Breakfast on Pluto

Where to begin?

This is one of my all-time favourite books (and my favourite film!) and I absolutely love EVERYTHING (and I mean EVERYTHING) about it! The storyline is just beautifully crafted and has a lovely set of catharsis to accompany it. The themes are always dreamy and twisted yet decadent and tragic - creating an atmosphere of a post-modern Nabokovian novel. The characters! PATRICK! OH MY GOD! Patrick Braden is my all-time favourite fictional character and I absolutely love him to bits. There is nothing I can find that is wrong with this book, nothing at all. 

Characters:

To start off with, Patrick Braden (as I said earlier) is an amazing reckless savage of a woman that goes looking for his mother in London, even though he's from Ireland. He travels around with rock bands, magicians, politicians, rich guys, his best friends AND members of the IRA in a 1970s Ireland where everything is falling apart so quickly. Patrick seems lost and depressed, yet keeps his hopes up by shopping and playing the gold-digger girl. Patrick McCabe really knew exactly what he wanted when he created Ms Braden! You got that from my best side darlings! 

Themes:

The hardest hit theme revolves around the theory that every cloud has a silver lining. Patrick Braden spends his time getting into trouble in nightclubs, getting almost blown to bits in London by the IRA and getting almost-shot by some gun dealers in Ireland. Yet, he still manages to 'strut the catwalks' as he puts it (and better than everyone else as well!) This theme is more than nailed into the walls of the Catholic church ("St-f****'s-good-for-nothing" as Paddy calls it) in the film as well (which was brilliant).

Storyline:

Where do I begin with the story? It was perfection! Patrick grows up in the parish with a few friends and then decides he wants to be a woman. He leaves the church in search of his mother and all whilst the IRA bombings are unknown as where they're striking next. Some of his friends die, some leave him, some come looking for him and some get in deep with the wrong people. All of it happens whilst Patrick is in search of himself and all is told through a 1st person perspective of Patrick Braden as he wants to be 'flash lite by a halo of yellow bulbs'. Oh how charming, Patrick! 

Verdict:

I give this book 10/9

4/3 for characters (yes, I know): But Patrick! HOW CAN YOU SAY NO TO PATRICK?! If you can, I'm sorry - we can't be friends. Ever. Patrick is everything that is right with life. 

100% for themes: I absolutely love his optimism even though the world he knows shatters around him in fire and war and death. He remains positive and strikes his pink heels at the ground towards London - without a single penny to his name. 

100% for storyline: The charming Patrick leaves nothing out and contains us within his world only long enough to be able to let us get back to our own lives. He's a perfect hero in the form of a better woman than I will ever be! I feel somewhat sentimental towards Patrick because of his story and regularly like the re-read the book - just to check up on him. 

P.S - Back in 2005 I fell in love with Cillian Murphy because of this film. This and Red Eye. Is that weird?