A killer story-a short story by Billy O’ Callaghan
My husband thinks this story is very clever whereas I don’t like these types of stories. I cannot go into much detail as I will give away the enjoyment of the story for you!
A killer story is a type of short story, as I have said, that I just don’t like. Other people do and will marvel at it. I like subtleness in an ending and I don’t want to be tricked.
It is a very short story that has a great start and development, a fresh idea and a future for the character suited to a longer piece.
In other words, I was interested in what would happen to the narrator next but the ending lets it and me down. But, read it and make up your own mind! Very different from the tone, style and endings of the other stories I have read in the collection.
That is all I am saying.
A killer story is taken from In Exile, a collection written by Billy O’ Callaghan and published by Mercier Press.
I had reached the 5th story in this collection and although, the previous story “Ghosts” moved away from the themes/setting of farming, rural isolation and island life, I was becoming a bit tired of those themes too. However, it moves quickly away from that tried and tested Irish short story setting to an urban one, which is good, I think.
www.clarebirdwatching.com
In Exile tells the story of a man who has more or less escaped from his native, irish-speaking island of Cape Clear. Cape Clear brings up images of an American island, for some reason! The narrator lives with his wife, Jenny in their very urban house in Dublin. He misses his life yet he rejects it. One day, he comes across a past member from the island and this is where the story begins. It flits between island memories and present day in Dublin. I really liked this. I was able to see the life on the island and the cruelties of it alongside the torture that the narrator feels every day and even more so when he comes up against his past. This story is my favourite so far. A believable narrative voice with a real, human story.
It ends the way a good short story should. With the reader wanting to know what happens in the character’s life yet knowing if they did, that the story would then be a novel.
In Exile is a short story that is from Billy O’ Callaghan’s collection of the same name, In Exile and is published by Mercier Press.
“Ghosts”, a short story by Billy O’ Callaghan. This story is taken from Billy’s short story collection, In Exile.
www.globalposts.com
“Ghosts” is the fourth story of the collection and it moves away from the farming or fishing setting contained within the first three. It is set somewhere in the jungle. The time is war and we see the jungle and the war that is contained within through the eyes of a young soldier. The trauma of the soldier’s first killing is relayed with detailed accounts of the weather and how it impacts on the character’s feelings.
I found the language to be very eloquent for that of a soldier so it prevented me believing the narrator somewhat. However, the killing and the effect it has on the killer does ring true with what the reader might imagine it to be.
War is not my bag, baby so it was a story I wanted to finish quickly. However, the scene is described well and the character’s thoughts on what he had done and how this affected him are carried out well. It is not my favourite of Billy’s so far and that is down to the over eloquent language and description of the weather and the lack of me connecting to the content and setting of the story. This is not to say it is not a very competent story that will hold you till the end.
I love clever titles. This short story has an excellent title, Put down. At first glance, it means little to the reader but as we read on, we see the title refers to the relationship between the husband and wife and the general action or conflict of the story.
We have two characters, Mc Carthy and Brid. Husband and wife, living in rural Ireland. There is poverty and we are not quite sure when this is taking place. The conflict begins when the conflict begins between Brid and her trodden on husband. She wants him to do something that is necessary to the running of the farm but he does not want to do it. By the end of the story, we see that Mc Carthy is so put down that he complies with the worst thing in the world and we can only wonder at what will happen to him after this story ends.
Billy O’ Callaghan is writing about country or rural isolation and the effects on relationships. He is mostly telling us about a relationship gone bad and he contrasts it with a good relationship, the only one that was meaningful for McCarthy. We hear Brid’s voice throughout the story, instructing McCarthy and we get wonderful tastes of the landscape and the weather from beginning to the end.
This story unnerved me, it was powerfully written especially the climax, which I won’t reveal. Worth a read and does what every good short story should do-a problem, a reveal of character and a further reveal at the climax with a nudge to the future for the character.
I get sent books, which is most excellent as I do love them!
The majority of them are longer pieces of work, novels or novellas. I got a new novel yesterday, which is great but it makes me feel as if I am abandoning my first love of short stories! And then, I focus on reading the novels and actually do forget the short story collections, of which I have quite a few to get through!
So, to focus me and give me a challenge, I’m going to read and blog about a new short story every day. It may very well be that I blog about a full collection in a week and a half or read random stories from all over the bookshelves in my house. Either way, I hope it brings me into focus and it promotes the brilliance that is the short story!
