Blurb
An
anthology of the very best Irish short stories, selected by Sinead Gleeson,
author of Constellations.
There have been many anthologies of the short
story as it developed in Ireland, but never a collection like this.
The Art of the Glimpse is a radical revision of
the canon of the Irish story, uniting classic works with neglected writers and
marginalised voices - women, LGBT writers, Traveller folk-tales, lost
19th-century voices and the first wave of 'new Irish' writers from elsewhere
now making a life in Ireland. Sinead Gleeson brings together stories ranging
from the sublime to the downright bizarre, from classics to the new generation
of writers, and from well known names to previously unpublished talent.
The collection paints a tremendous spectrum of
experience: the story of a prank come good by Bram Stoker; Sally Rooney on the
love languages of the new generation; Donal Ryan on the pains of ageing; Edna
O'Brien on political entanglements; James Joyce on losing a loved one; and the
internal monologue of a coma sufferer by Marian Keyes.
My thoughts
#100DaysofTheArtofTheGlimpse
This read is going to be something of an
experiment. In general, I’m not a huge fan of short stories and I wonder if
reading 100 of them, over 100 consecutive days will change my mind. Is reading
shorts an acquired skill or just a matter of taste? I should be able to answer
that question early April.
Having said that, I’m excited about
reading stories by 100 authors, some of whom I’ve read before and loved or not,
others I’ve heard about but never investigated, and another cohort I’ve never
even heard of.
In more ways than one, reading The Art
of the Glimpse will be a voyage of discovery for me.
“An
anthology is a gift: a gathering of possibilities, and an opportunity to be
converted into an avid completist of a writer’s work that may have otherwise
escaped you.” – Sinead Gleeson
December 25th.
The
Quest by Leland Bardwell
A mother
visits the son she gave up (was forced to give up) for adoption when she was
sixteen. She doesn’t appear too curious about him, or overly eager to meet him.
The reason he invited her only becomes clear near the end of the story; she’s
not the witch he imagined her to be.
The saddest
part of this story, for me, was the lack of emotion on the page and it makes me
wonder; was she really as unaffected by giving up her son as her words seem to
imply or is that a myth she’s made herself believe?
December 26th
A
Lingering Guest by Jane Barlow
This story
made me smile while it broke my heart. It’s devastating to think that Ireland
at the time was such a bleak please that an old woman would lie and pretend to
be death to ensure a young granddaughter might willingly move to New York where
she’d have better chances. At the same time, the love that must have inspired
the old woman’s actions is heart-warming. I did stumble over the phonetic
spelling at times, but most of it was clear enough for me.
December 27th
Stand
Your Skin by Colin Barrett
This story
was thoroughly heart-breaking and open-ended. What happened to Bat? Nothing?
Did his mother’s worse fear come true?
Whatever
happened, whatever it is we’re not told, Bat’s story was devasting; a man lost
in life, resigned to the blows and pain, relying on bad substitutes to control
his pain. Without ambition and fully expecting to be disappointed, his story
left me wishing for a longer version in which someone or something restores him
to his full potential.
December 28
Men
are Never God’s Creatures by Margaret Barrington.
I’m starting
to wonder if short stories and I don’t mix. If that’s true it has nothing to do
with the stories, I fear, and everything with me being unable to grasp the
nuances.
I enjoyed
this tale well enough. The ‘battle for power’ between church and the town
amused me, even if I have a hard time imagining what it might be like to live
in a world where priests (think they) have such power and wield it. But, I’m
not sure how Jerry’s appearance, which very much is made off (both his beauty
when seen from behind and the lack of it when face to face) has any relevance.
In fact, I’m not sure how the constituent parts of this story fit together.
Each on their own were fascinating, but all together, they failed to add up for
me.
After
reading other people’s thoughts on this story I fear that I may have missed
something. It wouldn’t surprise me. Even after twenty-five years in Ireland
there are still quite a few nuances that escape me.
December 29
The
Girls and the Dogs by Kevin Barry
“Things
had gone wrong in Cork and then they went wronger again.”
And to be
perfectly honest, things do not improve once our fugitive reaches Gort and Evan
the Head. In a literal sense, this is the darkest story in the anthology so
far. It is also the most straightforward short so far which makes the dark
easier to deal with than the undercurrents I encountered in the earlier tales.
On a side
note, it never ceases to amaze me how sentences that would have my editors
screaming at me, make it through the editing process with larger publishers.
Although, in this story that may be because of the first-person narrative,
because the writing style does perfectly match the characters as I perceived
them.
December 30th
Ping
by Samuel Beckett
I haven’t a
notion what I just read. Is it a metaphor for the vagueries of memory? The only
reason I suggest this is because at some point I thought ‘this is a bit how
recollections work; they arrive in bits and pieces, adding and subtracting
details as we focus on them. Then the word memory popped up in the story and I
figured maybe I got it right.
Then again,
the above may well be pure nonsense. Most of all this story read like a
collection of words I all recognised that failed to make sense of the sentences
they were forced into.
