The Anatomy School

Format:	Paperback 368 pages

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Synopsis

Martin Brenna is a troubled boy living in troubled times, a boy who knows all of the questions but none of the answers. This is Belfast in the late sixties. Before he can become and adult, Martin must unravel the sacred and contradictory mysteries of religion, science and sex; he must learn the value of friendship; but most of all he must pass his exams - at any cost. "The Anatomy School" celebrates the desire to speak and the need to say nothing, moving from the enforced silence of Martin's Catholic school retreat, through the hilarious repartee of his eccentric elders to the awkward wit and loose profanity of his two friends - the charismatic Kavanagh and the subbesive Blaise Foley. An absorbing, tense and very funny novel which takes Martin from the initiations of youth to the devoutly wished for consummation of the flesh, "The Anatomy School" is a remarkable re-creation of the anxieties and joys of learning to find a place in the world.

Book details

Published
03/10/2002

Publisher
Vintage

ISBN
9780099428466

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UK Kirkus review

This is a rites-of-passage novel of great quality set in Belfast in the 1960s. It begins with 17-year-old Martin Brennan being sent by his poor mother on a silent Catholic retreat. There his prayers are hoped to be a worthwhile investment to help him pass his looming exams which he had failed the year before. Exams, girls, sex, religion, and one's place in life, themes which emerge throughout Martin's adolescence, are written about in a slow and intimate pace. Martin, a totally bad liar, and his two friends Kavanagh and Blaise steal and photograph the exam papers - and get away with it, the event portrayed not as a crime but, especially from Martin's point of view, as despair at the fateful power exams have in one's life. The relationships between priests and boys, some good, some embarrasingly unhealthy, also feature. And the three young men spend a good deal of their time fantasizing about girls. Martin ends up working as a technician in the Anatomy School of the University, where he has his first sexual experience. The book captivates, because the author gets so wholly inside the minds of these young men, offering a slice of male-adolescent life that oozes integrity and accuracy. Although liberally peppered with obscenities, these are not gratuitous, but very much part of the conversations one might overhear among young men of that time. There's an innocence about the book, and great sympathy with the characters. A light touch, coupled by flawless dialogue and pace, set it apart from other novels of this type. (Kirkus UK)