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A review by vighnesh
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Small Things Like These is set in a small Irish town during Christmas of 1985. It follows Furlong, a coal and timber merchant and his life and encounters during the festive season.
Just over a 100 pages, this book economically shines light on the Magdalen laundries in Ireland, where young girls with babies born out of wedlock were forced to work long hours and where many of them died and many lost their babies, and they lives they could have had. These laundries were run and financed by the Catholic Church in concert with the Irish State.
While being a large issue, Claire Keegan crafts a short story that looks at it from a very personal and human level. Everything in this tiny book is intentional and once you're done reading it you realise just how smartly written it is.
The setting, its characters and their reflections, it is all so well crafted.
I am in awe of how Claire Keegan writes and I am definitely going to be reading her other books.
Small Things Like These is a tiny, concentrated book which talks about a dark period of Irish social history with care and a hope for humanity.
Just over a 100 pages, this book economically shines light on the Magdalen laundries in Ireland, where young girls with babies born out of wedlock were forced to work long hours and where many of them died and many lost their babies, and they lives they could have had. These laundries were run and financed by the Catholic Church in concert with the Irish State.
While being a large issue, Claire Keegan crafts a short story that looks at it from a very personal and human level. Everything in this tiny book is intentional and once you're done reading it you realise just how smartly written it is.
The setting, its characters and their reflections, it is all so well crafted.
I am in awe of how Claire Keegan writes and I am definitely going to be reading her other books.
Small Things Like These is a tiny, concentrated book which talks about a dark period of Irish social history with care and a hope for humanity.