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caoilo's review against another edition
5.0
Thank you so much to Faber and Faber as well as NetGalley for this amazing ARC.
There is not much I can say about this book, not because it was bad, I actually liked it, but it's so short that almost every word I wright might be considered a spoiler. I promise to do my best.
Keegan describes the idyllic Irish life so well you almost forget her dedication at the front of the book. We are swept up in her description of this small town that can almost seem like eons ago and at the same time just a decade or so. We follow Bill and his life, switching between the current day, which is set in 1985 and his childhood, perhaps around the 1950's. In some ways his life has been blessed but not without hardship. Yet if there is one person in the town to be known for their kindness it is Bill Furlong. And that is exactly why he is the main character. We watch as he struggles to decide if he should act with kindness, or keep to himself for the sake of conforming to social convention. Help someone less fortunate or incur the wrath of society?!
This book is powerful in the way that it contrasts the beauty of the country with the ugliness of it's society. The faces who smile back at you when you meet them in the street but are self serving in private. The culture that said " love they neighbor" and yet ignored those most in need. Said "judge not lest you be judge", yet acted as judge, jury and executioner all because they had the power to.
Any one reading this book should find it easy to pick up on the abuse women suffered and suffer. This is a skilled piece of (in my opinion) feminist work. Keegan doesn't need to may it loud and brash, she lets the truth do the work.
It is impossible for any feeling human to come away from reading this book with no emotions. I had to wait days just to be able to write a coherent review.
My only complaint about this work is that I wanted to know what happened to Bill, his family and his new friend. There was no way this went without consequences. Even though Keegan broke my heart and left me in a dark void with no answers I have to give this a five.
There is not much I can say about this book, not because it was bad, I actually liked it, but it's so short that almost every word I wright might be considered a spoiler. I promise to do my best.
Keegan describes the idyllic Irish life so well you almost forget her dedication at the front of the book. We are swept up in her description of this small town that can almost seem like eons ago and at the same time just a decade or so. We follow Bill and his life, switching between the current day, which is set in 1985 and his childhood, perhaps around the 1950's. In some ways his life has been blessed but not without hardship. Yet if there is one person in the town to be known for their kindness it is Bill Furlong. And that is exactly why he is the main character. We watch as he struggles to decide if he should act with kindness, or keep to himself for the sake of conforming to social convention. Help someone less fortunate or incur the wrath of society?!
This book is powerful in the way that it contrasts the beauty of the country with the ugliness of it's society. The faces who smile back at you when you meet them in the street but are self serving in private. The culture that said " love they neighbor" and yet ignored those most in need. Said "judge not lest you be judge", yet acted as judge, jury and executioner all because they had the power to.
Any one reading this book should find it easy to pick up on the abuse women suffered and suffer. This is a skilled piece of (in my opinion) feminist work. Keegan doesn't need to may it loud and brash, she lets the truth do the work.
It is impossible for any feeling human to come away from reading this book with no emotions. I had to wait days just to be able to write a coherent review.
My only complaint about this work is that I wanted to know what happened to Bill, his family and his new friend. There was no way this went without consequences. Even though Keegan broke my heart and left me in a dark void with no answers I have to give this a five.
bookishpip's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
matconnor's review against another edition
5.0
Between Small Things Like These and Foster, Claire Keegan is becoming one of my favorite authors. She writes these perfect little novels set in Ireland that both end a little sooner than you expect or want, but in hindsight you see that she had the wisdom to end her stories at the exact perfect spot. Most authors wouldn’t have the discipline to end her stories when she does. They would be too tempted to follow the conflict set up in the final moments.
You will probably tear up at the endings of these novellas, but Keegan never resorts to sentimentality. She has a special gift.
I had never heard of the Magdalene Laundries before picking this up. It’s a horrible piece of history. It was an institution (Protestant and later mostly Catholic) that took in and imprisoned what they called “Fallen Women.” Unmarried mothers, daughters of unmarried mothers, former sex workers, women with special needs, inmates from psychiatric institutions and jails, victims of rape and sexual assault, and even just young women who were seen as “too flirtatious” and needed rehabilitation. These vulnerable women were sent to these institutions to be “reformed” but were forced into unpaid labor and abused by nuns for violating moral codes. The last laundry closed in 1996. They are still finding mass unmarked graves of babies and children who died at the laundries.