December 31st
After
the Wake by Brendan Behan
I knew it
was going to happen sooner or later, it invariably does when I read short
stories, but this was the first time in this anthology that I wished for more
when the story ended. The ‘what happened next’ question is forceful, and I will
never know.
I’m not
surprised this story wasn’t published until relatively recently. The homoeroticism
is neither understated nor hidden. It is a side to Brendan Behan I was unaware
of until now, and I wonder if I should have picked up on it in other work by
him.
But, despite
my wish for more this is the first story that was perfectly clear for me and
didn’t leave me wondering either what I’d just read or how I was supposed to
interpret what I’d just read.
January 1st.
Over
and Done With by Claire-Louise Bennett
The atmosphere
of this one is dark, to me. The dislike of Christmas, the eagerness to get rid
of it, and the regret about having it brought into the house at all, in the
form of holly, all speak of an event that should have been ignored. As to why
that should be the case, I have absolutely no idea. The words used are too big
and sad for something as a simple dislike of Christmas.
January 2nd
Holland
Park by Maeve Binchy
A Maeve
Binchy story. It’s like revisiting an old and dear friend. Binchy was the first
Irish author I knowingly read. It was she who introduced me to the word
‘eejit’. At the time I had to say it out loud before I realised what it meant. 😊
Holland Park
shines with her trademark insights into people. She can put a fully fleshed
character in front of her readers with just a few pen strokes and yet the image
is so vivid it is as if she’s writing about somebody you’ve met not too long
ago. I haven’t got a lot more to say. Binchy is a writing hero of mine and will
remain so until the day I stop reading.
First
published in 1978. Yes, I did go and check. Driving after three stiff drinks made
me.
January 3rd
Scaphism
by Blindboy Boatclub
There are
dark stories and then there is Scaphism by Blindboy Boatclub. I’d never heard about
Scaphism, and to be honest, I now wish that was still the case.
Having said
that, I can picture myself inspecting the bottom of men’s pants when they exit
the loo from now on.
January 4th
Ann
Lee’s by Elizabeth Bowen
Oh my. I fear I’m just not good enough at reading between the lines. I’m sure there’s a
point to this story, besides a shopping trip for hats. I’m equally sure the man
who interrupts proceedings indicates something significant. Is the implication
that Ann is not just a milliner? And is the man who runs by them in the fog the
same man? If so, what terrible thing has happened?
Having said
all of that. I read the whole shopping trip with a high level of both amusement
and bemusement; the obsession with the right hat is so far outside my range of
experiences it could have been written centuries ago, which of course this
story wasn’t.
January 5th
Concerning
Virgins by Clare Boylan
A most
wonderful fable with a ‘careful what you wish for’ and a ‘she who laughs last
laughs best’ theme. There’s something delicious about a man who’s spent his life
diminishing women getting his comeuppance from the women he hurt most.
January 6th
The
Morning After the Big Fire by Maeve Brennan
More a
reminiscence than a fictional story? Not that it matters. It wonderfully
captures the world view of a young child who can not yet comprehend the horror
of a large fire but relishes the excitement such an event brings to an
otherwise mostly unremarkable daily routine.
January 7th
Leitrim
Flip by June Caldwell
Well now, I
honestly don’t know what to say about this story except that it is a BDSM tale
unlike any I’ve read before (and I have read a few in my time). Definitely not
a romantic depiction of dominance and submission. 😊
January 8th
Here
We Are by Lucy Caldwell
"There are times in your life, or maybe just
the one time, when you find yourself in the right place, the only place you
could possibly be, and with the only person."
A story about first (lesbian) love, the huge
emotions accompanying it, and how your first never really leaves.
January 9th
The Wee Gray Woman by Ethna Carbery
A deeply sad tale
about a man who, for reasons best known to himself, ends up causing the death
of the girl he loves in a bout of unreasonableness.
Very much of its time in that it
states things like:
"The little one-roomed cabin was
tidy as a woman might have kept it."
Which just goes to show that double
standards are nothing new. While women keep the place tidy, they also get send
out to mind the calves if the man of the house decides as much.
January 10th
Children’s Children by Jan Carson
I may be wrong (but I don’t think I
am), but this reads coming together of a woman from ‘the south’ and a man from
‘the north’ reads as a metaphor for the island of Ireland and the difficulties
people from both sides of the border have seeing the similarities because all
they’ve ever focussed on are the differences. In fact, it is a wonderful
example of how short-sighted and silly the whole us vs. them mindset is.
January 11th
One Word by Juanita Casey
I have absolutely no idea what this
story was about unless it is an illustration of how numbing and futile life can
be. It is possible that the abuse of the donkeys, were named after the two men Miss
Judith Dannaher didn’t marry, was supposed to be funny as well as an indication
of her desperation, but really, I just saw a woman hurting a mostly harmless
animal.
January 12th
Beatrice by Evelyn Conlon
“Why am I doing this? To hear myself
described in a new way, that’s it.”
