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Touchy Subjects: Stories
In this sparkling collection of nineteen stories, the bestselling author of Slammerkin returns to contemporary affairs, exposing the private dilemmas that result from some of our most public controversies. A man finds God and finally wants to father a child-only his wife is now forty-two years old. A coach's son discovers his sexuality on the football field. A roommate's bizarre secret liberates a repressed young woman. From the unforeseen consequences of a polite social lie to the turmoil caused by the hair on a woman's chin, Donoghue dramatizes the seemingly small acts upon which our lives often turn. Many of these stories involve animals and what they mean to us, or babies and whether to have them; some replay biblical plots in modern contexts. With characters old, young, straight, gay, and simply confused, Donoghue dazzles with her range and her ability to touch lightly but delve deeply into the human condition.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
49 people are currently reading
1222 people want to read
About the author
Emma Donoghue
77 books13.2k followersGrew up in Ireland, 20s in England doing a PhD in eighteenth-century literature, since then in Canada. Best known for my novel, film and play ROOM, also other contemporary and historical novels and short stories, non-fiction, theatre and middle-grade novels.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 165 reviews
August 2, 2018
Emma Donoghue has written nineteen good-to-wonderful stories about ordinary people's secret deceits, mistakes, intentional wrongdoings, foibles, and idiosyncratic choices—along with their shame or impunity. "Touchy Subjects" is the perfect title, and as a writer, I wish I'd thought of doing my own version of this. I'd only read Donoghue's Room, so this collection was a surprise—a really nice one. Warmly and compassionately written, the loveliest part of these stories for me was that Donoghue doesn't take sides; she's right smack in the middle of people's messes, loving everybody, and her depth of understanding allows you to identify with everyone.
June 30, 2012
I absolutely adore Short Story collections by fantastic authors. I've loved Ms. Donoghue's writing since I first picked up a copy of Slammerkin all those years ago and I was thrilled when I stumbled across this little collection.
There are 19 stories tucked into this little gem. Some are better than others, in my opinion, but that made it all the more enjoyable. The characters varied, moving from a high powered business-woman who's willing to do anything it takes to have a child, to a bitter crawfisherman who has a crisis of faith. Topics range from sex to religion to death, and she handles them all with equal aplomb.
Some stuck with me more than others, the ones which contained a glimmer of my life or experience. Specifically, "WriteOr" was probably my favorite in the entire collection. Every single thing that was said or done, I've seen. "Do They Know It's Christmas?" gave me some laughs, too, for entirely different reasons.
I absolutely recommend the book. It's wonderful that her skill with the novel translates to the short story as well.
There are 19 stories tucked into this little gem. Some are better than others, in my opinion, but that made it all the more enjoyable. The characters varied, moving from a high powered business-woman who's willing to do anything it takes to have a child, to a bitter crawfisherman who has a crisis of faith. Topics range from sex to religion to death, and she handles them all with equal aplomb.
Some stuck with me more than others, the ones which contained a glimmer of my life or experience. Specifically, "WriteOr" was probably my favorite in the entire collection. Every single thing that was said or done, I've seen. "Do They Know It's Christmas?" gave me some laughs, too, for entirely different reasons.
I absolutely recommend the book. It's wonderful that her skill with the novel translates to the short story as well.
May 4, 2013
Had this out of the library for a while, dipping into it off and on, hoping I'd maybe get into it. Answer: no. The stories feel totally mundane, non-revelatory. They don't have the punchy power that a short story should have (in my opinion and to my taste). And now there's a book I want more in at the library, and I need to make space on my card. 'bye, Emma Donoghue.
May 10, 2021
3.5 stars.
These stories got progressively better (maybe because they got progressively more queer), but imo, Emma Donoghue has written better short story collections. All the same, I enjoyed myself.
These stories got progressively better (maybe because they got progressively more queer), but imo, Emma Donoghue has written better short story collections. All the same, I enjoyed myself.
June 28, 2017
Some fair, some excellent, a few really moving
a collection of short stories by the inimitable ED
a collection of short stories by the inimitable ED
July 7, 2010
I hadn’t read any Donoghue, so thought a collection of short stories would be a good introduction and safer than investing in a novel (burned by Sarah Waters, I won’t assume a mainstream writer will necessarily be good).
