My favorite book, I think.
It's about a poor kid that grows up in Ireland. It sounds boring, but it's the best damn book I've read in a really long time.
My favorite part is when the main character, Frank, and one of his friends get to know this kid who's family members keep dieing of Tuberculosis. And ever time this kid's family members die of it, he gets a week off of school and comes back to brag about all the good food he got to eat(Most families were too poor to even buy food for dinner, but when somebody died they always could find the money to buy sweets for some reason o_O; ). And the kid's sister has caught Tuberculosis, but it's the month before school gets out, so he tells Frank and Frank's friend that if they all pray to god, and ask him to kill his sister, that he'll invite Frank and the other kid to the funeral.
Well.
They pray, and pray, and pray, until finally, the girl dies. And Frank and his friend, when they find out, go to the house of the boy who's sister has died, and when they knock on the door, an aunt answers, and won't let them come in to attend the funeral and eat sweets.
So Frank and his friend ask god to kill the kid.
They pray and pray and pray, until finally, the kid dies in the middle of the summer. And Frank concludes that part by saying: "That'll teach him, he died in the middle of the summer! So he didn't even get a week off."