The exciting start, uncomfortable
middle, and inevitable demise of an affair. A variation on the ‘grass is always
greener’ theme, proving that most of the time, the greenness is only visible at
first glance before we take a good look.
January 13th
A Family Occasion by Emma Cooke
Ah, this was lovely. Description of a
family gathering when the two daughters who live and work in London come home
for their annual visit. Mention is made of differences between the siblings and
religious tension but in the end, family is family and they all look out for
each other. As I said, lovely. And given the day that’s in it (Mother and Baby
Homes Report), a story about a family that doesn’t allow differences to stand
in the way of love and connection is just what I needed.
January 14th
The Awakening by Daniel Corkery
A coming-of-age story? A young(ish)
man is handed control over the family’s fishing boat when the old captain,
who’s been in charge ever since the younger’s father died, decides to retire. His
delight is tempered by the eventual realisation that despite the captain’s
jovial mood and words, the older man is sad to leave his old life behind.
Beautiful descriptions of the sea and
fishing as the youngish lad fully recognises those for the first time.
January 15th
Sleeping With a Stranger by Mary
Costello
Nowhere near as exciting as the title
suggests at first, this story portrays a man reflecting on his life and
marriage as his mother dies. A sad reflection on a life perceived as
unfulfilled.
“They had children because they could
not be childless; childlessness would have amplified the loneliness of
marriage.”
January 16th
The Vocation by Kathleen Coyle
A very sad tale about a husband and
wife after their only son leaves to become a priest without talking to his dad
first. Simon, the husband, firmly places the blame on his wife but I can’t help
thinking that if you’re going to make the raising of children the exclusive
duty of women, you don’t have the right to complain.
January 17th
A Swim by Elizabeth Cullinan
“All along they’d been outside the truth, just as they’d been outside
love, and now the truth, like love, would not let them in.”
This story made me sad. Sad because
of everything the (Irish) man and (American) woman don’t have and aren’t. Sad
because the woman appears to be on a mission to save the man from something
(himself?). Sad because by the end of the day the distance between them is
bigger than it was when they arrived at the beach in Portmarnock. Did I imagine
the superiority the woman seems to feel? I did love the man observing that while the Irish have a reputation for being prudish, they are a
lot more carefree than Americans when it comes to changing on the beach. That’s
still true. No matter how Catholic the Irish are supposed to be, they can be
surprisingly liberal when push comes to shove.
January 18th
Yew Tree Tharsp Sharko by Oein DeBhairduin
A story about grief as well as a
myth/folk tale about the origin of yew trees with an important conclusion:
This tale reminds me that grief can bind us into a rigid loss if we
stand in it for too long. If we become unmoving, unexploring of the world and
unwanting of the company and kindness of others, we too risk becoming the
lonely yew in the graveyard, so lost in our own grief, that we lose ourselves.
January 19th
The Beautiful Thing by Kit de Waal
“I met my father in 1969 when I was ten, I don’t mean we were estranged;
he lived with us, I saw him everyday. But one evening, at the kitchen table,
while he polished his heavy winter boots, he started talking about coming to
England and the day he got off the boat and I saw then he had a life that
stretched back before I was born. So that’s how I met him […].
Reading this story left me with the
impression that Kit de Waal’s father is (was?) a very special human being. His
message to his ten-year-old daughter is one we would all be well advised to
heed:
“And don’t be angry. If you look, you will always find a beautiful
thing.”
January 20th
Speaking in Tongues by Emma Donoghue
Clever title, referring to kissing in
this story about two women. There’s a bit of an age gap and a lot of
attraction. Since the story is told from both perspectives, it is also the
clearest proof ever that assuming is never wise and communication is important
if you want to reach correct conclusions.
January 21st
The Husband by Mary Dorcey
A wife, leaving her husband for
another woman and the man’s attempts to cope and deal with it. Is he lying to
himself? Is the situation so hurtful that he refuses to face reality and seeks
refuge in denial, or is he right? We will never know since we don’t get his
wife’s perspective and the story ends with her leaving and him believing that
she will be back.
January 22nd
The Pram by Roddy Doyle
Man, this is dark. Superstition
combined with resentment makes for a stark story. And, because Roddy Doyle
wrote the words, this is unsettling easy to read for something so sinister.
January 23rd
Teatro La Fenice by Christine Dwyer
Hickey
(This story won the Observer Short
Story Competition.)
This tale left me sad. Two ‘old’ ladies
in what appears to be a care home with the narrator doing what she can to stop
people from noticing her, afraid of ending up on the locked ward where those
who’s minds have given up the ghost stay. Are they friends or together because
there is nobody else? What remains when all that’s left is memories and those
are fading?
January 24th
Virgin Soil by George Egerton
A very stark reminder of what the
world was like for women until not too long ago, still is in (too) many places.
Where norms and shame forced a disastrous innocence on women until it was,
often horrifically, shattered on their wedding night. Is it strength,
desperation, or both that gave her the courage to walk away?
