Hello and Goodbye

by Patrick McCabe

Welcome to Hello and Goodbye: two dark tales from two deceased narrators – bottled-lightning treats that will make you gasp, gurn, shiver and squirm.

HELLO MR BONES: two damaged souls have, thanks to each other’s love, turned their lives around. But as London’s weather takes a turn for the worse, so do their fates, when raw evil runs riot the night of the impossible hurricane.

GOODBYE MR RAT: an IRA bomber watches over his ex-lover as she takes his ashes back to his rural hometown. This girl from northern Indiana may not be ready for rural Ireland, yet the townsfolk of Iron Valley certainly have plans for her…

Stark, blackly humourous and compressed to the point of detonation; McCabe writes like M. R. James took a dread wrong turning on an Irish country road.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Ireland

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Patrick McCabe came to prominence with the publication of his third adult novel, The Butcher Boy, in 1992; the book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in Britain and won the Irish Times-Aer Lingus Prize for fiction. McCabe's strength as an author lies in his ability to probe behind the veneer of respectability and conformity to reveal the brutality and the cloying and corrupting stagnation of Irish small-town life, but he is able to find compassion for the subjects of his fiction. His prose has a vitality and an anti-authoritarian bent, using everyday language to deconstruct the ideologies at work in Ireland between the early 1960s and the late 1970s. His books can be read as a plea for a pluralistic Irish culture that can encompass the past without being dominated by it.

McCabe is an Irish writer of mostly dark and violent novels of contemporary, often small-town, Ireland. His novels include The Butcher Boy (1992) and Breakfast on Pluto (1998), both shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He has also written a children's book (The Adventures of Shay Mouse) and several radio plays broadcast by the RTÉ and the BBC Radio 4. The Butcher Boy and Breakfast on Pluto have both been adapted into films by Irish director Neil Jordan.

McCabe lives in Clones, Co. Monaghan with his wife and two daughters.

Pat McCabe is also credited with having invented the "Bog Gothic" genre.

Reviews

[Newly Wardell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan. Not horrible, uneventful. all that lovely tension and then nothing. Not a bad read great use of English but the both plots were lacking. And how in one story ghost can possess and seek revenge yet in the very next it's a spectator? Its like a leap to think anyone outside a movement would romanticize terrorism. I hate how dumb Americans gotta be in these stories

[Victoria-Melita Zammit · Rating 3 out of 5]

What had originally struck me about this book was its cover. The book is made up of two stories, what McCabe calls ‘Twin epistles of Gothic dread that will turn your world upside down’. The stories aren’t printed in a standard ‘one-follows-the-other’ way, but rather in a mirror of each other. One side of the book opens on Hello Mr. Bones, but if you were to flip the book upside down and turn it around, you’d find the opening to Goodbye Mr. Rat. The cover art is wonderful, and the stories themselves are just as eerie and creepy and confusing as the tag-line promises.

Both stories feature Irish main characters, who remember the height of the Troubles in the 50s and 60s. One story, Hello Mr. Bones, focuses on the emotional scars that abuse of any kind leaves behind – even when the person is long dead and gone – while Goodbye Mr. Rat focuses on feelings of guilt, and how you can never really shake them off, even beyond the grave.

Hello Mr. Bones

Following a certain Valentine Shannon, the story is told from the point of view of a rather eccentric, very dead man named Balthazar Bowen. Balthazar has been dead for a while, it seems, but this isn’t stopping him at all from exacting his revenge on Valentine, who led to his untimely demise – both metaphorically and literally. Balthazar seems to be some kind of puppet master, as he is perfectly capable of orchestrating Valentine’s strangest and most unsettling evening of his life, making sure that his vengeance lasts a life time.

While the story had it’s beautifully supernatural moments, and was grounded in some form of historical accuracy – the Michael Fish Hurricane controversy of 1987 takes center stage in the narrative – the language that the narrator used was incredibly daunting to get through. He paused and broke sentences in awkward moments – with full stops, no less – and used bombastic language that made me tired while reading it.

The story also felt a bit like it was trying too hard to be mysterious, which left me with a weird taste in my mouth. While I get the appeal in the Gothic (I remember the time it was a meme on tumblr, and loved reading them as much as the next person), and have always been a fan of the whole Welcome to Night Vale vibe, the whole thing felt like it was trying way too hard to give off the same vibe. We’re never given a straight answer about anything – Was Bailey real, or not? Was Bowen really all those people at once? Was Chris really the victim of child abuse? Was Valentine lying, or not?

