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Il fiordo di Killary
La carriera letteraria di Kevin Barry nasce dalla congiunzione di un sogno e di un incubo, entrambi precoci. Il sogno era, racconta Barry, «diventare il più grande scrittore ebraico della mia generazione, un autore del livello di Roth o di Malamud, anzi meglio. Solo che per un ventenne lentigginoso di Cork, Irlanda, la faccenda si presentava un po' complicata». Quanto all'incubo, coincideva col pensum imposto dall'industria editoriale a qualsiasi debuttante: trovare una voce (e poi vivere di quella). Bene, dal momento che la sola idea «di sentirsi frastornare per i successivi trenta o quarant'anni da quella benedetta voce, sempre uguale» gli faceva accapponare la pelle, Barry ha tempestivamente optato per una via diversa: scrivere, con la stessa gioia selvaggia che il lettore, per osmosi, prova leggendole, le storie in cui si imbatteva più o meno tutti i giorni, fra le strade e i pub della sua Irlanda. Storie nere, quasi sempre, i cui personaggi non solo sbagliano, ma perseverano, diabolicamente, nell'errore. Un ragazzo esce da un carcere minorile dopo una condanna per spaccio di anfetamine, e ha un'idea luminosa per cominciare una nuova vita: spacciare anfetamine. Un suo coetaneo, sui tetti di Cork, pensa di baciare una sua amica talmente a lungo, e così tormentosamente, da disintegrare anche solo la possibilità di farlo. Due vecchiette battono la campagna in quello che sembra un incantevole road movie della terza età, finché non scopriamo che si tratta di due predatrici, impegnate in una battuta di caccia molto poco innocente. Si ride senza smettere mai, in questo libro: ma come ridono gli ospiti dello strano albergo sul fiordo di Killary, dove durante una pioggia torrenziale l'acqua ricopre il pavimento: e poi, poco a poco, comincia a salire. E a salire. E a salire.
171 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
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About the author
Kevin Barry
80 books1,207 followersKevin Barry is an Irish writer. He is the author of two collections of short stories, and the novel City of Bohane, which was the winner of the 2013 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 272 reviews
July 24, 2018
I enjoyed reading Kevin Barry's novels City of Bohane and Beatlebone over the last year, and this short story collection, first published between those two, demonstrates that he is equally adept at the shorter form.
These stories crackle with character and humour. As in the novels, not all of the characters are likeable but most of these stories are memorable. The title story about a self-harming girl unexpectedly turns into a sort of prequel to Beatlebone.
A perfect short book to fill a day leading up to the Booker announcement. Now for that longlist...
These stories crackle with character and humour. As in the novels, not all of the characters are likeable but most of these stories are memorable. The title story about a self-harming girl unexpectedly turns into a sort of prequel to Beatlebone.
A perfect short book to fill a day leading up to the Booker announcement. Now for that longlist...
Read
January 12, 2021Kevin Barry deals in 'margin' themes. His characters all live on the margins whether it's of society or of sanity.
In my favourite story from this collection, which was a perfect follow-up to reading Barry's Beatlebone, a character, alone in a house made almost entirely of glass on the western edge of the Atlantic Ocean, and very much on the knife edge of her own soul, listens to the Beetles song, 'For no One', and then, she stepped outside again, to be among it, and she walked in bare feet to the high vantage. She looked down on the dark of Clew Bay and the tiny islands that lay in the murk. The cloudbank shifted, a fraction, as though cued by a smiling choreographer, and light fell from the quartermoon and picked out a single island–a low, oblong shape–and it was lit for a moment’s slow reveal. She took a step that was a step outside, yet again, as though from a chrysalis, or trap. Darkly below the moving sheets of water were reliable, never-changing, mesmeric. The hill shapes picked out against the night; the islands, and the Atlantic beyond. She sat on the wet ground. She closed her eyes and knitted her hands around her knees. She huddled closer to herself, and went deeper. She closed her eyes and allowed the world without to fade, for a small while anyway, and for a half a minute, and then a whole one–and then more–there was something just a little like sleep.
