Tag: Irish writer

So Late in the Day – book review

So Late in the Day, by Claire Keegan

Cathal is one of those blokes a friend might go out with and say, you know, he’s OK. He’s got a job, not bad looking. We meet Cathal looking out of his office window where the day is good: sunshine; birds; the smell of cut grass; “so much of life carrying smoothly on, despite the tangle of human upsets and the knowledge of how everything must end.” Cathal is writing rejection letters for bursary applicants. And there we have it, Keegan gives us the heads up that this is not a happily-ever-after. In this poignant novella, the fact that Cathal is not one of life’s winners is revealed through the world around him.

Continue reading “So Late in the Day – book review”

Intermezzo – book review

Intermezzo, by Sally Rooney

Sally Rooney gives us here an almost perfect story. Five main characters, interlinked, each well rounded and complicated with their own goals and challenges, a set up which could go one of many ways, some deep subplots and an ending all tied up. Sounds a bit contrived, perhaps? There is nothing very experimental, no sweeping poetical passages, nothing clever. No ramping up the heartbeat with triggers and button pushing. It’s just a story of five people. And with that simplicity, it is exceptionally good.

Continue reading “Intermezzo – book review”

Long Island – book review

Long Island, by Colm Tóibín

I didn’t read Tóibín’s Brooklyn before picking up Long Island which was a mistake, because apparently it helps a lot if you already know the characters, and people say Brooklyn is great. So there you go, don’t jump into Long Island unprepped, or you might, like me, find the story missing background depth. Like why did a woman like Eilis marry Tony (and his entire wrap-around Italian/American family) in the first place? And why was she so resigned when a stranger tells her that Tony-the-plumber had plumbed his wife, and he intended to deliver the baby to him when it was born? Interesting premise to begin a book, but what then?

Continue reading “Long Island – book review”

Prophet Song – book review

Prophet Song, by Paul Lynch

When I described the plot of this book to my hubby – about a country turned to anarchy, the tyranny of a government and brutality of the rebels –he said it could never happen in modern Ireland. This surprised me, as we had lived in London during the troubles, had felt the bombings personally. It wasn’t so long ago. And Hitler’s rise to power less than a century ago illustrates how a modern country can turn on itself in a heartbeat of time. Why assume sectarian violence has gone away? And yet Ireland, today, seems such a peaceful place. Paul Lynch’s book imagines how, still, it could turn. Horribly, given the increasingly polarised state of the world, I found his scenario felt entirely possible.

Continue reading “Prophet Song – book review”