Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Book Blurb:
It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.
My Review: 4.5 stars
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan is at once a deep introspection into life, and a tale about the good and evil among us.
I’ve read several novellas recently. There is something about them that packs a serious punch even though they are generally just over a hundred pages or less. Each sentence is curated with precision and often has many interpretations. They often skim the top of a subject that leaves the reader questioning and wanting more, sometimes getting it and often not. In this novella, the Magdalen convent was touched on just enough to get the realization of what was happening there without ever needing to be graphic.
Bill was an amazingly thoughtful character. Although rich in family, a hard worker, and a good father, he was troubled by things he couldn’t see. The things he dwelled on are for the reader to read to read as not to spoil any of the story.
Of note, this is the shortest book every shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Well done.
Quotes I liked:
It seemed both proper and at the same time deeply unfair that so much of life was left to chance.”
“Why were the things that were closest so often the hardest to see?”
“The years don’t slow down any as they pass.
“Where does thinking get us?’ she said. ‘All thinking does is bring you down.”
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