In my favourite story from this collection, which was a perfect follow-up to reading Barry's Beatlebone, a character, alone in a house made almost entirely of glass on the western edge of the Atlantic Ocean, and very much on the knife edge of her own soul, listens to the Beetles song, 'For no One', and then, she stepped outside again, to be among it, and she walked in bare feet to the high vantage. She looked down on the dark of Clew Bay and the tiny islands that lay in the murk. The cloudbank shifted, a fraction, as though cued by a smiling choreographer, and light fell from the quartermoon and picked out a single island–a low, oblong shape–and it was lit for a moment’s slow reveal. She took a step that was a step outside, yet again, as though from a chrysalis, or trap. Darkly below the moving sheets of water were reliable, never-changing, mesmeric. The hill shapes picked out against the night; the islands, and the Atlantic beyond. She sat on the wet ground. She closed her eyes and knitted her hands around her knees. She huddled closer to herself, and went deeper. She closed her eyes and allowed the world without to fade, for a small while anyway, and for a half a minute, and then a whole one–and then more–there was something just a little like sleep.
May 25, 2020
Full review to come, but Fjord of Killary in particular deserves to be routinely anthologised. Barry on peak form. Mandatory *****.
October 11, 2021
4.50 Stars (Rnd ⬆️) — Published in the New Yorker back in 2010, This Short Story by — one of my very favourite current authors — Kevin Barry omits his usual penchant for fun, dark drama that’s dripping with masculinity. Instead this story opts for a more of a geographically romantic tale, about a towns people, climate & lore — Keeping his usual & brilliant use of his colourful, cacophony of curse words!
Told with his usual ease of the most highly engaging gritty-prose, this haunting & dreary tale hits the mark in every sense one seeks in a short story. It’s urgent, sharp and not a little bit rushed. Magnificent!
Footnote — I’ve also just now discovered Shuggie Bain author Douglas Sturt’s reading of this on the epically brilliant podcast ‘The New Yorker — Fiction’ — Irish Lore read with a heavy Scottish accent… lovely!
Told with his usual ease of the most highly engaging gritty-prose, this haunting & dreary tale hits the mark in every sense one seeks in a short story. It’s urgent, sharp and not a little bit rushed. Magnificent!
Footnote — I’ve also just now discovered Shuggie Bain author Douglas Sturt’s reading of this on the epically brilliant podcast ‘The New Yorker — Fiction’ — Irish Lore read with a heavy Scottish accent… lovely!
October 5, 2017
Impressive piece of writing here! Entertaining and moving with the occasional flash of dark humour. The author excels in empathy for his characters most if whom are struggling emotionally. There is the sad figure of Doctor Sot for which you can only feel compassion. And the mentally disabled boy in A Cruelty, or the psychotic girl in the title story. Their pains are described in painfull but precise and also poetic detail. The Wifey Redux story is hilarious. Such richness in this small volume, definitely an author to watch.
September 11, 2018
DISCLAIMER I DIDN'T READ ALL THE STORIES IN THIS BOOK
I read "fjord of Killary" and just thought it was super pointless lol - so begins the school readings!
I read "fjord of Killary" and just thought it was super pointless lol - so begins the school readings!
October 18, 2012
great review in the Guardian that compares him to VS Pritchett (one of my favourite writers & I met him once!).
hurray just in at the library. I've now got three great story collections to read. I'm in heaven.
...another superb collection. Will do a review, but so much going on I'm not sure when! (got another three or four to catch up on).
Big bold writing, involving and colourful characters (eg the slightly boorish but love-able blokes on a beer trip, the drunken doctor who takes up community outreach work with an unseen-until-now vigour when he sees a gorgeous traveller woman in town: he feels he must now visit their site in the woods to hand out leaflets, even the seemingly gentle two old biddies who drive around in their battered car to stately homes on Sundays are not what they seem), but also subtleties and nuances within them. Often funny, but again not always: the title story for example is a sombre – and rather beautiful – account of a teenage suicide risk, a rich kid alone in her daddy’s holiday house in Clew Bay, County Mayo. I did feel the ones set outside Ireland were not as successful (apart from the Anglo/Welsh ‘Beer Trip to Llandudno’ which was ace), two in London and one in Berlin.
here's an opening from one story that gives you a good flavour of his stuff:
This is the story of a happy marriage but before you throw up and turn the page let me say that it will end with my face pressed hard into the cold metal of the Volvo’s bonnet, my hands cuffed behind my back, and my rights droned into my ear – this will occur in the car park of a big-box retail unit on the Naas Road in Dublin. (Wifey Redux)
plus I might like him cuz he is the spitting image of a friend of mine (and writer) who died in 2005, Stuart Crees. Here's his picture:
and here's Kevin Barry:
can you spot any difference?
hurray just in at the library. I've now got three great story collections to read. I'm in heaven.