These are terrific. If there had been more lesbian stories, it would have gotten the full five stars. I was disappointed by that at first, so flipped through and read all the lesbian ones first. Charmed, I went back to read the rest and found no lack of interest. Even the ones with only a male character are delightful. Oh, and she breaks a “cardinal rule” by switching POVs—in a short story! This is a book to be examined by those who wish to write and write well. See, when you know what you are doing, you can break rules. In this case, she did it with one POV in roman and the other in italic. And here’s another thing she pulls off in the story—we know what each woman is thinking. Does that ruin the tension? No!
A cover blurb from the New York Time Book Review claims her “greatest talent is for humor.” It is a subtle humor. I found myself smiling or chuckling often, but might not have characterized these as humor stories. But she can take the absurd and make it feel normal then take normal and point out its absurdities. There’s a funny one about a woman, traveling alone, on a cave tour in France with a group of “Specials” and the man who holds her hand. And another of a woman trying to get pregnant. Not the kind of stories that are meant to change your life, but maybe your perspective for a few minutes.
And a good lesson for me, these stories really are short, 2,000-5,000 words. She packs in only the information you need, but everything you need. In most cases we know very little about the characters, yet these are fully fleshed stories.
Oh, and “WritOr” is alone worth the full cover price! Consumed by debt while waiting for his Great Novel to make him rich, “the writer” takes a job as a writer in residence at a small community college. Week after week, he deals with the worst of the worst, unable to get through, slowly decomposing down to their level. Then he finds a true gem. Naturally it doesn’t go well.
And since I’m obsessed with covers, I decided this one needed some examination. Two girls on a swing. It took a while before I noticed they are both wearing roller skates. OK, that’s odd. Then just now it occurred to me that one is looking right into the crotch of the other.
Anyway, very highly recommended.
These are terrific. If there had been more lesbian stories, it would have gotten the full five stars. I was disappointed by that at first, so flipped through and read all the lesbian ones first. Charmed, I went back to read the rest and found no lack of interest. Even the ones with only a male character are delightful. Oh, and she breaks a “cardinal rule” by switching POVs—in a short story! This is a book to be examined by those who wish to write and write well. See, when you know what you are doing, you can break rules. In this case, she did it with one POV in roman and the other in italic. And here’s another thing she pulls off in the story—we know what each woman is thinking. Does that ruin the tension? No!
A cover blurb from the New York Time Book Review claims her “greatest talent is for humor.” It is a subtle humor. I found myself smiling or chuckling often, but might not have characterized these as humor stories. But she can take the absurd and make it feel normal then take normal and point out its absurdities. There’s a funny one about a woman, traveling alone, on a cave tour in France with a group of “Specials” and the man who holds her hand. And another of a woman trying to get pregnant. Not the kind of stories that are meant to change your life, but maybe your perspective for a few minutes.
And a good lesson for me, these stories really are short, 2,000-5,000 words. She packs in only the information you need, but everything you need. In most cases we know very little about the characters, yet these are fully fleshed stories.
Oh, and “WritOr” is alone worth the full cover price! Consumed by debt while waiting for his Great Novel to make him rich, “the writer” takes a job as a writer in residence at a small community college. Week after week, he deals with the worst of the worst, unable to get through, slowly decomposing down to their level. Then he finds a true gem. Naturally it doesn’t go well.
And since I’m obsessed with covers, I decided this one needed some examination. Two girls on a swing. It took a while before I noticed they are both wearing roller skates. OK, that’s odd. Then just now it occurred to me that one is looking right into the crotch of the other.
Anyway, very highly recommended.
September 30, 2016
If you liked the movie The Kids are All Right, try this set of short stories about relationships and families by Irish author Emma Donoghue. Divided into categories like birth and death, this collection includes two stories that were so touching and poignant that I almost couldn't stand it: in one, a woman finds herself accidentally browsing in the maternity section of a department store, and, flustered, pretends that she is pregnant when an elderly gentleman congratulates her. In the other, a woman vacationing alone after a bad breakup visits a prehistoric cave in France, where she takes a tour along with a group of mentally-disabled adults.
October 24, 2010
Engaging stories with interesting situations. I do think they could use a little more subtlety, but I always love Donoghue's fearlessness.
