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Matters of Life & Death
A new book from Bernard MacLaverty is a cause for celebration, but Matters of Life and Death is more than that. It is the finest collection yet from a contemporary master of the form.
Beginning with the sudden terror of a family caught up in shocking sectarian violence, and ending with the whiteout of an Iowa blizzard and the fear of losing your way very far from home, this collection is about bonds made and broken, secret and known. In the extraordinary story "Up the Coast," a landscape painter discovers a place that makes her, finally, feel whole, only to have that communion shattered by an arbitrary act of aggression that will resonate throughout her life.
Written with effortless skill and empathy, these stories are hauntingly real. MacLaverty's perfect attention to every detail, every nuance of idiom and character, remakes the world for us here on the page.
Beginning with the sudden terror of a family caught up in shocking sectarian violence, and ending with the whiteout of an Iowa blizzard and the fear of losing your way very far from home, this collection is about bonds made and broken, secret and known. In the extraordinary story "Up the Coast," a landscape painter discovers a place that makes her, finally, feel whole, only to have that communion shattered by an arbitrary act of aggression that will resonate throughout her life.
Written with effortless skill and empathy, these stories are hauntingly real. MacLaverty's perfect attention to every detail, every nuance of idiom and character, remakes the world for us here on the page.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published July 4, 2006
9 people are currently reading
174 people want to read
About the author
Bernard MacLaverty
52 books205 followersBernard MacLaverty was born in Belfast in 1942 and lived there until 1975 when he moved to Scotland with his wife, Madeline, and four children. He has been a Medical Laboratory Technician, a mature student, a teacher of English and, for two years in the mid eighties, Writer-in-Residence at the University of Aberdeen.
After living for a time in Edinburgh and the Isle of Islay he now lives in Glasgow. He is a member of Aosdana in Ireland and is Visiting Writer/Professor at the University of Strathclyde.
Currently he is employed as a teacher of creative writing on a postgraduate course in prose fiction run by the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen.
He has published five collections of short stories and four novels. He has written versions of his fiction for other media - radio plays, television plays, screenplays. Recently he wrote and directed a short film 'Bye-Child'
After living for a time in Edinburgh and the Isle of Islay he now lives in Glasgow. He is a member of Aosdana in Ireland and is Visiting Writer/Professor at the University of Strathclyde.
Currently he is employed as a teacher of creative writing on a postgraduate course in prose fiction run by the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen.
He has published five collections of short stories and four novels. He has written versions of his fiction for other media - radio plays, television plays, screenplays. Recently he wrote and directed a short film 'Bye-Child'
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
April 16, 2019
Perhaps you're like me when reading short story collections. Sometimes, not always, you look to the table of contents - the list of stories - and do some basic subtraction from the starting page numbers to see how long the stories are, so that maybe you can do the short ones first. C'mon. It's okay. You can admit it. And perhaps like me, too, you feel some guilt about that, like you're disrespecting the author or editor, or someone, if only yourself. Well . . .
In the fourth story in this collection - The Clinic - the protagonist is hurriedly preparing to go to, well, the clinic, for tests for possible diabetes. But he knows, as you and I know, what clinics can be like, so he, leaving home, grabbed a small hardback collection of Chekhov's short stories and ran. Now, like Chekhov's gun, the book, having been introduced in the first paragraph, will have to be shot at some point later in the story. And perhaps the story the protagonist chooses to read while he waits has some major significance.
But that's not my point.
While he's waiting, the protagonist opened the book to the table of contents - the list of stories - and does some basic subtraction to see how long the stories were. A story called 'The Beauties' looked feasible. Subtract one hundred and seventy-three from one hundred and eighty-three.
I loved that so much. I have nothing in common with Vladimir Nabokov, let alone Margaret Atwood. But it's nice to know there's an author I like very much who, down deep, is just like us.
I fairly inhaled these stories. I read the first nine stories the first day, as you might on a page-turning novel. I finished the last two just a bit ago. Short story collections, in my experience, are often enjoyed then largely forgotten.
But I will always remember 'The Trojan Sofa' about a young boy whose thieving father sews him into a sofa that's delivered to a home. The boy is supposed to cut himself free later and then proceed to burgle. Things do not go as planned. Despite a shotgun in evident display, this is one story where no one dies.