Ultimately, if I had to pick between this one, or the other story, I’d pick the second.

Goodbye Mr. Rat

Let me just start by saying I absolutely loved reading this one. Like, no doubt about it.

Gabriel King is the narrator and protagonist of this story – he is also, much like Balthazar, very much dead. He’s speaking to us from a pile of ashes – his pile of ashes – that are being carried over from North America to Ireland, so that his ashes may be scattered in his homeland of the Iron Valley, by his best friend (and love of his life), Beni Banikin. Beni, unfortunately, isn’t to have a very good time on this little quest that she promised her late friend she would go through with.

While it lacks the very blatant supernatural feeling that the previous story did, this one does play a lot with your mind. The inhabitants of the Iron Valley all seem to know Beni’s name, even though this is just the first time they’ve met her (now that’s a proper Modern Gothic feeling). Beni’s reality is blurred by visions of previous misfortunes in her life, including abuse and rape, and it’s no surprise that we slowly have to watch her deteriorate in a very unsettling (and ultimately, dramatic) way. Gabriel King, lacking the ‘puppet master’ quality that Balthazar had, can only sit back and watch it all happen.

The narrative is also interspersed with memories from Gabriel’s time as a rebel during the Anglo-Irish conflicts, but the whole thing is thrown into serious doubt towards the end when you’re left with more questions (though not as much as Hello Mr. Bones leaves unanswered) – Was Gabriel lying about Africa? The hunger strike? The fact that he wasn’t involved in the murder of a family?

The whole story really plays on the guilt that any war brings to those who survive, and also makes a very important point about legacy, and what it does to the people we leave behind.

Final rating: 3/5 – honestly, while one story shone more than the other to me, it wasn’t a total waste of my time. However, I wouldn’t readily recommend this to just anyone.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I stumbled across this in the library and was intrigued by the premise of the two stories but sadly it didn't quite live up to what I was expecting. There were some really humorous bits in each story that did make me chuckle but on the whole McCabe's writing style just went over my head a bit and I found myself a little lost. Hello Mr Bones in particular was rather confusing as I was never sure (and I'm still not) who Mr Bones was and what purpose he really served. I think that if you enjoy a more abstract style of writing this would be perfect for you but sadly it is just not really for me.

[Mermaid Undine · Rating 1 out of 5]

nothing really very wrong with this book, other than the style wasn't for me, i just found it hard to read. Premise of the book sounded interesting so maybe i'll come back to it one day. or maybe not.

[Rachel Gilbey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book out just in time for Halloween. Suitably scary.

[Craig White · Rating 5 out of 5]

patrick mccabe is undoubtedly the master of irish gothic, and in my opinion, along with james kelman, the finest living writer in the british isles. no faint praise, i think he is able to get under the reader's skin, and into their psyche like very few others. you know the small and ridiculous things that you think of, but you would be afraid to admit to? well, patrick mccabe is unafraid to bring these to the surface, and use in a way that will both thrill you and appall you. i don't feel as though i have read a mccabe book until i have done so twice, and have done with each of his novels from 'the butcher boy' onwards. there is so much further detail to be enjoyed by this, i feel. to be able to sit naive, child(ish)like, nursery rhyme innocence directly beside the most brutal, spiteful, avenging acts and thoughts of cruelty, is indeed a rare skill. as is the one that takes you to everywhere he writes of. very vivid in description.
although this book comes as two story package, they are both available separately, and either way would work, but i would prefer to keep them together. it's easier to keep an eye on them that way, i wouldn't like them to run loose and misbehave!
the connecting factor is that both stories here are narrated by the dead, and in both cases, the evil dead, such is the malice localised in both. it wouldn't matter in which order these were read, but 'hello mr bones' is the first, and centres on one valentine shannon, previous victim of child abuse, forcing his abuser into suicide by blowing the whistle on him, and now having found happiness in finding love with a woman with her own issues and a learning disabled son, is about to feel the wrath of mr bones from beyond the grave, incorporating the terrible storm of 1987 to complete the scene. his new love and her child are not exempt either. an absolute chiller.
'goodbye mr rat' concerns the inhabitant of a funeral urn, the ash remains of i.r.a. hero?/villain?/hero?/villain?, gabriel king, returning to his home town couriered by his american girlfriend, narrating the tale. there are more twists and turns regarding the status of the storyteller as the story commences, and that coupled with the abysmal treatment meted out to the girlfriend by king's former friends and associates, draws you into how this dreadful situation can possibly be resolved to anyone's benefit. a terrible, terrible saga. it is absolutely brilliant, and indicative of the depths of depravity that can be dredged by the human soul, and also patrick mccabe's genius in putting it in front of us.
as with all his books, utterly compelling material from a master of more than one art.