May 28, 2025
A short story collection from Emma Donoghue with the overriding theme of "touchy subjects." Donoghue usually bases her stories on real life events or fables. These stories are instead purely from her imagination and cover a wide range of awkward situations and experiences.
Donoghue is a perfect short story writer as she draws you in from the first few paragraphs and has an amazing ability to create a sense of character and interest right from the start. A diverse range of topics are here covering a range of human emotions jealousy, first gay loves etc. Donoghue has a wry sense of humour and this is particularly evident in the Christmas story, the story about the writer in residence and one about troublesome facial hair.
If you like your short stories to have a pithy punchline then these stories might not be the ones for you but I am a great admirer of Donoghue's writing, both her novels and her short stories.
Donoghue is a perfect short story writer as she draws you in from the first few paragraphs and has an amazing ability to create a sense of character and interest right from the start. A diverse range of topics are here covering a range of human emotions jealousy, first gay loves etc. Donoghue has a wry sense of humour and this is particularly evident in the Christmas story, the story about the writer in residence and one about troublesome facial hair.
If you like your short stories to have a pithy punchline then these stories might not be the ones for you but I am a great admirer of Donoghue's writing, both her novels and her short stories.
September 19, 2017
This is my first time reading Emma Donoghue. I have no burning desire to seek out more of her work. None of these short stories engaged me in any significant way. The early stories were particularly lackluster. In a month I won't recall a single one. Given the richness of the subject matter, it's unfortunate the author didn't do more than "touch" the surface. She comes up with some nice metaphors, though.
October 4, 2025
(3.5) I seem to pluck one or two books at random from Donoghue’s back catalogue per year. These 19 contemporary stories fall into thematic bundles: six about pregnancy or babies, several about domestic life, a few each on “Strangers” and “Desire,” and a final set of four touching on death. The settings range around Europe and North America. It’s impressive how Donoghue imagines herself into so many varied situations, including heterosexual men longing for children in their lives and rival Louisiana crawfishermen setting up as tour-boat operators. The attempts to write Black characters in “Lavender’s Blue” and “The Welcome” are a little cringey, and the latter felt dated with its ‘twist’ of a character being trans. She’s on safer ground writing about a jaded creative writing tutor or football teammates who fall for each other. I liked a meaningful encounter between a tourist and an intellectually disabled man in a French cave (“The Sanctuary of Hands”), an Irishwoman’s search for her missing brother in Los Angeles (“Baggage”) and a contemporary take on the Lazarus myth (“Necessary Noise”), but my two favourites were “The Cost of Things,” about a lesbian couple whose breakup is presaged by their responses to their cat’s astronomical vet bill; and “The Dormition of the Virgin,” in which a studious young traveller to Florence misses what’s right under his nose. There are some gems here, but the topics are so scattershot the collection doesn’t cohere.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
December 4, 2023
Great book to to get me back into reading as it is made up of multiple different stories. I enjoyed the beginning more than the end up that is probably because I just was not interested in the theme of death. It was refreshing to read about so many different stories, while they all carried a similar theme throughout.
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April 15, 2024They are indeed touchy subjects, sometimes literally related to tensions re being touched, sometimes touching. Donoghue is excellent at sensory detail and evocation of mood. Perhaps "Speaking in Tongues" is my favourite, at once intensely arousing and very sad.
January 17, 2021
A good collection of stories, ranging from conception to death to resurrection, with all the stuff of life in between––family, work, attraction, pets, paint colours. The one that I think will stay with me the longest is "WritOr," which made me laugh.
December 22, 2018
Okay - not my favourite of Donoghue's work.
August 23, 2015
Emma Donoghue is an incredible writer. She wrote one of my favorite books of all time (Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins). She's written other books that I loved, admired, was amazed by, was changed by (Stir-Fry and Room). She's written others that kept me absorbed and fully present in them, even when they did not match (for me) the incredible peaks of her other work (Hood and Astray).
This particular volume of short stories was disappointing. I was well into the book when I accidentally left it at my sister's house. I realized my error while I was waiting for the train back to New York, too late to do anything. I was much less bothered about this than I would have expected to be. I realized it was because I wasn't as gripped by the book as I would have guessed I'd be, and that was sadder to me than leaving the book behind. I went to my sister's today: she had the book waiting for me, and now I've finished it. I am sorry to say my overall sense of it did not change. Many of the stories feel slight, somewhat underdone or unfinished. I missed the precision and depth of insight, the powerful language and strength of vision that distinguish her other books. A miss for me, but I look forward to the rest of her new-to-me work. 2-1/2 stars.
