The Boy

by Naeem Murr

Book Overview

Who is the boy? And whose body lies beneath a sheet of blue tarpaulin in the basement of a derelict brewery? The discovery of a chilling diary sends Sean Hennessy, once a foster father to the boy, on... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395957907
• ISBN13: 9780395957905
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

My favourite book

I love this Book and I love the character of the BOY. He is so interesting, hunting and emotional.Mr. Naeem Murr you have written the best book!!!!!!I love It!!!!!!

Black and brilliant, but...

I came across this quite extraordinary novel by Naeem Murr while looking through some books by Iris Murdoch; which is to say, accidentally or, put in a happier light, fortuitously. I was intrigued by its title, the description on the back cover, the fact that The New York Times listed it as a notable book and, especially, its opening lines. In fact, the first chapter promised a novel of an unusual degree of finish and ingenuity. Broadly, the book tells the story of a teenage male prostitute (or rent-boy, to use the deliciously apt descriptor favored by the author) and the devastation he brings to the people around him. Said people are, primarily, Sean, his (foster) father, who spends the book searching for him; Megan, his step-sister; Ronan, Theresa, and Caitlin, caretakers at a home for boys where he lived; and a wonderfully drawn character called the Fatman (a cunning reference to the bomb dropped on Japan during World War II?), with whom the boy is having an affair. The boy may be pure evil, but the tragedy of the story derives from the emptiness of the lives of the people around him. Each one is seeking to fill a need and, so, finds him attractive in their own way (although we are told repeatedly that the boy is beautiful): for Sean the attraction is primarily familial, for Megan it is (for lack of a better term) psychological (she suffers from clinical depression), for Ronan it is sexual, for Theresa it is religious, and for the Fatman it is emotional. But even though the boy is an instrument of nothing but death and ruin, the characters are convinced that, without him, their lives would hardly be worth living: Faulkner once wrote that, forced to choose between grief and nothing, he would choose grief.The book is not perfect. Although the writing and plotting are extraordinary, some passages are (as the British would say) too clever by half. The male characters emerge as much more fully drawn than the female characters. In particular, the character of Ricky, the 12-year-old rent-boy with a cold sore under his nose and a head too large for his body, and whose greatest fantasy is to convince people that his mother works as a make-up artist (or is it a hair stylist?) for the BBC, is supremely touching. On the other hand, Theresa, Caitlin, and Megan too often emerge as caricatures, and the dialogue between Sean and Caitlin, who develop a relationship of their own, has a cutesy awfulness out of keeping with the rest of the book. The conclusion, while dramatically satisfying (in fact, the lengthy final chapter represents some of the most sustainedly dramatic writing in the novel), is not (quite) intellectually convincing: while the final act that Sean commits is understandable given the circumstances, nothing in the 200-some-odd pages that preceded it led me to expect it could really happen. And yet, the most devastating moment of all comes just before the end. Sean, confronting the boy about something that occurred between him and his half-brothe

Emotional noir dazzler!

Once every two or three years I read a book so good that I find myself holding my breath. This is a first novel by someone I've been searching the web for more info about ever since I got my breath back. If you want to see just how fine writing can be and be mesmerised by somethings beyond your comprehension, grab this book and start turning pages. Mr. Murr, God bless you! Please write another book even if it hurts!

mythical

This is a book that will move you in ways, funny ways, long after you read it. It will reoccur as you walk in the street and look at the passing people. It is about the secrets we keep within us, the conflicting desires we have for those around us and the longing of each person for home and what happens when this is denied. It is a book about identity, lost and found, and the writing is spare and elegant as the dust motes filtering down the hollowed out cavern of the building where the book starts with a body that is as yet unnamed.

A haunting novel about an innocent boy who is pure evil

I first saw "The Boy" in the local library, and it was the cover which caught my attention. It was a picture of a young boy with a haunting look about him that forced me to find and read the book. It is one of the best and most captivating books I have read. The Boy is both good and evil, straight and gay, friend and foe. He has control over all whom enter his spell, even the reader. The Boy's innocence makes his evil side even more evil, he uses others, affected by his trance, to carry out his plans. Naeem's imagery in the sceens with the fat man are almost too believable. I would recomend this book to anyone with a fascination of the phychology of youth or anyone who thinks little boys are just cute and innocent.