alisonannk's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Slavery, Sexism, Kidnapping, Vomit, Torture, Excrement, Cancer, Physical abuse, Classism, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy
shelleyanderson4127's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
It seems that it is easier to depict cruelty than kindness on the page. Think of all the passages you've read about people hurting each other, unintentionally or deliberately. Contrast and compare with the the times you've read about kindness. The only writer I know who consistently depicts moral questions and characters being kind to one another is Alexander McCall Smith, and, with all respect to Mma Ramotswe and the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Smith is not a writer for the ages.
Claire Keegan is that kind of writer. The pages of her slender novel Small Things Like These are full of the ordinary kindnesses and courtesies people show one another, whether they are married couples, neighbors, shopkeepers or passersby. A horrible historical cruelty is also shown, obliquely, and is the trigger for this examination of one ordinary person's conscience, and the steps that lead him to an act of courage and kindness.
The person is Bill Furlong, a hard working coal and timber merchant. The setting is a small Irish town in 1985, just before Christmas. Furlong was the illegitimate son of a maid. He has always wondered who his father was. Fortunately, his mother's employer decides to keep her on when the pregnancy is exposed. Furlong now has five daughters of his own. Approaching middle age, he increasingly asks himself what life, his life in particular, means.
While delivering coal to a convent he discovers a starving girl locked in a coal shed. With wonderful honesty and an eye for ordinary life, Keegan intimately traces the development of Furlong's sense of responsibility to others, to his family, and to himself.
The girl is one of the estimated 30,000 Irish women and girls imprisoned in Roman Catholic religious houses and forced to work in so-called Magdalen laundries. Often unmarried and pregnant, their babies were taken from them and adopted overseas. Many of the women and babies died of neglect. In the afterword, Keegan writes that a 2021 Commission Report found that 9,000 children died in just 18 of the institutions being investigated.
This is a gem of a novel, beautifully written and keenly felt. The questions Furlong struggles with are the same for all of us, questions that will increasingly demand answer in our difficult and uncertain time. We can hope that, like Furlong, the answers can be found in love for one another.
Claire Keegan is that kind of writer. The pages of her slender novel Small Things Like These are full of the ordinary kindnesses and courtesies people show one another, whether they are married couples, neighbors, shopkeepers or passersby. A horrible historical cruelty is also shown, obliquely, and is the trigger for this examination of one ordinary person's conscience, and the steps that lead him to an act of courage and kindness.
The person is Bill Furlong, a hard working coal and timber merchant. The setting is a small Irish town in 1985, just before Christmas. Furlong was the illegitimate son of a maid. He has always wondered who his father was. Fortunately, his mother's employer decides to keep her on when the pregnancy is exposed. Furlong now has five daughters of his own. Approaching middle age, he increasingly asks himself what life, his life in particular, means.
While delivering coal to a convent he discovers a starving girl locked in a coal shed. With wonderful honesty and an eye for ordinary life, Keegan intimately traces the development of Furlong's sense of responsibility to others, to his family, and to himself.
The girl is one of the estimated 30,000 Irish women and girls imprisoned in Roman Catholic religious houses and forced to work in so-called Magdalen laundries. Often unmarried and pregnant, their babies were taken from them and adopted overseas. Many of the women and babies died of neglect. In the afterword, Keegan writes that a 2021 Commission Report found that 9,000 children died in just 18 of the institutions being investigated.
This is a gem of a novel, beautifully written and keenly felt. The questions Furlong struggles with are the same for all of us, questions that will increasingly demand answer in our difficult and uncertain time. We can hope that, like Furlong, the answers can be found in love for one another.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, and Classism
sidneyreads_'s review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Kidnapping and Trafficking
Minor: Death of parent, Abandonment, and Vomit
anyamcmurrer's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
lianne_rooney's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy
eib_21's review
challenging
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, and Child abuse
Minor: Abandonment and Suicidal thoughts
lma685's review
dark
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Abandonment, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts
sjanke2's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, and Torture
danidamico's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Small Things Like These es una novelita hermosa. Al igual que en su nouvelle anterior, Foster, la irlandesa Claire Keegan logra conmover desde la simpleza con una sensibilidad genuina que jamás se siente melodramática. Keegan escribe sobre gente común, sobre lo cotidiano y todas las cosas que conforman el día a día, las cosas pequeñas que van marcando nuestro paso por este mundo.
En esta obra, la primera que ha publicado en varios años, la autora narra la historia de Bill Furlong, un hombre en un pueblo irlandés que parece tenerlo todo, pero en vísperas de Navidad se encuentra con una situación frente a la cual no puede mantenerse indiferente, como parece hacerlo el resto de la gente. Es un relato navideño muy clásico y perfecto para leer en diciembre, con un mensaje que, si bien no es nada que no hayamos visto antes, Keegan logra transmitir de una manera muy sincera, sin que se sienta como un cliché.
Además, el libro está inspirado en y dedicado a las mujeres que a lo largo de las décadas estuvieron encerradas en conventos y lavanderías de la iglesia católica donde las obligaban a realizar trabajo forzado. También muchas veces estas mujeres eran separadas de sus bebés, que en el mejor de los casos eran arrancaros de los brazos de sus madres y entregados a otras familias. El año pasado conocí la existencia de estos lugares (el último cerró en 1996) gracias a la película The Magdalene Sisters, dirgida por Peter Mullan, la cual es super recomendable y podría ir bien como acompañante de esta novela.
En fin, me encantó Small Things Like These, es mi texto favorito de Keegan hasta la fecha. Recomiendo que busquen un sitio cómodo, se pongan alguna música suave navideña de fondo (recomiendo la playlist "sad gurl christmas" de claire cardona en spotify) y disfruten de esta joyita.
En esta obra, la primera que ha publicado en varios años, la autora narra la historia de Bill Furlong, un hombre en un pueblo irlandés que parece tenerlo todo, pero en vísperas de Navidad se encuentra con una situación frente a la cual no puede mantenerse indiferente, como parece hacerlo el resto de la gente. Es un relato navideño muy clásico y perfecto para leer en diciembre, con un mensaje que, si bien no es nada que no hayamos visto antes, Keegan logra transmitir de una manera muy sincera, sin que se sienta como un cliché.
Además, el libro está inspirado en y dedicado a las mujeres que a lo largo de las décadas estuvieron encerradas en conventos y lavanderías de la iglesia católica donde las obligaban a realizar trabajo forzado. También muchas veces estas mujeres eran separadas de sus bebés, que en el mejor de los casos eran arrancaros de los brazos de sus madres y entregados a otras familias. El año pasado conocí la existencia de estos lugares (el último cerró en 1996) gracias a la película The Magdalene Sisters, dirgida por Peter Mullan, la cual es super recomendable y podría ir bien como acompañante de esta novela.
En fin, me encantó Small Things Like These, es mi texto favorito de Keegan hasta la fecha. Recomiendo que busquen un sitio cómodo, se pongan alguna música suave navideña de fondo (recomiendo la playlist "sad gurl christmas" de claire cardona en spotify) y disfruten de esta joyita.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, and Abandonment
More...