This particular volume of short stories was disappointing. I was well into the book when I accidentally left it at my sister's house. I realized my error while I was waiting for the train back to New York, too late to do anything. I was much less bothered about this than I would have expected to be. I realized it was because I wasn't as gripped by the book as I would have guessed I'd be, and that was sadder to me than leaving the book behind. I went to my sister's today: she had the book waiting for me, and now I've finished it. I am sorry to say my overall sense of it did not change. Many of the stories feel slight, somewhat underdone or unfinished. I missed the precision and depth of insight, the powerful language and strength of vision that distinguish her other books. A miss for me, but I look forward to the rest of her new-to-me work. 2-1/2 stars.
July 26, 2011
Some of these stories absolutely slew me-- I read them over and over, at home, on the beach, and out loud to friends. Donoghue takes the familiar (romance, domesticity) and reveals the unfamiliar hidden within those everyday situations.
Her characters include heterosexual couples, lesbian and gay couples, single-businesswomen-seeking-sperm, evangelical Christians, and people who just really love dogs; all of these are treated with honest affection, making their stories relatable. Had I known the subject matter of each story beforehand, I would have abandoned the book outright, thinking it too obsessively domestic. Thank heavens I knew nothing. Each piece was artfully done. My only recommendation, if you have little interest in babies or babymaking, is to skip the first section of the book and read it after you've gone ahead to "The Cost of Things," "Team Men," and "Pluck." The poem in "Speaking in Tongues" also can't be missed.
The author's style is simplistic but original in its precision-- she decides which aspect of human feeling she wants you to understand, and brings you to it without pretension or wasted words. Much of what Donoghue chooses to focus on is unexpected, "quirky" even. She documents small tendencies in human interaction of which I was never previously aware, but which seemed like intimate, personal, universal truths later on. This collection seems to emphasize people just "missing" each other-- missing one crucial emotion, just one essential perspective on one another or the situation.
I loved it. :)
Her characters include heterosexual couples, lesbian and gay couples, single-businesswomen-seeking-sperm, evangelical Christians, and people who just really love dogs; all of these are treated with honest affection, making their stories relatable. Had I known the subject matter of each story beforehand, I would have abandoned the book outright, thinking it too obsessively domestic. Thank heavens I knew nothing. Each piece was artfully done. My only recommendation, if you have little interest in babies or babymaking, is to skip the first section of the book and read it after you've gone ahead to "The Cost of Things," "Team Men," and "Pluck." The poem in "Speaking in Tongues" also can't be missed.
The author's style is simplistic but original in its precision-- she decides which aspect of human feeling she wants you to understand, and brings you to it without pretension or wasted words. Much of what Donoghue chooses to focus on is unexpected, "quirky" even. She documents small tendencies in human interaction of which I was never previously aware, but which seemed like intimate, personal, universal truths later on. This collection seems to emphasize people just "missing" each other-- missing one crucial emotion, just one essential perspective on one another or the situation.
I loved it. :)
July 16, 2012
Very good collection of stories. An easy, quick read, but there is some real power in the characters and relationships captured in these little tales. The stories ranged from what at first struck me as awfully "traditional family" centred stories, with lots of babies (although even those had a few twists), to a section called "desire" which included several queer/GLBT stories which were wonderful. I continue to love Donoghue's writing and will keep reading whatever she puts out.
May 21, 2022
I always forget how much I love short story collections. Touchy Subjects reminded me of the magic of the short story and how much a few pages can reveal of characters and situations and how relatable they can be to the reader.
The stories are grouped under the categories of Babies, Domesticity, Strangers, Desire and Death and they cover mundane, important and shameful events or feelings.
My favourite was Do They Know It's Christmas? because there are simply not enough pets in fiction.
The stories are grouped under the categories of Babies, Domesticity, Strangers, Desire and Death and they cover mundane, important and shameful events or feelings.
My favourite was Do They Know It's Christmas? because there are simply not enough pets in fiction.
January 16, 2014
In my eyes, Emma Donoghue can do very little wrong. This themed collection (babies, domesticity, strangers, desire and death) feels like a chat with a good friend. Donoghue does great dialogue, and her situations are deeply realistic. I can see myself picking this collection up to return to a few of the stories again and again.
