This week, our editor Colin McIlwaine reviews excellent books by Irish writers. Don’t forget to read them out.
Dubliners by James Joyce ****
Although he spent much of his life exiled in Paris, James Joyce always retained a certain affection for his native Dublin and it featured prominently in books such as “Ulysses,” Portrait Of The Artist as A Young Man” and “Finnegan Wakes.” “Dubliners” is a collection of short stories, originally written by Joyce in 1905 and eventually published in 1914. The fifteen stories in the collection (including “The Sisters,” The Boarding House” and “The Dead”), deal with life among the middle classes of Dublin in the early part of the twentieth century and feature a wide variety of characters at various stages of their lives. For anyone who wants to learn more about the social, cultural and political life of the island of Ireland in general and the city of Dublin in particular during this period, “Dubliners” makes for a fascinating introduction. It is certainly a classic in terms of the literature of Ireland and well worth reading.
The End of the World is a Cul de Sac by Louise Kennedy ****
The End of the World is a Cul de Sac is written by Louise Kennedy. The story is about a wife, who is abandoned by her new husband in a ghost estate, with blood on her hands; a young woman is tormented by visions of the man murdered by her brother during the Troubles; a pregnant mother fears the worst as her husband grows illegal cannabis with the help of a vulnerable teenage girl; a woman struggles to forgive herself after an abortion threatens to destroy her marriage. MI
The Last Resort by Jan Carson ****
Jan Carson has emerged as one of Northern Ireland’s finest writers in recent years. She is also the winner of the EU Prize for Literature 2019 for her previous book. The Fire Starters, Her latest book, which was also a short story series on BBC4, follows a group of residents at a caravan park along the north coast, who are forced together following a series of impossible thefts. With trademark wit and playfulness, in this stunning linked short-story collection Jan Carson explores complex family dynamics, aging, immigration, gender politics, the decline of the Church, and the legacy of the Troubles. The Last Resort firmly places Carson as one of the most inventive and daring writers of her generation. MI
