I suppose the first thing that comes to mind when I think of these short stories is that they have a strange relevance to today's uncertain world where the personal quests for economic, romantic and psychological security are ultimately doomed to failure.The consistent theme weaving through these stories is that of a past that haunts the characters and is their ball and chain into the present and future.The stories revolve around familiar Irish subjects: shamed priests, writers, quirky women condemned as whores, and bored and destitute farmers.
The "Night of the Quicken Trees" combines most of these subjects and is the most compelling story in the book.It takes place on a wind swept plot of land overlooking the Cliffs of Moher, the last bit of Ireland until the Arran Islands.Steeped in mysticism, this tale involves Margaret's humorous and semi-tragic race against time to have a child to replace the baby she lost from crib death.Her decision to leave her home with her child and seek a safe haven from life's threats in the Arran Islands is the most spiritual and redemptive moment in the collection of stories.
"Irish Gothic" is how I would best describe the short stories.If Flannery O'Connor were still alive and visited modern Ireland, I think her reflections would be similar.
Product Description
Claire Keegan's brilliant debut collection, Antarctica, was a Los Angeles Times Book of the Year, and earned her resounding accolades on both sides of the Atlantic. Now she has delivered her next, much-anticipated book, Walk the Blue Fields, an unforgettable array of quietly wrenching stories about despair and desire in the timeless world of modern-day Ireland. In the never-before-published story "The Long and Painful Death," a writer awarded a stay to work in Heinrich Böll's old cottage has her peace interrupted by an unwelcome intruder, whose ulterior motives only emerge as the night progresses. In the title story, a priest waits at the altar to perform a marriage and, during the ceremony and the festivities that follow, battles his memories of a love affair with the bride that led him to question all to which he has dedicated his life; later that night, he finds an unlikely answer in the magical healing powers of a seer.
A masterful portrait of a country wrestling with its past and of individuals eking out their futures, Walk the Blue Fields is a breathtaking collection from one of Ireland's greatest talents, and a resounding articulation of all the yearnings of the human heart.
About the Author
Claire Keegan grew up in Wexford. Her debut collection, Antarctica, was a Los Angeles Times Book of the Year and won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Walk the Blue Fields: Stories (Paperback)