April 10, 2015
I was torn about this rating. I loved the stories in the first half of the book and was much less enchanted with the second half (except for The Cost of Things, which was great). I skipped a few stories, actually. But still . . . there were enough good ones in here for me to admire the book.
April 16, 2018
Just about the perfect short story collection.
December 19, 2015
I didn't love this one as much as her other short story collections but I can see how it could make some readers uncomfortable with the content.
April 11, 2018
In this odd little short story collection, Emma Donoghue breaks up her tales into five categories of general life: Babies, Domesticity, Strangers, Desire and Death. A rundown of of the stories:
BABIES
"Touchy Subjects" (title story) -- a man agrees to be the sperm donor to his wife's best friend. Story gets into general discussion of fertility struggles of women
"Expecting" -- a woman lies about being pregnant, the lie gets out of hand
"The Man Who Wrote On Beaches" -- a man turns 43 and finds religion, which causes upset in his relationship with his agnostic girlfriend (there is a baby discussion here, if you're wondering)
"OOPS" -- James helps friend Neasa through a pregnancy he assumes is unplanned and unwanted, sets himself up as surrogate "uncle" to the child, helping with child rearing over the years
"Through The Night" -- Pre-motherhood Una was known for being quite the stoic. Now after giving birth, she finds herself deep in the throws of sleep deprivation and postpartum depression, uneasy with the dark places her mind is drifting.
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" -- A childless couple has embraced their life as dog parents and all is well until the holidays come and they're asked to leave the dogs at home while they attend a family gathering.
DOMESTICITY
"Lavender's Blue" -- A couple goes near-mad trying to agree on the perfect shade of slate blue to paint the exterior of their house
"The Cost of Things" -- An emotional rift develops between a lesbian couple over the medical expenses for their sick cat
"Pluck" -- A husband becomes fixated on a single dark hair on his wife's chin
STRANGERS
"Good Deed" -- A wealthy Canadian man struggles to decide on a course of action over a homeless man he finds laying in the street, bleeding from the mouth
"The Sanctuary of Hands" -- In Toulouse, France, a woman decides to take a tour of underground caverns, but is unsettled by a group of special needs adults joining her tour group.
"WritOr" -- A once successful writer, now struggling with mounting debt, grudgingly agrees to accept a "Writer In Residence" position at a small college, giving writing advice to aspiring authors.
DESIRE
"Team Men" -- Teenager Jonathan plays on a football team, with his dad as the coach. His dad is pretty hard on him, when it comes to critiquing Jonathan's athletic ability. When new guy Davy joins the team, Davy quickly becomes the star player. Jonathan feels a little threatened by him at first, but before long they become good friends who progess into secret lovers. Though they think they've been successful keeping their relationship under wraps, Jonathan's father turns mysteriously, progressively angry towards the both of them.
"Speaking In Tongues" -- Ladies Lee and Sylvia fall for each other after meeting at a conference
"The Welcome" -- Luce sees one 5-line ad for womens' housing, finds herself triggered by the spelling errors and the political correctness seeping through the choice of wording
DEATH
"The Dormition of the Virgin" -- George is vacationing in Italy. The last day of his stay he comes upon a dead body.
"Enchantment" -- Pitre and Bunch are two longtime friends living in Louisiana who get competitive with running swamp tours... until Pitre falls gravely ill
"Baggage" -- Niniane is in Hollywood .... partly on holiday, partly to find out information regarding her estranged brother
"Necessary Noise" -- Two sisters pick up their brother from a nightclub, immediately have to rush him to a hospital when he appears to be extremely ill and under the influence of serious drugs.
Overall Impressions:
I closed the book with a strong feeling of MEH. In a number of these stories, there are definitely intriguing ideas that Donoghue experiments with.. they just didn't really go anywhere. Most of these stories didn't close on strong, impactful moments, instead just kinda .. dropped off... which is one of my big peeves with short story collections in general. I will say though, I enjoyed the second half of the book much more than the first. I was close to DNF-ing after the first few stories but something was telling me to hang in there.