...another superb collection. Will do a review, but so much going on I'm not sure when! (got another three or four to catch up on).
Big bold writing, involving and colourful characters (eg the slightly boorish but love-able blokes on a beer trip, the drunken doctor who takes up community outreach work with an unseen-until-now vigour when he sees a gorgeous traveller woman in town: he feels he must now visit their site in the woods to hand out leaflets, even the seemingly gentle two old biddies who drive around in their battered car to stately homes on Sundays are not what they seem), but also subtleties and nuances within them. Often funny, but again not always: the title story for example is a sombre – and rather beautiful – account of a teenage suicide risk, a rich kid alone in her daddy’s holiday house in Clew Bay, County Mayo. I did feel the ones set outside Ireland were not as successful (apart from the Anglo/Welsh ‘Beer Trip to Llandudno’ which was ace), two in London and one in Berlin.
here's an opening from one story that gives you a good flavour of his stuff:
This is the story of a happy marriage but before you throw up and turn the page let me say that it will end with my face pressed hard into the cold metal of the Volvo’s bonnet, my hands cuffed behind my back, and my rights droned into my ear – this will occur in the car park of a big-box retail unit on the Naas Road in Dublin. (Wifey Redux)
plus I might like him cuz he is the spitting image of a friend of mine (and writer) who died in 2005, Stuart Crees. Here's his picture:
and here's Kevin Barry:
can you spot any difference?
August 30, 2012
Short stories have a strong place in Irish writing, and many Irish authors of literary fiction have turned their hand to the genre. Kevin Barry is a very fine addition to the list. Dark Lies the Island is his second volume in this format and maintains a superb standard throughout, ranging from the touching, romantic and poignant through the humourous to the threatening. There are hints of an older more traditional Ireland, but the overall tone is very much one of an Ireland overtaken by new values, promulgated by a range of dystopian subcultures. And even where rural Ireland is portrayed, it is a sinister, off-kilter rural Ireland rather than the bucolic ideal of the past.
Barry writes beautifully, and has the knack of being able to portray the essence of a character in a few short sentences or paragraphs. It is in the nature of the short story that we have to grasp the characters quickly and this is where Dark Lies the Island is particularly successful. Some of these characters and their experiences will live in my memory even if their names quickly fade I read this book quickly, but I find that I want to go back immediately to read some of these stories again, to re-experience the emotions which they have stirred.
There are thirteen stories in total, ranging from six pages to just over twenty. Most are set in Ireland, though a minority deal with the Irish abroad - a Real Ale Club from Liverpool takes a day trip to Llandudno, a young Irish writer spends a summer on the margins of Berlin Society and an IRA cell plan a bombing in Camden.
Dark lies the Island opens on a wistful note with Across the Rooftops – the story of a kiss which may or may not happen, but in the end doesn’t go quite as planned. Wifey Redux relates the narrative of a blissful marriage which has gradually deteriorated and the difficulty of a father coming to terms with the sexuality of his daughter – the tone is one of dark humour. Other stories deal with the darker side of human relationships – A Cruelty follows a day in the life of a young man with Autism Spectrum Disorder, while Ernestine and Kit are two elderly ladies with some very bad intentions.
Most of the characters here are inadequate in one way or another. Barry writes about them with a degree of compassion while not shying away from highlighting their weaknesses and failures.
Overall, I loved this collection for its range and scope. There is not a bad story here and more than a few great ones which will live long in the memory. It deserves to be widely read. Barry is a very talented writer with a very will received novel (City of Bohane) and two excellent collections of short stories who may well become a major figure in Irish Fiction in the years to come.
Barry writes beautifully, and has the knack of being able to portray the essence of a character in a few short sentences or paragraphs. It is in the nature of the short story that we have to grasp the characters quickly and this is where Dark Lies the Island is particularly successful. Some of these characters and their experiences will live in my memory even if their names quickly fade I read this book quickly, but I find that I want to go back immediately to read some of these stories again, to re-experience the emotions which they have stirred.
There are thirteen stories in total, ranging from six pages to just over twenty. Most are set in Ireland, though a minority deal with the Irish abroad - a Real Ale Club from Liverpool takes a day trip to Llandudno, a young Irish writer spends a summer on the margins of Berlin Society and an IRA cell plan a bombing in Camden.
