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A review by jackieeh
Mothers and Sons by Colm Tóibín
4.0
It is so hard to give stars to sort stories. The stories in Mothers & Sons fluctuate between two and a half and five stars, so this gets four, with no apologies for the lopsided-ness of the average.
At his best, Tóibín's stories are very, very good. My favorites were "Famous Blue Raincoat," "A Priest in the Family," and the completely fantastic "A Long Winter," which may be my favorite short story ever. (I'll have to review some of the others I've read and loved, though. Great. More to read!)
Others were more underwhelming. "A Journey" was too short to pack much of a punch, and "The Use of Reason," which I had read before in Finbar's Hotel without Tóibín's name attached, still failed to hold my attention.
Still, this is worth a read; just get it out of the library like I did. My approach to Tóibín, who is one of my favorite authors, has been and continues to be: When he is good he is very, very, good and when he is bad he is blah.
At his best, Tóibín's stories are very, very good. My favorites were "Famous Blue Raincoat," "A Priest in the Family," and the completely fantastic "A Long Winter," which may be my favorite short story ever. (I'll have to review some of the others I've read and loved, though. Great. More to read!)
Others were more underwhelming. "A Journey" was too short to pack much of a punch, and "The Use of Reason," which I had read before in Finbar's Hotel without Tóibín's name attached, still failed to hold my attention.
Still, this is worth a read; just get it out of the library like I did. My approach to Tóibín, who is one of my favorite authors, has been and continues to be: When he is good he is very, very, good and when he is bad he is blah.