I'm glad I did, largely for "WritOr", which ended up being my favorite story in the whole book. After a number of bland bits in the earlier portion of this collection, I was pleasantly surprised to find such humor in "WritOr". Granted, it might be the "you had to be there" brand of humor. Being a writer myself, who worked as a writing tutor in college, a lot of what Donoghue illustrates in this particular story brought back vivid memories of my own experiences in that environment. Perhaps for that story alone, maybe a couple others that made me smile or think for a moment, I'll likely end up keeping this one on my shelves, at least for the time being. But if you haven't tried any of Donoghue's work before, I would NOT recommend starting here.
BABIES
"Touchy Subjects" (title story) -- a man agrees to be the sperm donor to his wife's best friend. Story gets into general discussion of fertility struggles of women
"Expecting" -- a woman lies about being pregnant, the lie gets out of hand
"The Man Who Wrote On Beaches" -- a man turns 43 and finds religion, which causes upset in his relationship with his agnostic girlfriend (there is a baby discussion here, if you're wondering)
"OOPS" -- James helps friend Neasa through a pregnancy he assumes is unplanned and unwanted, sets himself up as surrogate "uncle" to the child, helping with child rearing over the years
"Through The Night" -- Pre-motherhood Una was known for being quite the stoic. Now after giving birth, she finds herself deep in the throws of sleep deprivation and postpartum depression, uneasy with the dark places her mind is drifting.
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" -- A childless couple has embraced their life as dog parents and all is well until the holidays come and they're asked to leave the dogs at home while they attend a family gathering.
DOMESTICITY
"Lavender's Blue" -- A couple goes near-mad trying to agree on the perfect shade of slate blue to paint the exterior of their house
"The Cost of Things" -- An emotional rift develops between a lesbian couple over the medical expenses for their sick cat
"Pluck" -- A husband becomes fixated on a single dark hair on his wife's chin
STRANGERS
"Good Deed" -- A wealthy Canadian man struggles to decide on a course of action over a homeless man he finds laying in the street, bleeding from the mouth
"The Sanctuary of Hands" -- In Toulouse, France, a woman decides to take a tour of underground caverns, but is unsettled by a group of special needs adults joining her tour group.
"WritOr" -- A once successful writer, now struggling with mounting debt, grudgingly agrees to accept a "Writer In Residence" position at a small college, giving writing advice to aspiring authors.
DESIRE
"Team Men" -- Teenager Jonathan plays on a football team, with his dad as the coach. His dad is pretty hard on him, when it comes to critiquing Jonathan's athletic ability. When new guy Davy joins the team, Davy quickly becomes the star player. Jonathan feels a little threatened by him at first, but before long they become good friends who progess into secret lovers. Though they think they've been successful keeping their relationship under wraps, Jonathan's father turns mysteriously, progressively angry towards the both of them.
"Speaking In Tongues" -- Ladies Lee and Sylvia fall for each other after meeting at a conference
"The Welcome" -- Luce sees one 5-line ad for womens' housing, finds herself triggered by the spelling errors and the political correctness seeping through the choice of wording
DEATH
"The Dormition of the Virgin" -- George is vacationing in Italy. The last day of his stay he comes upon a dead body.
"Enchantment" -- Pitre and Bunch are two longtime friends living in Louisiana who get competitive with running swamp tours... until Pitre falls gravely ill
"Baggage" -- Niniane is in Hollywood .... partly on holiday, partly to find out information regarding her estranged brother
"Necessary Noise" -- Two sisters pick up their brother from a nightclub, immediately have to rush him to a hospital when he appears to be extremely ill and under the influence of serious drugs.
Overall Impressions:
I closed the book with a strong feeling of MEH. In a number of these stories, there are definitely intriguing ideas that Donoghue experiments with.. they just didn't really go anywhere. Most of these stories didn't close on strong, impactful moments, instead just kinda .. dropped off... which is one of my big peeves with short story collections in general. I will say though, I enjoyed the second half of the book much more than the first. I was close to DNF-ing after the first few stories but something was telling me to hang in there.
I'm glad I did, largely for "WritOr", which ended up being my favorite story in the whole book. After a number of bland bits in the earlier portion of this collection, I was pleasantly surprised to find such humor in "WritOr". Granted, it might be the "you had to be there" brand of humor. Being a writer myself, who worked as a writing tutor in college, a lot of what Donoghue illustrates in this particular story brought back vivid memories of my own experiences in that environment. Perhaps for that story alone, maybe a couple others that made me smile or think for a moment, I'll likely end up keeping this one on my shelves, at least for the time being. But if you haven't tried any of Donoghue's work before, I would NOT recommend starting here.