Dark lies the Island opens on a wistful note with Across the Rooftops – the story of a kiss which may or may not happen, but in the end doesn’t go quite as planned. Wifey Redux relates the narrative of a blissful marriage which has gradually deteriorated and the difficulty of a father coming to terms with the sexuality of his daughter – the tone is one of dark humour. Other stories deal with the darker side of human relationships – A Cruelty follows a day in the life of a young man with Autism Spectrum Disorder, while Ernestine and Kit are two elderly ladies with some very bad intentions.
Most of the characters here are inadequate in one way or another. Barry writes about them with a degree of compassion while not shying away from highlighting their weaknesses and failures.
Overall, I loved this collection for its range and scope. There is not a bad story here and more than a few great ones which will live long in the memory. It deserves to be widely read. Barry is a very talented writer with a very will received novel (City of Bohane) and two excellent collections of short stories who may well become a major figure in Irish Fiction in the years to come.
April 20, 2013
Dark Lies the Island by Kevin Barry is a book of short stories.
I really did not enjoy this book and found the stories lacking in character development and just did hold my interest. I found myself going from one story to the next without really enjoying what I was reading.
I am not a fan of short stories as I always feel the story ends before it begins but having said that, I am not used to reading short stories and I think you have to learn to think more and differently in a short story and fill in the gaps as you are not going to get the plot or character development of a Novel.
Not my cup of tea but am sure fans of short stories will enjoy it.
I really did not enjoy this book and found the stories lacking in character development and just did hold my interest. I found myself going from one story to the next without really enjoying what I was reading.
I am not a fan of short stories as I always feel the story ends before it begins but having said that, I am not used to reading short stories and I think you have to learn to think more and differently in a short story and fill in the gaps as you are not going to get the plot or character development of a Novel.
Not my cup of tea but am sure fans of short stories will enjoy it.
October 11, 2013
This is the second book by Kevin Barry that I bought, but it became the first one that I've actually read.
The Gaelic-Nadsatesque reputation of 'City of Bohane' is still too intimidating to win over. Time will tell.
Thus, I decided to give Mr Barry a go starting with a selection of some of his most recent short stories, thanks to a fruitful and affordable harvest along the shelves of the Hay Cinema Bookshop.
Credits first.
There are 13 short stories in 'Dark Lies the Island' and five out of the first six are no short than excellent.
I know some of you don't like those reviewers comparing one novelist to others or making cocktail percentages out of literary influences, but I will annoy you nonetheless; my first impact with Kevin Barry brought to my mind Raymond Carver and - less surprisingly - Roddy Doyle.
Not that I'm the greatest fan of Raymond and Roddy, but to my mind Mr Barry managed to get the best features of both: Carver's straight prose finding beauty in a dull everyday's life and Doyle's sharp sense of humour and Irish cosmopolitan savoir faire.
As a bonus, Kevin Barry showed me that he knows how to draw with a wide palette.
Whereas the opening of 'Across the Rooftops' is poignant and melancholy in its adolescent stillness, the vibrant 'Wifey Redux' is a comic gem which the author quite obviously enjoyed writing.
From what I read here and there, it's the the third short story 'Fjord of Killary' the one that got more praise around (perhaps due to having been published on The New Yorker). Well, I liked this one enough and appreciated its self deprecating irony and cliffhanging mood, but my favourite in the lot lies elsewhere.
After the disappointing interlude of 'A Cruelty' which left me lukewarm and forced me to briefly reconsider my initial awe for Mr Barry, things got bettter again with 'A Beer Trip to Llandudno' the first short story in the collection set out of Ireland and reminiscent to me of certain works by supposedly minor British authors (Magnus Mills? John O'Farrell?).
But it's with 'Ernestine and Kit' the sixth installment of the book that I've finally set my mind up and blessed the 3 quids I spent for the my second hand copy of 'Dark Lies the Island'. What Kevin Barry accomplished with the 12 pages of this short story is a truly amazing miniature of Irish on the road life on a serene Sunday afternoon. And the two affable and gossipy ladies of a certain age who take charge of the plot will twist it in unpredictable ways.
And here pretty much ends my praise.
For the remaining seven stories don't shine. Open up your umbrella, please.
Sure, Mr Barry read his Irvine Welsh and tried to pay his homage to him (see 'The Girls and The Dogs'), but the outcome is disappointing if not clumsy.