January 25th
Revenge by Anne Enright
How appropriate to reading in times
of Covid to find a story in which the main character works for a firm
manufacturing rubber gloves. Which is a surprising start for a story about a
couple deciding to try out swinging, mostly because the husband has committed
adultery and the wife thinks this would constitute her revenge. Of course,
nothing works as she plans, and the story comes full circle with a wet patch in
the bed taking her back to the rubber protective layer she used to have on her
bed as a child. The whole tale left me feeling sad about relationships.
January 26th
Dishonoring the dead by Chiamaka
Enyi-Amadi
A funeral
Beloved parents gone
And a family torn apart.
Love’s illusion dead
As illusion stakes its claim.
The living have no use for what the dead have to offer
And the dead have no use for what the living claim to offer.
January 27th
77 Pop Facts You Didn’t Know About
Gil Courtney by Wendy Erskine
I’m a bit lost about this one. It is
exactly what it says in the title, a list of 77 facts. It does paint a picture
of Gil Courtney, but since I had never heard of him and am not familiar with
this music, it was mostly meaningless, as in, I’m not sure why anyone would
want to compile this list.
January 28th
Sojourn by Elaine Feeney
Once again not entirely sure what’s
going on. Is this a couple trying to salvage something or about to split up? If
the problem is his cheating, then who is Richard? But, no amount of confusion
could dim the glorious beauty of the language used, especially when describing
water.
January 29th
Hump by Nicole Flattery
Not a fucking clue.
January 30th
I Don’t by Lauren Foley
There’s a lot going on here. At first
glance, this is a confusing trip into the head of a woman who is either
desperately ill or dealing with desperate mental health issues. But in the
middle of the mental chaos, there are references to doctors ignoring women, not
listening to women, talking over and about rather than with women, and misdiagnosing
women as a result. The frustrating thing is that I’m almost sure there’s more
in this story, that I probably missed more than I found. The unsettling part is
that this read like a horror story to me. The tumult in the narrator’s head seriously
scared me.
January 31st
The Lovecats by Patrick Freyne
On the surface a rather mad tale
about two cats getting married, in a full-blown ceremony, after the Tomcat
gets the other feline pregnant and as such it is funny. But, underneath it is
also a tale about simple pleasures, about indulging others, just to make them
happy, and about unexpected opportunities to reconnect. I loved this one.
I wonder if short stories are just not for me. I fear I may be too invested in full stories, with a clear start, middle, and finish to appreciate these fragments, moments in time. I wonder what came before, what it was that created the object of the story and when it ends, I want to know more. The persistent thought that I’m just not getting it, that I’m missing something, doesn’t help.
February 1st
The Lady,
Vanishing by Mia Gallagher
Short and oh
so horrid and not just because of murder.
February 2nd
Badger by
Sarah Maria Griffin
I’m starting
to wonder if maybe I’m expecting too much from short stories. I liked this one.
I like that the identity of the elder sibling took me by surprise. I like the
obvious closeness between the two siblings. I am confused as to what the
discovery under the porch means or why knowing what it is makes the sound
acceptable. Is that the difference between a novel and a short story? That the
first spells the answers out whereas the second leaves the reader wondering?
February 3rd
The Homesick
Industry by Hugo Hamilton
If this story
is about anything besides the soul-destroying boredom of a job not loved, I
have missed it.
February 4th
Egress by
David Hayden
Egress – The
action of going out of or leaving a place.
The title
wasn’t the only thing that went over my head although that was the one issue easy
to resolve. I have no idea what happened here? Is this a suicide and a
description of a life flashing before the ‘victim’s’ eyes? Your guess is as
good as mine (probably better, if I’m honest).
February 5th
Reprieve by
Dermot Healy
Once again,
I’m not sure what exactly this story is about. A woman makes a momentous
decision (hysterectomy?). Had the story been set in the Netherlands, I might
have guessed euthanasia. Since this is Ireland, that won’t be it. But, if the
story is the time leading up to an operation, what exactly is the reprieve?
February 6th
Nine Years is
a Long Time by Norah Hoult
Full story
with a lot going on. On the surface it’s all about a woman (middle-aged?)
coming to terms with the fact that the man she’s been seeing about once a month
for nine years probably won’t be coming back. It leaves her with a financial
dilemma but, probably much to her surprise, she’s also emotionally affected. There’s
more though. It’s about getting older. About bodies changing. About perceptions
and appearances. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.
February 7th
Standard
Deviation by Caoilinn Hughes
Once again,
I’m not entirely sure what this is about. I suspect however it’s all about the
time we live in now and how it makes people, especially the younger generation
who (barely) know life without social media and validation from strangers, look
at themselves, their actions, and appearance through other people’s eyes; more
worried about what other people’s reaction may be then how they themselves feel
about a situation. It’s a sad state of affairs really, isn’t it? People losing
themselves in order to live up to the expectations of others.
