Shortlisted for the 1992 Booker Prize.
Winner of the
Irish Times-Aer Lingus Literature Prize for Fiction.
"An almost perfect novel...A Beckett monologue with plot by Alfred Hitchcock...Startlingly original."
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The Washington Post Book World "Stunning...part Huck Finn, part Holden Caufield, part Hannibal Lecter."
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The New York Times Book Review "Brilliant, unique. Patrick McCabe pushes your head through the book and you come out the other end gasping, admiring, and knowing that reading fiction will never be the same again. It's the best Irish novel I've read in years."
–Roddy Doyle, author of
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha "A chilling tale of a child's hell...often screamingly funny...the book has a compelling and terrible beauty."
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The Boston Globe "Lyrical and disturbing, horrific and hilarious."
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The New York Times "Patrick McCabe is an outstanding writer.
The Butcher Boy is fearful, original, compelling and very hard to put out of your mind. American readers should pay close attention to this man."
–Thomas McGuane