July 23, 2017
This is the fourth book I read by Emma Donoghue (following The Sealed Letter and Frog Music, which I both liked, and Room, which I didn't), and the first collection of stories. I found the overall level of the stories very high - often in a collection, there is quite a difference between the ones you like and the ones you don't, but though I had my favourites, I found all had their strong points.
Donoghue divided the book in five parts: babies, domesticity, strangers, desire, and death. Each part contains three to six stories and, though there are a few shorter/longer ones, most are between ten and twenty pages. Donoghue succeeds very well at setting up the world and the tension of the plot in a limited amount of time/limited number of pages. They feel very complete, in my view, and all of them contain an implied question or point to think about for the reader.
All in all, I would definitely recommend this collection of stories, either to savour and read one by one, or to enjoy the relation between the stories and read a few at a time.
Donoghue divided the book in five parts: babies, domesticity, strangers, desire, and death. Each part contains three to six stories and, though there are a few shorter/longer ones, most are between ten and twenty pages. Donoghue succeeds very well at setting up the world and the tension of the plot in a limited amount of time/limited number of pages. They feel very complete, in my view, and all of them contain an implied question or point to think about for the reader.
All in all, I would definitely recommend this collection of stories, either to savour and read one by one, or to enjoy the relation between the stories and read a few at a time.
September 13, 2017
To be honest I did not read every story, chose a few under each heading and kept hoping that I would eventually find something of substance. Yes, they are well written but I cannot overlook the vulgarity and profanity. It's lazy to assume that everyone speaks this way. These stories in no way reflect any of my values, instead they mirrored back so much of what is going wrong in society. The self absorbed masses, the propaganda of "if it makes you happy then it must be right", characters that have no convictions and depth. My only knowledge of this author was Room, now that I see her other works this one fits right in.
October 28, 2017
As I've said before I'm not a great fan of short stories but yet again I find myself giving them another go. I think my problem with them is because so many don't seem to conclude properly - not to me anyhow. One or two of these were like that, getting a snippet of someone elses life & just as you're getting to know the character...the end!
Anyhow, some tales I liked & some I didn't like quite as much - at least there were none I hated or didn't understand! "Do they know it's Christmas? amused me, while "Sanctuary of Hands" was really quite sweet & most of the tales had a bit of a twist. Worth reading.
Anyhow, some tales I liked & some I didn't like quite as much - at least there were none I hated or didn't understand! "Do they know it's Christmas? amused me, while "Sanctuary of Hands" was really quite sweet & most of the tales had a bit of a twist. Worth reading.
March 16, 2025
"Touchy subjects" is a collection anyway of short stories that delve into various sensitive and potentially uncomfortable aspects of the human experience. Writer went through certain topics below which are great but difficult to discuss sometimes like:
Mental health
Trauma
Social inequality
Political issues
Religious controversy.
Grief.
I really Like the way writer approached tricky things with great Irish sense of humour.
Here are some stories that I like most: The cost of things/ The sanctuary of Hands/team men/ the welcome/Enchantment. Great book, recommend to read all stories anyway!
Mental health
Trauma
Social inequality
Political issues
Religious controversy.
Grief.
I really Like the way writer approached tricky things with great Irish sense of humour.
Here are some stories that I like most: The cost of things/ The sanctuary of Hands/team men/ the welcome/Enchantment. Great book, recommend to read all stories anyway!
October 25, 2017
Just some simple little stories about some everyday touchy subjects. Stories were collected into themes - babies, domesticity, strangers, desire and death. None of the stories were particularly plot-rich, and most stories didn't have much in terms of an ending, but she just writes beautifully. There were several stories about lesbians and since the author is gay it would have been odd for all the stories to be hetero. This was an easy book to read on a cruise.
March 24, 2021
Unfortunately, the more Emma Donoghue I read, the more I realize that her successes are more rare than her failures. This short story collection in particular offers none of the good things short stories are supposed to offer. It was very mediocre and bland. The writing was ok, but where is the punchy power of the genre? I found none. Alas, I don't see the reason to go on after listening to the book halfway.
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