[saranimals · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the writing style. Great storytelling though the endings dragged on a bit and ultimately seemed anticlimactic. Would definitely read more from this author though.

[Michelle Gaudet · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 stars on hello, 4 on goodbye

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two novellas in one book.
Ive read Mr.Bones and found it to be a very well written story on damaged souls

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two novellas featuring dead narrators. The cover is fantastic, and is what first attracted me. The premise is interesting, and I was excited to start reading.

I loved the vocabulary throughout the two stories, and the cadence of the narration. Beyond that, the stories were a struggle. They felt disjointed, and I found myself re-reading passages/pages to try to figure out what I had missed. Unfortunately, the answer turned out to be nothing. The story would clear a few pages after the initial confusion, which was extremely frustrating. I’m not sure if this was meant to heighten the creepy/sinister aspects of the stories, but it didn’t work for me.

2 out of 5. I loved the vocabulary, but the stories fell flat.

https://messycountersandflouredpaperb...

[Chris Wharton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember liking The Butcher Boy and The Dead School from the mid-‘90s but had forgotten how weird and nasty McCabe’s sociopaths can be. Here, I found Hello Mr. Bones just weirdly creepy without fully drawn characters or context. But in Goodbye Mr. Rat, the Irish characters come from a background of sectarian killings, prison, and IRA hunger strikes; an American is a survivor of a gothically abusive childhood; and the Irish and U.S. settings meld elements of high-brow literary culture and low-brow popular culture. It concludes in an insane eruption of vengeful hatreds and jealousies. Strong writing in both.

[Gar · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is two stories call Hello Mr Bones and Goodbye Mr Rat. Each story starts off okay with telling the tail of the character's life and then the books just go weird as there some ghost or spirt out to get revenge on the character's.
The flow the stories are disjointed and I found I have to re-read pages to see if I missed something and then it make sense a few pages later.

I would avoid this book and the only reason I read it was because I bought it. I have read some Patrick McCabe other book's and have enjoyed them.

[Kassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the both stories extremely intriguing but I really struggled with the writing style, it was awfully disjointed and became confusing at times.

The cover of the book is pretty cool, which is what made me pick it up in the first place. Interesting read anyway.

[Sarah]

I only read the first story, Goodbye Mr. Bones. It was difficult for me to follow and I am not familiar with the writing style. I can't even bring myself to read the second story. I liked the topic and general plotline of the story but I was left with too many holes and questions to enjoy it.

[Michalina Jakubczak · Rating 2 out of 5]

The style of writing was very confusing and the story very complex - seemed like it was building up to a very witty ending but then it just never happened. Interesting premise but rather bad execution.

[John Mulholland · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have liked all the McCabe books prior to this but just could not get into this book. The style is completly different than past books. Just did not like this story at all.

[Mark Woods · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have, ashamedly, never read this author and I think I may have erred in my decision to start with this. Someone recommend a better place to start because this left me cold,

[MissConfusion17 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful, didn't even bother to finish it

[Janet · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was the book of the month at my library, I have to say this has to be the worst book I have read. I gave up after 100 pages.

[Joe Hudson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. I persevered through the first story (Hello Mr Bones) but I lacked enthusiasm to start the second. Perhaps the genre and style just isn't my cup of tea.

[Say · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was classic McCabe although I wasn't as enamoured with it as some others of his I have read. Felt it was a little 'samey' for my liking.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Goodbye was much better than the Hello. I liked McCabe's writing, so would be interested in reading something else. But the overall impact of the novellas was a bit weak.

[Kirsty McCracken · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5*. Review on blog. Link in bio.

[Gert de Jager · Rating 5 out of 5]

superb as always Patrick McCabe