while this book isn't quite up to the magnificence of The Butcher Boy (possibly the finest book I have ever read),there is nothing wrong with anything within. It is a masterpiece, a wonderful, sorrowful novel from an author who can write nothing but. I urge you to give this book a chance to move you, to return you to the more innocent times when the sheer tragedy of some made up story could make you break down and weep over the sheer hopelessness of the human condition.

To tell the truth, I've opened this book only because it was shortlisted for the 1998 Booker Prize. I was disappointed from the very start - perverted hero, distorted English, weird plot. Modern novels are crowded today with gays, lesbians and all other kinds of sexual minorities as if straight Homo sapiens is vanishing from surface of the Earth. As if the author couldn't find normal heroes and normal words to tell his readers about problems of Northern Ireland. But nevertheless I finished my reading and changed my opinion in the end. Because Pat Braden, the hero of the book, transvestite and male prostitute, is the one who is sane in this perverted world where the blood streams and bombs explode, where people hate each other with inclination for consolidation only to exterminate anyone who differs from them. Pat, abandoned by mother, repudiated by father and unloved by most people, in his search for love is more human than his surroundings. The world is not so beautiful place to live in, Patrick McCabe tells us, sometimes it only a bit differs from abattoir, but it will not come to the end while its exhausted inhabitants still hope for love. The book includes really excellent pages, especially the inserted story of a man who crossed the border in pursuit for love but was tortured and killed by human (or unhuman) intolerance. By and large, this book is more worthy of Booker Prize than Ian McEwan's cold satire.