The vaguely ambitious 'The Mainland Campaign' fails in delivering a convincing portrait of a self-made romantic teenage bomber (and shows to some extent how Barry's knowledge of what music a post-Goth teenager might listen to is somewhat limited: Sisters of Mercy? Einsturzende Neubauten? Aw, come on! I don't buy this).
Both 'White Hitachi' and 'Wistful England' left me bored and quite puzzled on what actually Barry wanted to express apart from boredom and numbness. The penultimate short story 'Dark Lies the Island' didn't really justify its status as the title track of the whole collection. To be honest, it's not a bad story but then again it left me umoved, untouched and convinced me that Mr Barry had already shot all of his best bullets in the first round.
The oddly titled finale of 'Berlin Arkonaplatz - My Lesbian Summer' looks more like a rielaboration of a hypothetical 20 something Barry's own diary in Berlin (even though it doesn't look like he ever lived there) than like an actual short story. I'm weak and have this tendency to give unconditional love to everything set in Berlin, but Barry's effort is out of focus and the fictional (?) character of post-war refugee, post-raped, post-squatter, post-feminist, post-lesbian, semi-artistic photographer Silvija sounded too unnatural to me.
All things considered, I've no doubt that Kevin Barry is talented, brilliant and even - at times- fucken entertainin' (as he would put it in one of his short stories), but this island lying in the dark should have been more interesting to map had it had a good 80 mil...ehm pages less.
The Gaelic-Nadsatesque reputation of 'City of Bohane' is still too intimidating to win over. Time will tell.
Thus, I decided to give Mr Barry a go starting with a selection of some of his most recent short stories, thanks to a fruitful and affordable harvest along the shelves of the Hay Cinema Bookshop.
Credits first.
There are 13 short stories in 'Dark Lies the Island' and five out of the first six are no short than excellent.
I know some of you don't like those reviewers comparing one novelist to others or making cocktail percentages out of literary influences, but I will annoy you nonetheless; my first impact with Kevin Barry brought to my mind Raymond Carver and - less surprisingly - Roddy Doyle.
Not that I'm the greatest fan of Raymond and Roddy, but to my mind Mr Barry managed to get the best features of both: Carver's straight prose finding beauty in a dull everyday's life and Doyle's sharp sense of humour and Irish cosmopolitan savoir faire.
As a bonus, Kevin Barry showed me that he knows how to draw with a wide palette.
Whereas the opening of 'Across the Rooftops' is poignant and melancholy in its adolescent stillness, the vibrant 'Wifey Redux' is a comic gem which the author quite obviously enjoyed writing.
From what I read here and there, it's the the third short story 'Fjord of Killary' the one that got more praise around (perhaps due to having been published on The New Yorker). Well, I liked this one enough and appreciated its self deprecating irony and cliffhanging mood, but my favourite in the lot lies elsewhere.
After the disappointing interlude of 'A Cruelty' which left me lukewarm and forced me to briefly reconsider my initial awe for Mr Barry, things got bettter again with 'A Beer Trip to Llandudno' the first short story in the collection set out of Ireland and reminiscent to me of certain works by supposedly minor British authors (Magnus Mills? John O'Farrell?).
But it's with 'Ernestine and Kit' the sixth installment of the book that I've finally set my mind up and blessed the 3 quids I spent for the my second hand copy of 'Dark Lies the Island'. What Kevin Barry accomplished with the 12 pages of this short story is a truly amazing miniature of Irish on the road life on a serene Sunday afternoon. And the two affable and gossipy ladies of a certain age who take charge of the plot will twist it in unpredictable ways.
And here pretty much ends my praise.
For the remaining seven stories don't shine. Open up your umbrella, please.
Sure, Mr Barry read his Irvine Welsh and tried to pay his homage to him (see 'The Girls and The Dogs'), but the outcome is disappointing if not clumsy.
The vaguely ambitious 'The Mainland Campaign' fails in delivering a convincing portrait of a self-made romantic teenage bomber (and shows to some extent how Barry's knowledge of what music a post-Goth teenager might listen to is somewhat limited: Sisters of Mercy? Einsturzende Neubauten? Aw, come on! I don't buy this).