Bill Furlong, our protagonist, could have been one of these babies, but Keegan tells us early on how he was spared this fate:
Furlong had come from nothing. Less than nothing, some might say. His mother, at the age of sixteen, had fallen pregnant while working as a domestic for Mrs Wilson, the Protestant widow who lived in the big house a few miles outside of town. When his mother’s trouble became known, and her people made it clear that they’d have no more to do with her, Mrs Wilson, instead of giving his mother her walking papers, told her she should stay on, and keep her work. On the morning Furlong was born, it was Mrs Wilson who had his mother taken into hospital, and had them brought home. It was the first of April, 1946, and some said the boy would turn out to be a fool.
Bill Furlong is now a family man with 5 daughters. He’s a coal merchant and owns his own business that was started from a generous donation by Mrs Wilson, his mother’s employer and savior. His life isn’t without sadness—he’s troubled by never knowing who his father was and asks people in town if they knew his father’s identity—but he recognizes his good fortune.
One early morning while delivering an order to his local convent he accidently meets a young woman at one of these laundries and becomes troubled at her condition. He’s warned off from making any noise about what he’s seen. He can either let this woman suffer in silence or he can offer her the kindness Mrs Wilson offered to his own mother when she was in need. In an ignorant society like Bill’s, that will talk and wonder why a married man would associate himself with one of these women, he must decide whether to be comfortable or to be courageous.
Claire Keegan is too subtle to say this directly, but I think she makes the argument for a moral position that I believe strongly in, which is that vulnerable people (Sick, Poor, Distressed) often have no energy other than to get through their day and that it’s the moral responsibility of the healthy and well-off to offer them whatever support they can. She makes the case how these little and large moments of kindness and empathy add up to a rich life.
Tip: If you have Spotify Premium you can listen to the 2-hour audiobook of this for free. The audiobook is great because it’s read by an Irish speaker. I was so moved by this book that I rushed out this morning to get a physical copy.
You will probably tear up at the endings of these novellas, but Keegan never resorts to sentimentality. She has a special gift.
I had never heard of the Magdalene Laundries before picking this up. It’s a horrible piece of history. It was an institution (Protestant and later mostly Catholic) that took in and imprisoned what they called “Fallen Women.” Unmarried mothers, daughters of unmarried mothers, former sex workers, women with special needs, inmates from psychiatric institutions and jails, victims of rape and sexual assault, and even just young women who were seen as “too flirtatious” and needed rehabilitation. These vulnerable women were sent to these institutions to be “reformed” but were forced into unpaid labor and abused by nuns for violating moral codes. The last laundry closed in 1996. They are still finding mass unmarked graves of babies and children who died at the laundries.
Bill Furlong, our protagonist, could have been one of these babies, but Keegan tells us early on how he was spared this fate:
Furlong had come from nothing. Less than nothing, some might say. His mother, at the age of sixteen, had fallen pregnant while working as a domestic for Mrs Wilson, the Protestant widow who lived in the big house a few miles outside of town. When his mother’s trouble became known, and her people made it clear that they’d have no more to do with her, Mrs Wilson, instead of giving his mother her walking papers, told her she should stay on, and keep her work. On the morning Furlong was born, it was Mrs Wilson who had his mother taken into hospital, and had them brought home. It was the first of April, 1946, and some said the boy would turn out to be a fool.
Bill Furlong is now a family man with 5 daughters. He’s a coal merchant and owns his own business that was started from a generous donation by Mrs Wilson, his mother’s employer and savior. His life isn’t without sadness—he’s troubled by never knowing who his father was and asks people in town if they knew his father’s identity—but he recognizes his good fortune.
One early morning while delivering an order to his local convent he accidently meets a young woman at one of these laundries and becomes troubled at her condition. He’s warned off from making any noise about what he’s seen. He can either let this woman suffer in silence or he can offer her the kindness Mrs Wilson offered to his own mother when she was in need. In an ignorant society like Bill’s, that will talk and wonder why a married man would associate himself with one of these women, he must decide whether to be comfortable or to be courageous.
Claire Keegan is too subtle to say this directly, but I think she makes the argument for a moral position that I believe strongly in, which is that vulnerable people (Sick, Poor, Distressed) often have no energy other than to get through their day and that it’s the moral responsibility of the healthy and well-off to offer them whatever support they can. She makes the case how these little and large moments of kindness and empathy add up to a rich life.
Tip: If you have Spotify Premium you can listen to the 2-hour audiobook of this for free. The audiobook is great because it’s read by an Irish speaker. I was so moved by this book that I rushed out this morning to get a physical copy.
kjtheo's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
cadystanton's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.25
murphl30's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
bettan97's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0