I will be starting off with the short story collection, In Exile by Billy O’ Callaghan and his story “The Body on the Boat” tomorrow. And there is to be no cheating on my part. Therefore, I am setting myself rules. No bulk reading of stories. No bulk and pre-dating blog posts.
I started Lorrie Moore’s new short story collection Bark after finishing half of Ann Enright’s “The Portable Virgin” and feeling a bit perplexed and not loved up towards that particular collection. I am hoping that The Portable Virgin is something I will come back to.
www.npr.org
Now, I needed a short story that suited my reading style and taste. Entertaining, with funky characters and situations with endings that makes you miss the story and the people in it.
Lorrie Moore is an American fiction writers best known for her short stories. Nuala Ni Chonchuir originally alerted me to her, on the Arena programme on RTE Radio 1. I actually would agree with her review and opinion of the collection but please, read on!
Debarking is the first and strongest story of the collection. A lovely, long short story, which I do enjoy most. In this story, we see Ira, a newly divorced man coping with the stresses of dating after a marriage breakup. I use the word “stresses” in a tongue in cheek way as this story is brilliantly witty and shrewd, most time it is simply comical. Ira starts to date a “mentally challenged” women called Zora who had a teenage son who she seems to be almost having a relationship with. Ira is an observer to all of this madness and he goes along with it all as Zora is quite the hot looking woman.
The details that Moore includes within her character are excellent. The characters of Ira and Zora are thought out, living and breathing and this is what adds to the entertainment of it all. The story ends with what seems to be a recurring theme of the intrusion of television in the characters lives. The invasion of Iraq featuring heavily throughout. This story was my introduction to the world of Lorrie Moore and I found myself very excited about reading the reminder of her stories.
My other favourite was “Referential”. A sad, raw story about a mother and her mentally ill son. Of course, there is the added hassle of the mother having an unconnected boyfriend thrown into the mix. We can see that there is a growing separation between the mother and the boyfriend of ten years. The mother is seeing it too and that’s the sad thing. You can read this story online for free at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10668431/A-new-short-story-by-Lorrie-Moore-Referential.html
The remainder of the collection write almost exclusively about relationships but especially about couples who are divorced, having marriage troubles or illnesses/ struggles in long term relationships. The characters therefore were of a different time and age to me so it was hard to relate. If you take this collection as an amusing observation on love and its complexities, you will do well with it. Many critics have said that Bark was too short with only 8 stories. But, I was quite satisfied as after reading through the collection, Moore’s style and content remain the same no matter what. For me, to carry on reading another 10, I may have became restless. I did enjoy the way she looks at life and the quirks within but the subject matter and characters were alien to me, at times.
Of course, the name itself is going to attract writers, readers or people who like to sit and think or chat. We spotted this immediately and along with its beautiful, crisp white exterior, it tempted us in.
tripadvisor.com
Inside, the colours of white and berry give it a fresh and thoughtful place to sit and drink coffee. The room is lined with bookcase of second hand books, all priced E3.90 to avoid confusion. I bought a barely used book which I saw later in a bookshop priced at E18!
Want to give this place a go?
Atmosphere: 4/5- Music is lightly playing and there are two couches along with many small tables and chairs which are not too tightly packed in. The staff are extremely welcoming and they leave you alone to sit, read and write. The cafe is decorated beautifully with artwork of books and reading and even the cushions are book themed!
Other Guests:4/5 Apparently, the day before a local poet has visited and treated the customers to an impronto poetry reading! The other guests were made up of couples and tourists(mostly German and English tourists) They were not too loud and did not intrude on my reading. There was no evidence of families or young children in the cafe but I saw many young families look at the name of the shop and carry on by. Children are great, just not when reading or writing!
Features: 5/5 Wifi and books. It has to get top marks for these two features.
Food/drink-5/5-Homemade cakes, lunch, soup along with locally made chocolate bars with sugar free option.
Overall:I would definitely mark this as a place to go to if you are in Kinsale and fancy a chilled out but lively atmosphere with honest food and books! I would love to see the cafe expanding their book genres as most of them were romantic fiction. Sections on poetry, short stories and fiction would be great. Also, would love to see more local events like open mics or poetry readings taking place. This cafe could really showcase the literary talent of the area.
