A review by alisonburnis
Antarctica by Claire Keegan

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

Finally, Claire Keegan’s debut collection of short stories is in North America! The titular story, Antarctica, is also in the collection So Late in the Day, so it starts off on a familiar note, but then delves into other stories. I was very interested in seeing how these early stories were different from Keegan’s later work, and generally, her style has evolved to be a bit more refined, but the strong bones are there and already firm. 

Keegan’s writing is spare and subtle but her stories are very rich. There was more experimentation with style and setting in these ones - maybe not always totally hitting the mark, but taking risks is nice to see. I was very happy with this, Keegan is a great short story writer.