Both 'White Hitachi' and 'Wistful England' left me bored and quite puzzled on what actually Barry wanted to express apart from boredom and numbness. The penultimate short story 'Dark Lies the Island' didn't really justify its status as the title track of the whole collection. To be honest, it's not a bad story but then again it left me umoved, untouched and convinced me that Mr Barry had already shot all of his best bullets in the first round.
The oddly titled finale of 'Berlin Arkonaplatz - My Lesbian Summer' looks more like a rielaboration of a hypothetical 20 something Barry's own diary in Berlin (even though it doesn't look like he ever lived there) than like an actual short story. I'm weak and have this tendency to give unconditional love to everything set in Berlin, but Barry's effort is out of focus and the fictional (?) character of post-war refugee, post-raped, post-squatter, post-feminist, post-lesbian, semi-artistic photographer Silvija sounded too unnatural to me.
All things considered, I've no doubt that Kevin Barry is talented, brilliant and even - at times- fucken entertainin' (as he would put it in one of his short stories), but this island lying in the dark should have been more interesting to map had it had a good 80 mil...ehm pages less.
December 24, 2018
Absolutely brilliant collection, I was brought near to tears in three separate stories, and absorbed completely more times than I can think. Each of Barry's voices are distinct and filled with both comedy and melancholy. Would highly recommend, seriously debating whether to put this in my favourites.
January 21, 2016
Who said the short story was dead? Kevin Barry breathes life into the flagging format with this energetic and thrilling collection. The much celebrated author has a wonderful ear for Irish dialogue and a mischievous sense of humour permeates throughout. The New Yorker-published 'Fjord of Killary' tends to attract most of the plaudits but for me 'Ernestine and Kit' is the stand-out. This unsettling tale of two middle-aged women on a leisurely drive through the Sligo countryside quickly takes a sinister turn and leaves a bitter, unforgettable taste.
August 28, 2022
"The people of this part of North Galway are oversexed. That is my belief. I had found a level of ribaldry that bordered on the paganistic."
"Seven sheep in a rowing boat were being bobbed about on the vicious waters of Killary. The sheep appeared strangely calm."
A brilliant short story that somehow captures the most amusing aspects of life in my part of the world.
print: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
March 27, 2019
3,25/5
April 6, 2018
3.5 stars (but you should definitely read it if you're interested in Irish lit! )
This is an interesting, well-written collection with some great stories but also contains a few stories that didn't work so well for me. Interestingly these seemed to mainly be the storied set outside Ireland. Kevin Barry's strength seems to be writing about Irish life, with it's hilarity, quirks and charms as well as the dark elements.
'Across the Rooftops' is the jewel of the collection. A tale of a missed kiss and the fleeting nature of youth. 'Wife Redux' and the 'Fjord of Killary' were hilarious, tragic, a little surreal and totally modern. My favourite story was 'Ernestine and Kit' which darkly subverts the image of the old Irish 'biddy'. I liked the final Berlin piece too, I like to think it's the same character from 'Across the Rooftops' , exploring the world. The title story 'Dark Lies the Island' was an interesting depiction of a break down but felt somewhat lifeless.
I couldn't help thinking of Colin Barrett's amazing 2015 collection 'Young Skins' while reading Kevin Barry's collection. Barry must have had some influence on his menacing tales of small town Ireland gone wrong. However Barry is a very different writer and there is a humour, playfulness and empathy to his short stories which makes them really enjoyable. There may even be a sense that redemption might be in reach for some of these characters.
This is an interesting, well-written collection with some great stories but also contains a few stories that didn't work so well for me. Interestingly these seemed to mainly be the storied set outside Ireland. Kevin Barry's strength seems to be writing about Irish life, with it's hilarity, quirks and charms as well as the dark elements.
'Across the Rooftops' is the jewel of the collection. A tale of a missed kiss and the fleeting nature of youth. 'Wife Redux' and the 'Fjord of Killary' were hilarious, tragic, a little surreal and totally modern. My favourite story was 'Ernestine and Kit' which darkly subverts the image of the old Irish 'biddy'. I liked the final Berlin piece too, I like to think it's the same character from 'Across the Rooftops' , exploring the world. The title story 'Dark Lies the Island' was an interesting depiction of a break down but felt somewhat lifeless.
I couldn't help thinking of Colin Barrett's amazing 2015 collection 'Young Skins' while reading Kevin Barry's collection. Barry must have had some influence on his menacing tales of small town Ireland gone wrong. However Barry is a very different writer and there is a humour, playfulness and empathy to his short stories which makes them really enjoyable. There may even be a sense that redemption might be in reach for some of these characters.