February 8th
Trio by
Jennifer Johnston
Tale of an
execution the victim almost misses because he’s late. No explanation as to the
why. The most chilling part was not the killing itself but the casual
conversation about childbirth one of the two assassins kept up. That, and the
fact that it’s written in such distant language that by the end, the shooting
almost felt like a non-event. Fascinating what words can do.
February 9th
A Love by Neil
Jordan
“As I remember you I define you, I choose bits of
you like a child with a colouring-book, I fill you out.”
A story about
a goodbye, about the us never being able to revisit the past, no matter how
hard we try. It is funny though how a story about memories made me reminiscence
too. Because despite the Irish setting I got a strong sense of Rob de Nijs
singing Het Werd Zomer from this story.
February 10th
Eveline by
James Joyce
Just goes to
show that I should never take anything as a given. There were so many stories
in this collection so far that I couldn’t really follow, that I was convinced a
story by James Joyce would surely join those ranks. I was wrong. I understood
this story all too well and it made my heart bleed for Eveline and the opportunity she doesn’t take.
February 11th
Antarctica by
Claire Keegan
It is no
coincidence that this story came after Eveline. From one woman who doesn’t make
a decision and foregoes the opportunity of changing her life for the better to
another woman whose life is good making a decision that will take her to her
personal vision of hell. Very well written though. The language plain and
simple and yet, that undercurrent of dread was there, from start to finish.
It is shocking that I made it until here before I realised that these stories are organised in alphabetical order by author surname. #MustPayMoreAttention. So, I guess I was right when I said the two previous stories following each other was no coincidence. I was, however, very wrong about the reason why that was the case.
February 12th
Drown Town by
Colm Keegan
“Coolness comes off us like a ready-brek glow.”
AKA, how not
to have a fun night out. I loved the direct, in your face language in this
story. I’m less charmed by the open ending though.
February 13th
The Intruders
by Rita Kelly
There’s a lot
of Irish in this story, which goes completely over my head, of course. Having
said that, I do wonder if learning to understand Irish properly (also) stands
for learning to communicate. We approach and comprehend language differently as
we get older, and this very much is a coming off age story set in an Irish, all
female boarding school. In such a setting, young and handsome teachers have a
lot to answer for.
February 14th
Hunger by
Louise Kennedy
The day Bobby Sands died as seen
through the eyes of a teenage Northern girl now living in the republic. If
anything, it proves that no matter what Southern people may say, the issues of
the North don’t live in the Republic's consciousness to the same extent. Although
the last paragraph indicates that at least some Northern Irish people might to
keep a distance from the politics too.
February 15th
Under by Marian Keyes
Such a quiet yet distressing tale. A
woman is in a coma and listens to her family imploring her to come back. She’s
no intention of returning to her life though, and we only learn why slowly…devastatingly.
Somehow Marian’s writing style, simple yet visual, quiet yet poignant, make Laura’s
plight so much harsher. The desire to die touched a nerve while the ending
filled me with both dread and hope. I can’t begin to tell you how badly I want
to know what happened next.
February 16th
Through the Fields in Gloves by
Benedict Kiely
I’m going to
assume this story is confused because the main character, with an obsession
about women who dress in his eyes flamboyantly, himself is confused. Painting
painted ladies…I guess it makes a weird kind of sense.
I can’t help wondering if Sinead Gleeson went out of her way to put
stories on the same theme together while also introducing the authors in
alphabetical order. That almost must be the case. Coincidence can only explain
so much.
February 17th
Sarah by Mary
Lavin
This story was
an easy and rather refreshing read until the very end. I’m not sure what I
expected but it wasn’t for a story about freedom turning into a story about
repression. I did not (want to?) see this ending coming and when it did, I wasn’t
happy.
February 18th
The Village
Bully by Sheridan Le Fanu
A wonderful
supernatural tale and, in contrast to the previous story, in this one justice
is done even if a bit postponed and at a very high cost. It’s good to see that
bullies were frowned upon long before modern times too.
February 19th
Me and the
Devil Eimear McBride
A devastating
story. There’s so much bad and sad in these few pages. The hypocritical priest,
the forbidden love, and consequences that will come, later if sooner isn’t
possible.
Heart-breaking,
but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to cheering a little about how it ended.
February 20th
Cancer by
Eugene McCabe
Now here’s a
title that fits several of the subjects touched upon in the story. Of course,
it describes the fate of one of the two bachelor brothers. But weren’t the
troubles a cancer on the land, and wouldn’t the Catholics have seen the English
army as an occupying cancer?
It feels like
another lifetime and yet, it’s not so very long ago.
February 21st
Thomas
Crumlesh, 1960 – 1992: A Retrospective by Mike McCormack
Oh my, while the
story is perfectly clear, I do wonder what to make of it. Is it a statement
about the often-obscure nature of modern art? About the lengths people may go
to in order to produce something original? Given my limited appreciation for
and understanding of modern art forms, I like that explanation and am sticking
to it. Although it remains a bizarre idea that a surgeon would be happy to perform
amputations until the point of death, just for the sake of art.