This book seems to be everywhere, it really has caught the imagination!
The story opens up with the main character and one of the narrators,Oliver Ryan telling us how he has just knocked his wife to the floor and she is most probably dead. It obviously makes you read on…
Oliver is a successful author and he seems to have the perfect life. You will hate him immediately and never warm to him. The author, Liz Nugent crafts a tale that takes us back to the birth or the beginning of Oliver. She uses a multi-narrator device including Oliver, his wife and various friends they have met along the way until now. At the end of each chapter, we get a link that takes us into the next and they all add up to the ending which may come as a surprise to some but didn’t to me as there are subtle clues along the way for the careful!
easonedition.com
I did read this book rather quickly. It was easy to read and Liz writes very well and never goes overboard with unnecessary descriptions of setting or people. She has created some interesting characters though I found that the voices of some of the characters blended into each other at times. Some of the less interesting characters will probably be forgotten about. This did not stop me enjoying the book or wanting to get to the end. Unravelling Oliver is a book destined and possible created for the big screen in mind. The author’s background in theatre and TV lend itself well to these strengths. It is a strong psychological thriller that attempts to justify or explain an evil man and the effect of his background and upbringing on that very evilness.
Thanks to Alison Davies at Atlantic Books for sending me a review copy of this. It can be purchased in many, many good bookshops in Ireland or directly at Atlantic Books.
I read this book slowly at first but once it took off, half way through, I was fixated on racing towards the climax!
The Amber Fury is a psychological novel, a genre I haven’t read in a while and a guilty pleasure, to be honest.
It’s a story about Alex, a teacher who we know is grieving but we don’t know why. We hear her story through direct narration and this intersperses with diary entries from one of her students.
Alex moves of Edinburgh from London to try to cope with her grief and loss and takes on a drama therapy class at a very challenging school type place. She has a full caseload and is warned off a certain group of students. One of these students is the second teller of the story. Alex teaches them all about Greek tragedies, probably not a good idea to teach about the passion of murder and mayhem as per Sophocles. She covers all the plays that I personally love, giving a neat summary for the non Greek tragedy reader. This works well as it seamlessly weaved into the story, with plays like Electra and Oedipus the King. It’s only when we start to see the students really engage with the themes and actions of the characters in the tragedies that we predict the real tragedy of the story.
This is a very engaging and well written story that paces along well, it’s a story about grief and about how humans simply want to connect with each other. A story of boundaries between student and teacher and how these can be manipulated. A story of a chaotic tragedy where the reader will feel sympathy for the good and bad guy. And they are the hallmarks of good Greek tragedy.
It’s published by Corvus Publishers.
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The Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award prize shortlist is out and it closes on April 4th when the winner will be announced at a posh ceremony in London. Junot Diaz won it last year with Kevin Barry, hero winning in the year before.
sundaytimes.co.uk
I’ve downloaded the shortlist to my kindle for 2 pounds sterling! I’ve just finished the first three stories and all are exceptional and moved me me in different ways.
The first one is Anwar Gets Everything by Tahmima Anwar. the Booktrust website has a lovely space for each author and story. Check it out a http://www.booktrust.org.uk/SundayTimesEFG
In this story, a construction worker in Dubai lives to regret quarrelling with his fellow colleague. It is beautifully and poetically written and tells us how awful the situation is. The title and ending are genius. When I read this, I pronounced it my favourite but then I had to read on to the second and third ones!
The second story shortlisted is Othello by Marjorie Celona.
The story is set in small American town with the narrator thinking back to his teenage years and his step-brother who has autism. I loved the voice and style of this, seems as if it was easily written but that’s a compliment as I know it wasn’t. Autism seems to be a feature of fiction recently. Not sure why. Either way, the characters are all real and touched me but wasn’t to convinced by the ending and hoped for something else. I did really liked this tough especially the way it was told. A female author capturing the male, isolated voice brilliantly.
the third onem and my favourite, so far is Nirvana by Adam Johnson.An oddly touching scifi story of love between man and wife. This story, behind all of its geeky references to google glasses, android, drones, holographic images of the President, is primarily a love story and how a husband feels when his wife is facing the end. Really powerful and my favourite out of the three so far.
I will read the rest over the next week and post back. You can vote for your favourite but don’t do it unless you have read the stories and read my reviews, of course.