December 6, 2012
I heard Kevin Barry read in the summer at the John Hewitt International Summer School in Armagh. He read the first of the stories in this collection, 'Across the Rooftops' and he held the entire auditorium of afternoon listeners in his thrall. I'd read one other of the stories, 'The Girls and the Dogs' online at The Irish Times (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/f...) so I had an idea of what I was in for: dark, gritty, humorous writing that never lets you sit back on your haunches but has you holding your breath throughout. He's an absolute star. I look forward to reading City of Bohane.
December 31, 2013
Kevin Barry is a sneak. His stories start in one space or mode and end up in another, often unpredictable, place altogether. Drop dead hilarity gives way to deep pathos, and real insight. His characters often long to get back to a place or time they can not return to, whether it be through their own actions and devices, or simply because time moves always forward. His dialogue sings, and when his characters speak of lost love and the process of growing older it is with intelligence and grace. A unique and vivacious voice.
January 5, 2014
I was surprised at the variety of style and subject of these stories. I saw Kevin Barry do a reading recently in Washington DC where he read, rather he performed, the story about Killary Harbor. I finished this short collection impressed with his skill in drawing pictures of many different worlds.
August 6, 2020
(4.5)
The best short story collection I've read by some distance and the first that I've enjoyed from beginning to end.
This is a fantastic collection of varied, funny ('Wifey Redux', in particular, is hilarious), wonderfully wacky and deeply human stories. Barry draws characters and scenes so quickly and effectively that the constraints of the short story aren't so apparent, with these stories feeling spacious despite their short length.
Unfortunately, it does fall victim to short story collections' biggest weakness: Inconsistency. I felt that some of the stories, whilst enjoyable, didn't match the high standard set by the best of this collection, which is why I've decided to perch atop the fence with the non-commital 4.5 star rating.
The best short story collection I've read by some distance and the first that I've enjoyed from beginning to end.
This is a fantastic collection of varied, funny ('Wifey Redux', in particular, is hilarious), wonderfully wacky and deeply human stories. Barry draws characters and scenes so quickly and effectively that the constraints of the short story aren't so apparent, with these stories feeling spacious despite their short length.
Unfortunately, it does fall victim to short story collections' biggest weakness: Inconsistency. I felt that some of the stories, whilst enjoyable, didn't match the high standard set by the best of this collection, which is why I've decided to perch atop the fence with the non-commital 4.5 star rating.
April 24, 2018
Finished: 24.04.2018
Genre: short stories
Rating: F-
Review:
This collection of short stories was a huge disappointment.
I am not going to waste any more of my time on a long review.
I wasted enough time reading this book!
13 stories and I enjoyed just 2 !
Beer Trip to Llandudno (funny) and
Ernestine and Kit
(...difference between appearances and reality, intense)
To make matters worse...I know Kevin Barry can do better
...but I did not find it in this collection.
#Bah
Genre: short stories
Rating: F-
Review:
This collection of short stories was a huge disappointment.
I am not going to waste any more of my time on a long review.
I wasted enough time reading this book!
13 stories and I enjoyed just 2 !
Beer Trip to Llandudno (funny) and
Ernestine and Kit
(...difference between appearances and reality, intense)
To make matters worse...I know Kevin Barry can do better
...but I did not find it in this collection.
#Bah
February 20, 2019
Realista y sin medias tintas, lo mismo te imparte un máster sobre cervezas a través de una “peculiar” asociación, que te describe un secuestro surrealista y deprimente. Bueno, en realidad, el buen rollo brilla por su ausencia, los relatos no te dan un respiro ni, prácticamente, un soplo de optimismo, pero esa mezcla de horror y humor negrísimo, ese carácter tan irlandés, resultan como un puñetazo que te revuelve y te deja con ganas de más.
April 24, 2025
This anthology reinvigorated my hatred of men. Kevin Barry you dunce. The only redeeming quality is Barry’s ability to make me want to learn more about the leeches in society. Majority of the stories perpetuate male fantasies and villainize womanhood and queerness to such an insane extent. Super ignorant, and I really don’t think it was satire..
March 30, 2017
Mixed bag of short stories about young infatuation, hooliganism and regret. While I didn't enjoy this collection as much as the novel, The City of Bohane, some of the stories are powerfully good, especially "Beer Run to Llandudno," which captures the nostalgia-fueled regret of middle age.