February 22nd
High Ground by
John McGahern
How I would
have loved to know the ending of this story. Did young Moran take the job and
replace the old headmaster? I like to think he didn’t, but that’s just my
optimism, maybe. A nice insight into (local) Irish politics though. I’d love to
say things have changed since then, but I’m not sure that’s the case.
Feb 23rd
Transmission
by Blánaid McKinney
A very good
short. What starts out as a madman acting out turns into a heartbreaking tale
of loss and an attempt to take back control of a life that appears to have lost
all meaning. Destruction of the very thing that has destroyed a life makes
perfect sense.
Feb 24th
Those that I
fight I Do Not Hate by Danielle McLaughlin
Kevin, persona
non grata, is present at a first communion party where he’s obviously not
wanted. Why he’s not wanted is never made clear although several options are
hinted at. Is it because he’s cheated with his hostess? Because he has a
problem with alcohol? Because he caused/was involved in a car accident? Whatever
it is, my opinion of him didn’t improve when he gave alcohol to the underage
daughter of his hosts and touched her leg.
Maybe I should look up the definition of a short story one of these
days. It is hard not to think that one of the requirements has to be
ambivalence as to content and/or ending.
Feb 25th
Walking the
Dog by Bernard McLaverty
Scary tale as
a man, out walking his dog, is picked up by a gunman with a car. Scary mostly
because I have no doubt shit like this happened. Scary.
Feb 26th
Exile’s Return
by Bryan MacMahon
This story did
not develop in the way I feared it might and that was a wonderful surprise.
Less cheerful is the subject of this story since it gives an insight into the
all but impossible venture of keeping a marriage together and working while one
of the partners is gone for years on end. The power of compromise is
everything.
Feb 27th
Sometimes on
Tuesdays by Janet McNeill
I may be wrong
but to me this read like a story about a man being selfish, only noticing the
problems the two women in his life have in so far as they reflect on him or
affect his life and comforts. Then again, aren’t we all guilty of that to some
extent at least?
Feb 28th
Hollow by Paul
McVeigh
A fairy tale
that seems to promise a happy ending until it goes absolutely horrid.
March 1st
A Shiver of
Hearts by Una Mannion
Simple and
devastating. A girl returns to Ireland (Sligo) from America every summer,
alone. Her mother was banished and refuses to return, no matter how much she
misses her home. The friend she makes falls pregnant. Nothing much has
changed; mothers still abandon their daughters when faced with premarital sex
and its consequences. ☹
March 2nd
Access by
Aidan Mathews
I’m not sure
if this is a sad story or not. A bit of both, maybe. A girl in her early teens
meets with her dad for their weekly time together. She feels she’s no longer a
child and too mature for certain words and actions only to discover, as we all
do, that while we do get older, we never stop being our father’s (and mother’s)
child.
March 3rd
Women are the
Scourge of the Earth
Harrowing
story told from the point of few of a man defending himself, presenting excuses
for something he has done to his wife. Classic abuser’s language. The woman was
unstable and ungrateful. Everything that happened to her was her own fault and
the whole world, but especially the women in his life, is against him.
Sickening to read…and disturbing because it’s unclear what he’s done to her
except to be rid of her now.
March 4th
Home Sickness
by George Moore
I feel this
story is mainly about the inability to go back combined with ‘the grass is
always greener’. Because while we can return to the place where we grew up, it
will never fit the memories we hold of it; memories which are far better than
reality could ever be. Self-censure is a beautiful but tricky thing.
March 5th
Divided
Attention by Mary Morrisy
This is an imaginative story about a
woman who uses the crank caller who’s bothering her at night to get over being
abandoned by her married lover. This is a rather inspired idea. Put two horrid
things together in order to create a new start. If you could organise it, I
could see this working as a form of therapy.
March 6th
The Deserter’s Song by Peter Murphy
A story out of time and place. It reads
as something about the Civil War, but burner phones and other mentions of more
modern items make that setting unlikely. Mostly the tale made me angry. I have
no time for blind obedience, and that is exactly what this story is about, with
horrific consequences.
March 7th
The Hungry Death by Rosa Mulholland
Innisbofin where pride (and what some
might call romantic notions) come before the fall in the harshest of manners. Mind
you, it was hard to feel much, if any, sympathy for Bridget, who threw it all
away because she wanted to feel special.
On a side note, I’m noticing that I’m, in general, enjoying the older
stories more than the more recent works and I wonder if that is because the
contemporary tales are more ambiguous as if these days a story must be
mysterious and open to various interpretations in order to be valued.
March 8th
Away from it All by Val Murkerns
The end of a relationship, and rightly
so. I’m glad to read a story in which the woman doesn’t make excuses for her
man’s inadequacies but instead allows herself to see them and come to the
(right conclusion). Timothy was a dick and almost certainly using her. Good
riddance!
