Small Things Like These
Ratings350
Average rating4.1
4 stars purely bc I've never heard of magdalene laundries before and this book made me go into a rabbit hole to learn more. it was also well written and and I love the small community atmosphere in this one. so short yet made me care abt the characters and I feel like I know them which is insane and impressive to me
Nice little hour of reading about something I've never heard about but will now fall in to a rabbit hole online !
Muy buena lectura para los que le gustan los libros donde no pasan muchas cosas, sencillo, muy buenas descripciones. Increíble el Sr. Furlong.
Novela curtia costumista ambientá n'Irlanda nos años ochenta. Tenía toles papeletes pa encantame y convertise nun favoritu, por embargu, decepcionóme un poco. Non porque fore malu, nin mucho menos, sinón porque esparaba salgo más. Quizá tenía espectatives demasiao altes...
En fin, la novelina sigui a Bill Furlong, un mercaer de carbón. Ye un paisanu corriente y moliente con muyer y fíes (cinco, concretamente). El llibru céntrase nel conceptu de “muyer caía”, términu que s'usaba pa referise a muyeres que perdieren la virxinidá enantes de casase, madres solteres, muyeres vioales, prostitutes... cualquier muyer que nun siguiere les normes marcaes pola ilesia.
La madre de Furlong yera una d'estes “muyeres caíes”, pues yera madre soltera y nun se sabía, nin tampoco ella quería confesar, la identidá del pá. Cuando esto pasó echáronla de casa, tul mundu dexóla de lláu y abandonóla. Tos excepto la señora pa la que trabayaba, Mrs. Wilson. Nun la echó del puestu nin-y quitó'l sueldu, sinón que dio-y un hogar, un sitiu seguru nel que criar al so fíu. Mrs. Wilson nunca lu trató de menos por ser un “bastardu”. Non obstante, nun yera na mesma situación na cai: la xente mirábalu mal, como si llevare la marca de la vergoña y el pecáu na frente, em colexu metíense con él... por algo que nin siquiera yera realmente culpa suya. Por embargu, gracies a l'ayuda y sofitu de Mrs. Wilson y la so propia integridá y trabayu “escaló” na sociedá y entamó a ser un paisanu respetable.
N'Irlanda esistíen unes instituciones católiques ampares pol estáu llamaes “Llavanderíes de la Madalena” onde estes muyeres facíen dellos llabores en condiciones deplorables ya insalubres. Les monxes robáben-yos los bebés a les moces que veníen con ellos o entraben yá embarazaes. Taben totalmente apartaes de la sociedá.
Furlong entabla contactu con una d'estes moces y siente la obligación y deber morales de sacala d'ehí, d'ayudala, anque tul mundu-y tuviere diciendo que siguiere a lo suyo y que nun se metiere nesos percales. Fala de la hipocresía d'algunos cristianos, d'aquellos que son quien a ver miseria y sufrimientu, xirar la cara, facer como si nun pasare na y tirar pa misa.
Resumiendo, un bon conceptu, un ambiente navidiegu y una gran escritora. Aun teniendo tos estos elemento, faltóme salgo, nun sé mui bien el qué. Encantaríame ver esti conceptu más densendolcáu nuna novela más llarga.
“As they carried on along and met more people Furlong did and did not know, he found himself asking was there any point in being alive without helping one another? Was it possible to carry on along through all the years, the decades, through an entire life, without once being brave enough to go against what was there and yet call yourself a Christian, and face yourself in the mirror?”
4.5 rounded up. What a profound little novella! I love stories about human kindness and bravery
Short, sweet, and to the point. I read it in one sitting. It was succinct and well-written and I intend to read more from this author.
Edit: This book has stuck with me after reading it. I've found myself reflecting on it several times and if that doesn't mark a great story I don't know what does.
If you're into small towns, moral quandaries, and Irish slang, this is your jam!
This novella packs a lot of emotional and character complexity into its short story. It's a story of identity, of family, and of the ongoing struggle to do what's right or look the other way for the sake of convenience. It takes place over a couple of days and contains only a handful of scenes, but paints a rich picture of a small Irish town where everybody knows everybody and no one wants to upset those in power, even if they know something is wrong. The protagonist is easy to overlook and would usually be a supporting character, one who does nothing of importance, and that is what makes him the perfect protagonist for the story.
Keegan mostly writes short fiction, and that's apparent here, as her prose is able to convey enormous depth of emotion, character, and world-building in just a few sentences. You can read this in a couple hours, but don't rush through it. Take time to savor Keegan's literary mastery.
Na de dikke pil The Books of Jacob (zie aldaar), tijd voor iets dunners en luchtigers. Dat eerste is prima gelukt met deze novelle, het tweede wat minder. Met weinig woorden weet Keegan diepgaand te schetsen hoe fout de Ierse katholieke kerk bezig is geweest met “gevallen” vrouwen en hun kinderen.