January 20, 2014
This collection of short stories is the first Kevin Barry book that I've read, despite having heard the critical acclaim for his work in recent years. The stories are primarily set in the west of Ireland, although a number feature emigrants who have left the area to live in London.
I wasn't sure what to expect from the book, but was pleasantly surprised, both by the variety of stories told, and also by the at times challenging and dark subject matter. While humour pervaded throughout the book, darker stories like Mainland Campaign will remain with me, Barry's skilful juxtaposition of mundane and fantastical themes in such a short piece really impressing me.
While I didn't love every piece in the book, the way that the majority of the tales grabbed me means that I'll definitely be aiming to read both Barry's other short story collection and his novel, City of Bohane, and will follow his future work with interest.
I wasn't sure what to expect from the book, but was pleasantly surprised, both by the variety of stories told, and also by the at times challenging and dark subject matter. While humour pervaded throughout the book, darker stories like Mainland Campaign will remain with me, Barry's skilful juxtaposition of mundane and fantastical themes in such a short piece really impressing me.
While I didn't love every piece in the book, the way that the majority of the tales grabbed me means that I'll definitely be aiming to read both Barry's other short story collection and his novel, City of Bohane, and will follow his future work with interest.
August 3, 2022
A bold voice, non-compliant, taking stories in either unexpected directions, - -and sometimes just stopping. Rather fierce but lit within by either humour or a kind of reserved concern for the objects of the story. A mixed experience perhaps- Fjord of Killary is the stand out piece - which demonstrates an ear for dialogue as bright, true and jaundiced as you could hope for from an Irish writer. I laughed out loud.
Wifey Redux was a great exercise in the gradual release of truth and anger until it floods the picture. Made me feel uncomfortable for everyone involved.
Great moments of course in some other stories - but Not consistently enough and so In comparison - I kept bumping into a sensation of a sketch, or artifice that I wasn’t sure about. I see enough that is good to commit to one of his novels perhaps.
Wifey Redux was a great exercise in the gradual release of truth and anger until it floods the picture. Made me feel uncomfortable for everyone involved.
Great moments of course in some other stories - but Not consistently enough and so In comparison - I kept bumping into a sensation of a sketch, or artifice that I wasn’t sure about. I see enough that is good to commit to one of his novels perhaps.
November 26, 2012
Unfortunately not for me. Barry is skilled at setting up a real, enveloping scenario and creating familiar characters in the space of only a few pages. The humor is dark and the tales poignant in their own blunt way. Perhaps I'm just not familiar enough with Irish literature (and culture, I think, for it seems that it'd be best to have an understanding of the Irish mindset in order to truly enjoy the stories) to appreciate Barry's writing fully. I wanted to like it, but instead found it boring and uninspiring, although I did warm up towards the stories near the end of the collection. I truly do believe that I'm missing something essential in understanding the literature, and would recommend this anthology to readers familiar with Irish culture and literature.
December 19, 2018
Second read. 4 to 4.5 stars. I'd put it tad behind his first collection, There Are Little Kingdoms. A few of the stories didn't do much for me, but five of them are outstanding. That's very good for a collection. 'Wifey Redux' is a very entertaining, things go awry story that reminded me a bit of some of TC Boyle's outings. 'Fjord of Kilarney' is something along those lines but with the patois kicked up to a level that only a native can get away with. Great dialogue! 'A Cruelty' is aptly titled, and 'Ernestine and Kit' is similarly dark but even more disturbing. Especially the ending. Whoa. 'Dark Lies the Island' is another winner. Barry's interest in John Lennon and the island he bought in Ireland surfaces here. Such was the focus of his novel Beatlebone too.
May 16, 2015
This collection of short stories is the modern day Dubliners we’ve been waiting for. Sharing the set between Ireland and England, these tales offer no shortage of unrequited loves, sauntering scoundrels, and modern day twists of classic lore. Woven with characteristically Irish wit and dark humor, these stories make for a wildly unforgettable ride.
February 20, 2021
A fantastic young Irish writer.
January 29, 2017
Cinque stelle per una raccolta di racconti veramente imperdibile. Una lingua graffiante, sempre evocativa e spiazzante, e trame nere nere, un po' inquietanti un po' comiche. Da leggere.
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