Clever though how the author depicts
Timothy’s selfishness with very few words.
March 9th
Literary Lunch by Eilis NiDhuibhne
I really liked this one, despite its
darker theme. The frustrations of the unpublished, unsuccessful writer are
brilliantly explored and with devastating results. Mind you, I’m inclined to agree
that the Irish writers' world does often resemble a closed club with obscure initiation
rules. You only need to look at the reviews Irish authors leave for other Irish
authors to see the truth.
I just came across an Edna O’Brien quote about the male-dominated Irish
writing scene. Given the subject of ‘Literary Lunch’ and an Edna O’Brien story
coming up next, this seems the perfect place to share it: 'I
never dared enter those precincts, nor was I invited. Nor was that where I
wanted to be. I wrote alone.'
March 10th
A Journey be Edna O’Brien
Reflections on an affair and how it may
or may not continue. Two very different people. The ‘only’ thing connecting
them appears to be attraction. But he has a life, woman, and child elsewhere
and, by the time they part, she has no idea what, if anything will happen next.
This read like an observation, almost emotionless, and all the more powerful
for it.
March 11th
Two in One by Flann O’Brien
Very clever and equally horrific and
proof of a fabulous, be it morbid imagination. Two in One, indeed. A
taxidermist’s nightmare might be a good alternative title. This is one short
story that will stay with me for some time.
March 12th
The Road to Brightcity by MártÃn Ó Cadhain
Despite the somewhat upbeat ending,
when the arrival of the sun lifts Brid’s spirits, this was a rather dismal
story about the long road between home and market, the repetitiveness of daily
life, and the shadowy places our minds take us, especially while the world is
dark. Still, it was also a (timely) reminder to keep life in perspective. What we
perceive as hardships now is nothing compared to the lives people used to live
in Ireland and still live elsewhere in the world.
March 13th
The Man of the World by Frank O’Connor
Interesting. The man of the world in
question is a boy, one year older and from a better-off family than the
narrator. The secrets he shares are of a typical boyish nature and delivered
with an air of knowing supremacy. When the boy decides it doesn’t sit right
with him he puts that down to God, while I suspect it’s more a matter of him
growing up and learning that just because something is possible doesn’t mean it
should be done. Which, of course, makes him a faster learner than his older
friend.
March 14th
Ailsa by Joseph O’Connor
Disturbing story about a disturbing
mind. Male, of course. The timing is rather freaky though what with the
horrific pictures of men subjecting women to unnecessary violence we saw from
Clapton Common yesterday. Ugh. The most frightening thing about this story was
probably the monotone in which it was told; the total lack of emotion from the narrator.
March 15th
Squidinky by Nuala O’Connor
A beautiful story about love, grief,
and overcoming pain and loneliness. Opening your life and your heart again,
almost against your wishes at a most surprising time as the result of an
unexpected encounter. How long is too long to grieve somebody you’ve loved?
March 16th
The Glass Panel by Eimar O’Duffy
A most wonderful mystery clearly
inspired by and in the style of a Sherlock Holmes story except that in this
case, the assistant out-clevers the famous sleuth. Thoroughly enjoyed this one.
If the previous story doesn’t prove that I prefer my reading with an obvious
start, middle, and ending, I don’t know what will. My ambivalence regarding
many of the stories in this collection is no longer bewildering.
March 17th
A Dead Cert by Seán Ó Faoláin
I forgot that ‘a death cert’ actually means two
different things in Irish-English. This story is rather sad. Unrequited love
always seems to lead to dark thoughts battling the light. Still, a woman (or a
man for that matter), no matter how attractive shouldn’t tease like this.
March 18th
The Doctor’s Visit by Liam O’Flaherty
A story with a twist I didn’t see coming at all and
appreciated all the more for it.
March 19th
Under the awning by Melatu Uche Okorie
Powerful and a lot going on for such a short story.
Of course, it was about racism, both blatant and overt. But it is also about we
shouldn’t allow others to judge our story. Our personal experiences can never
be appreciated by others the way we do. In this case I can only imagine how
painful it must be to be told that the events you describe are too bleak and
therefore overstated. Whereas I’m fairly sure the narrator had actually
sugar-coated her daily life.
March 20th
The Apprentice by David Park
Well-written and captivating story about a young
man (boy?) doing something for the first time. What that is, is never revealed
but it’s obviously something secret, something he’s nervous about, something he
can’t talk about. Reading between the lines I’m going to say it is something
gang or terrorists related, which means that although he does manage to be in
the right place at the right time, it’s a bittersweet ending. It’s hard not to
think it might be better for him if he’d missed the appointment.
March 21st
Manners by Elske Rahill
I’m not sure what the point of this story is. Is it
a reflection on privilege? Is it trying to be nasty or nice about travellers? Why
do the sexual fantasies matter? This story left me with nothing except a vague
feeling of unease.
March 22nd
A Strange Christmas Game by Charlotte Riddell
Nice ghost story, but not as much of a mystery as
it tries to be?
