Book #70 |
Book: Small Things Like These | Author: Claire Keegan | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 128 | Duration: 08/12/25 – 08/12/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: historical fiction, literary fiction, Irish literature, Christmas | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Man with serious existential angst struggles to find his purpose. 🖌6-word review: Tightly written. Underlying darkness. Ultimately redemptive. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “And blades of cold slid under doors and cut the knees off those who still knelt to say the rosary.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: Herefords (cattle), cheviot (ewes), Rayburn (stove) | |||
| Description:* It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I’m not sure if the writing was “that good” or if it’s something internal to me, but I really felt this protagonist’s angst. Overall, the story was pretty much a buzzkill, but it did redeem itself (I guess) in the end. Having recently read Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, I’d definitely categorize this story as bittersweet, and the protagonist certainly had enough sorrow and longing to make him [more than] whole. | |||
See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.