Ultieme vorm van “show, don't tell”. Aanrader!
A man with five daughters awakens to the state of misogyny around him, in 1980s Ireland. A very atmospheric and quiet novella, that is less subtle than it wants to appear to be.
I've been hearing about Small Things Like These for weeks now, and everything I heard about it was good, so I have been waiting and waiting for the single copy of it in our huge library system to arrive for me for a long time. I worried that I might have pumped up my expectations for this book, and that I would be disappointed; I did not.
Small Things Like These is a small book about small lives in a small town. Bill Furlong is a coal merchant, and it's winter, and Furlong is busily trying to keep all his customers fully stocked. He is married and has five girls, and he's respected in the community, but his life was not always so smooth. His mother became pregnant with him out of wedlock, and things could have been horrible for Bill and his mother, but, unexpectedly, his mother's employer kept her on, and everything changed for Bill.
When Bill is faced with a difficult situation, he must make a moral judgment about how to proceed. Whatever path he decides to take will not be easy.
Here are some quotes that might offer some small spoilers...read with caution...
“What was it all for? Furlong wondered. The work and the constant worry. Getting up in the dark and going to the yard, making the deliveries, one after another, the whole day long, then coming home in the dark and trying to wash the black off himself and sitting into a dinner at the table and falling asleep before waking in the dark to meet a version of the same thing, yet again. Might things never change or develop into something else, or new?”
“Always it was the same, Furlong thought; always they carried mechanically on without pause, to the next job at hand. What would life be like, he wondered, if they were given time to think and reflect over things? Might their lives be different or much the same – or would they just lose the run of themselves?”
“He found himself asking was there any point in being alive without helping one another? Was it possible to carry on along through all the years, the decades, through an entire life, without once being brave enough to go against what was there and yet call yourself a Christian, and face yourself in the mirror?”
“He thought of Mrs Wilson, of her daily kindnesses, of how she had corrected and encouraged him, of the small things she had said and done and had refused to do and say and what she must have known, the things which, when added up, amounted to a life. Had it not been for her, his mother might very well have wound up in that place. In an earlier time, it could have been his own mother he was saving – if saving was what this could be called. And only God knew what would have happened to him, where he might have ended up.”
The premise of the book is very important and the execution was marvelous but I think the story has been cut short for the length and even though the writing style is very simple and relevant, I was hoping for more versatility here. The ending has suited this book well in, adapting an open-to-interpretation ending gave the book the last touch of realism it needed. Not to mention I got to know about an obscure historical practice that involved the death of more than ten thousand innocent people. Kudos to Claire Keegan for mentioning this topic in the author's note.
4 stars/5
In stark contrast to Keegan's “[b:Foster 8143909 Foster Claire Keegan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328146652l/8143909.SY75.jpg 12942254]” I couldn't connect as much with this novella, “[b:Small Things Like These 58662236 Small Things Like These Claire Keegan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1627655660l/58662236.SX50.jpg 86476810]” by [a:Claire Keegan 274817 Claire Keegan https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1309920304p2/274817.jpg]. This may very well be because - as often - I went into this novella not knowing what it was about.Once more we're in Ireland in 1985 and we're following Bill Furlong, our protagonist, around doing his deliveries, preparing for Christmas with his family, etc.. It felt slow and, sadly, not very interesting.Only when he accidentally meets a desperate girl at the local convent do things get somewhat interesting. I sympathised with Furlong's courage to help the girl at the end and finished the book somewhat disappointed.The author's note on the text first introduced me to the “Magdalene asylum” (read: child abuse) system (instituted, of course, by the Christian churches) that existed into the late 20th century.Hundreds of girls and women died while being abused, forced to do hard labour and generally mistreated without payment. And people seem to have known because Furlong is being warned not to get on the wrong side of the nuns... Furlong's uneasy feeling, his inability to share the truth about it even with his wife and his initial reluctance to help which he overcomes - probably at no small cost to himself, his wife and his girls - as a completely ordinary bloke somewhat reconciled me with this novella.Still, for pure literary merit, I would have awarded two stars; having learned about yet another atrocity committed by the churches, the safe haven for paedophiles and other (child) abusers, I add another star.Thus, three stars out of five.Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Medium Matrix TumblrCeterum censeo Putin esse delendam
If the short story of this sad little town doesn't break you, then the generous, empathetic man at the center of it surely will.
What a beautiful book about the human condition. It's a great story to read for Christmas, as that is the setting here. It's spare but with beautiful prose.
A short and straightforward story, but by no means simple. It's not about one person upending a whole system of wrongdoing, but rather someone doing what good they can, where they can, and trying not to perpetuate a world of harm.
A little too sparse for me but I loved the story that this book was written about.