March 23rd
Where Do I Go When You Die? By Keith Ridgway
Going by the last few lines I’m going to guess this
is some sort of declaration of love. But until that moment it read like the
ramblings of someone who had smoked a joint or two too many.
March 24th
Robbie Brady’s Astonishing Late Goal Takes its
Place in Our Personal Histories by Sally Rooney.
Right from the start this story felt familiar,
although I’ve never read it before. Then I encountered the term ‘normal
persons’ and it all made a weird kind of sense. The term also made me wonder if
this story was written before the book titled Normal People because Conor and Helen
and their conversation reminded me of Connell and Marianne. A quick Google
search later I know that the story preceded the book by about a year.
As for this story seen on its own: It’s a rather
charming lead up to the first time Conor and Helen profess their love for each
other while he’s in France watching the Irish football team and she’s in
Cambridge.
March 25th
Physiotherapy by Donal Ryan
A life reduced to the main events: Married, a love
affair, and a son killed, and reflected upon near the end of that lifetime,
when husband and wife both do an exercise to counter the effects of the strokes
they had. It could be me and my current mood, but I got a distinct ‘what’s it
all for’ sense from this story.
March 26th
Red Eye by Ian Sansom
Memories of a wedding which appears to also have
been the Englishman’s introduction to Belfast. Quite a few prejudices confirmed
too, especially about religious concerns. “Welcome to the family. Welcome to
Northern Ireland. Welcome to Belfast.” Have to be honest though and admit that
I’m not entirely sure what the point of this story is except to show that, like
most others, the people in Northern Ireland are proud of their country.
March 27th
A Rhinoceros, Some Ladies and a Horse by James
Stephens
I’m not sure if it’s technically right, but to me
this read like a nonsense tale. It was fun and made me smile but made very
little sense at all.
March 28th
A Young Widow by Bram Stoker
Not at all what I expected from Bram Stoker (mind
you, I’m only familiar with Dracula). A fun romance with a hint of mystery to
it and utterly charming.
Come to think of it. This is such a ‘common’
romance trope. The child bringing their guardian in contact with someone who
will turn out to be the love interest and completion of their family. Just goes
to show that there really isn’t anything new under the sun.
March 29th
Black Spot by Deirdre Sullivan
Not entirely sure what this was about. Loneliness?
Feeling unfulfilled?
I did recognise quite a few things though. The
endless commute from home to place of work, meaning you leave and return in the
dark because housing near the job is unaffordable for ‘normal’ people. Feeling
resentful about a job you do actually like as a result of lack of respect from
your colleagues and manager. And the feeling of dread that creeps up on a
driver when they drive past a memorial at a black spot. I wonder though, was
the beeping seat-belt alarm really a ghost driving along or was it just a broken
sensor, possibly in the passenger seat?
March 30th
The Story by Cathy Sweeney
The story, in this case is rather sad. Or rather,
both stories - the one found and the one told by him who does the finding - are
sad. Live without love or a love not recognised until long after opportunities
have vanished, is there anything sadder?
March 31st
One Minus One by Colm TóbÃn
A sad tale about regret on the anniversary of a
mother’s death. Thoughts send at a friend - former partner? Everything that was
lost and unretrievable, all the things he never said and wished he had. Regret:
it’s probably the saddest of our emotions.
April 1st
A Happy Family by William Trevor
Devastating story about a wife and mother’s descend
into madness? I wonder if it could also be a form of postnatal depression. But,
the story is sad in more respects for example when the husband just supposes
his marriage and family were happy. Maybe because he wonders if his marriage
caused his wife’s decline?
April 2nd
The Apple by Una Troy
‘She had
never used her mind for thinking, only for recording the thoughts of others.’
Ugh. On the face of it, the tale of a nun returning
to the place that used to be home thirty years ago. On a deeper level a vivid
description of the ridiculous limitations the church has, for centuries,
inflicted on those who believe, just because it could.
April 3rd
The Sea’s Dead by Katharine Tynan
‘There
was scarce a windowsill in Achill by which the banshee had not cried.’
Such a sad tale. Everything about and in this story
is grey, dark, and filled with doom. Achill, the sea, a boat claimed and men
lost, a large wave (tsunami?). Even the mystery about Moya and the mermaid myth
she becomes doesn’t lift this tale in which even the glorious and vivid
descriptions are gloomy.
*****
Now that I’ve finished the 100 stories, I have to admit that they didn’t
turn me into a lover of shorter fiction. While I enjoy some mystery in my
reading and love stories which leave me wondering after I’ve finished them, I’ve
discovered that I really don’t enjoy it when I’m left feeling out of my depth,
as if I’m not smart enough to understand the nuances of what I’ve just read.
While I’m willing to admit that it is possible that my mind isn’t configured
for these tales, I remain disinclined to reach for a book filled with stories
that may well leave me unsatisfied. I’m not saying I’ll never read a story
collection again, but I do think they will be few and far between.
