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bgg616's review
4.0
This collection is edited by Paul McVeigh, a writer and native of Belfast, and Lisa Frank, an American who lives in Galway. There are sixteen stories, set in different neighborhoods of the city. Each section is introduced with history and information about the neighborhood. Photographs throughout by Malachi Doherty add to the book, as well as “tourist” information about each neighborhood listing restaurants, and hotels at the end of the book. I will add that I read the physical book but learned that the Kindle version is missing two of the stories – Lucy Caldwell’s Here We Are, one of the best in the collection, and David Park’s The Strong Silent Type.
As with any collection with a variety of authors, and a variety of styles, there are stories that work better for some readers than others. In addition to Caldwell’s stories, my two favorites were The Welcome Centre by Peter Hollywood and There Is More Than One Word by Bernie McGill. They were the first and the last story in the volume. Hollywood’s story, which made me laugh till I cried, is set in the tourist office in Belfast. It recounts the questions asked not just by tourists, but by their tour guides, including “Is this a sterling or euro zone?” and “Is this the bit of Ireland that belongs to the Queen?”. The first question was asked by a tour guide, so imagine being in this clueless leader’s group. The second was posed by a tourist from Canada. I would have said that just like Canada, Northern Ireland is “owned” by the Queen. There is a man who visits the office regularly and asks “Are there any parades today?”. The employees show great patience as they answer his query time after time. At the end of the story, something changes, which provides a satisfying answer for the eternal questioner.
The final story by McGill is succinct at only five pages. It is about language, loss, and coming home after years away. Like other characters in other stories, the narrator Jaynie has stayed away because of something that happened during The Troubles. She finds that she has lost her “linguistic filters”, forgetting how some are wont to add phrases to the end of their sentences such as “so there are”,”so they have”, or “so I would”. Jaynie sees these phrases as a way of reaffirming what one has just said. This is a tragic story about why some go away, and some return.
Other stories I enjoyed included Glenn Patterson’s A Small Problem about family secrets, Jan Carson’s Filters about an East Belfast mother who wants to give the appearance of having the perfect family, Jamie Guiney’s Climb into the Sky about a compassionate grave digger, and Rosemary Jenkinson’s Bomb Dust about a man’s return to the Shankill, seven years after he left to escape death threats.
The stories reflect themes of identity; leaving Northern Ireland, and coming or not coming back; gentrification; the new diversity of Belfast including immigrants; language and what it says about who one is; and sometimes in the background, The Troubles. One theme is succinctly contained in this quote in a story, supposedly from a BBC broadcaster-type, who says that “living in Northern Ireland when you’ve had all the opportunities to move away, and you don’t, or you do and return, is akin to being in an abusive relationship”.
This is a worthwhile read, and whether you know Belfast or not, you will come away having learned something. Recommended. Four stars.
As with any collection with a variety of authors, and a variety of styles, there are stories that work better for some readers than others. In addition to Caldwell’s stories, my two favorites were The Welcome Centre by Peter Hollywood and There Is More Than One Word by Bernie McGill. They were the first and the last story in the volume. Hollywood’s story, which made me laugh till I cried, is set in the tourist office in Belfast. It recounts the questions asked not just by tourists, but by their tour guides, including “Is this a sterling or euro zone?” and “Is this the bit of Ireland that belongs to the Queen?”. The first question was asked by a tour guide, so imagine being in this clueless leader’s group. The second was posed by a tourist from Canada. I would have said that just like Canada, Northern Ireland is “owned” by the Queen. There is a man who visits the office regularly and asks “Are there any parades today?”. The employees show great patience as they answer his query time after time. At the end of the story, something changes, which provides a satisfying answer for the eternal questioner.
The final story by McGill is succinct at only five pages. It is about language, loss, and coming home after years away. Like other characters in other stories, the narrator Jaynie has stayed away because of something that happened during The Troubles. She finds that she has lost her “linguistic filters”, forgetting how some are wont to add phrases to the end of their sentences such as “so there are”,”so they have”, or “so I would”. Jaynie sees these phrases as a way of reaffirming what one has just said. This is a tragic story about why some go away, and some return.
Other stories I enjoyed included Glenn Patterson’s A Small Problem about family secrets, Jan Carson’s Filters about an East Belfast mother who wants to give the appearance of having the perfect family, Jamie Guiney’s Climb into the Sky about a compassionate grave digger, and Rosemary Jenkinson’s Bomb Dust about a man’s return to the Shankill, seven years after he left to escape death threats.
The stories reflect themes of identity; leaving Northern Ireland, and coming or not coming back; gentrification; the new diversity of Belfast including immigrants; language and what it says about who one is; and sometimes in the background, The Troubles. One theme is succinctly contained in this quote in a story, supposedly from a BBC broadcaster-type, who says that “living in Northern Ireland when you’ve had all the opportunities to move away, and you don’t, or you do and return, is akin to being in an abusive relationship”.
This is a worthwhile read, and whether you know Belfast or not, you will come away having learned something. Recommended. Four stars.
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