Because these are stories of life and death. It seemed mostly death, but then you can't have the one without the other. And there's never the absence of hope.
Fans of MacLaverty - you know who you are - will love this. Here are some samplers:
- If there was one thing worse than worrying, it was wasted worrying.
- I don't really like the friends who are my own age. Danny Breen and Eugene Magee. I fight with them a lot. They're so stupid playing. They squabble and fall out about the rules for everything. And they cheat all the time. It's impossible to knock around with them. 'You do this.' 'No I don't.' 'Yes you do - for I seen ya.' 'Ya fucking did not.' Like politicians in Stormont.
- She was forever looking down - at her prayer book or her embroidery. Even on other people. She was taller than most and bigger in girth. Mr. McDonald, the boarder who had stayed with them longest, described her as 'a ship in full sail.'
- 'I tried to grow a beard once and my mother said I was like a goat looking through a hedge.'
- Fights are never about what causes a fight. They are always about something else - something in the past, an irritation, a vengeance, a reprisal.
- And a Scotsman, teaching for a time in Iowa, and finding himself in a blizzard, feels the difference in the cold: At home in Scotland there was a damp cold that got into your bones and joints but this was different. This was thermometer cold.
Out of respect for the author, I read the stories in order.
In the fourth story in this collection - The Clinic - the protagonist is hurriedly preparing to go to, well, the clinic, for tests for possible diabetes. But he knows, as you and I know, what clinics can be like, so he, leaving home, grabbed a small hardback collection of Chekhov's short stories and ran. Now, like Chekhov's gun, the book, having been introduced in the first paragraph, will have to be shot at some point later in the story. And perhaps the story the protagonist chooses to read while he waits has some major significance.
But that's not my point.
While he's waiting, the protagonist opened the book to the table of contents - the list of stories - and does some basic subtraction to see how long the stories were. A story called 'The Beauties' looked feasible. Subtract one hundred and seventy-three from one hundred and eighty-three.
I loved that so much. I have nothing in common with Vladimir Nabokov, let alone Margaret Atwood. But it's nice to know there's an author I like very much who, down deep, is just like us.
I fairly inhaled these stories. I read the first nine stories the first day, as you might on a page-turning novel. I finished the last two just a bit ago. Short story collections, in my experience, are often enjoyed then largely forgotten.
But I will always remember 'The Trojan Sofa' about a young boy whose thieving father sews him into a sofa that's delivered to a home. The boy is supposed to cut himself free later and then proceed to burgle. Things do not go as planned. Despite a shotgun in evident display, this is one story where no one dies.
Because these are stories of life and death. It seemed mostly death, but then you can't have the one without the other. And there's never the absence of hope.
Fans of MacLaverty - you know who you are - will love this. Here are some samplers:
- If there was one thing worse than worrying, it was wasted worrying.
- I don't really like the friends who are my own age. Danny Breen and Eugene Magee. I fight with them a lot. They're so stupid playing. They squabble and fall out about the rules for everything. And they cheat all the time. It's impossible to knock around with them. 'You do this.' 'No I don't.' 'Yes you do - for I seen ya.' 'Ya fucking did not.' Like politicians in Stormont.
- She was forever looking down - at her prayer book or her embroidery. Even on other people. She was taller than most and bigger in girth. Mr. McDonald, the boarder who had stayed with them longest, described her as 'a ship in full sail.'
- 'I tried to grow a beard once and my mother said I was like a goat looking through a hedge.'
- Fights are never about what causes a fight. They are always about something else - something in the past, an irritation, a vengeance, a reprisal.
- And a Scotsman, teaching for a time in Iowa, and finding himself in a blizzard, feels the difference in the cold: At home in Scotland there was a damp cold that got into your bones and joints but this was different. This was thermometer cold.
Out of respect for the author, I read the stories in order.
February 5, 2009
There are 2 great stories here: 'Up the Coast' and 'A Trusted Neighbour', which as well as being beautifully written are also complex and thought provoking. The characters are flawed, alive, rendered exquisitely and the reader is drawn into a deep engagement with them. At least I was. Maybe the other stories do not quite hit these heights but two or three of them are expertly done and nearly as good - On the Roundabout, A Trojan Sofa, Learning to Dance - the others are maybe weaker in terms of plot but not in terms of the writing which remains perfect throughout.
(from my amazon review)
(from my amazon review)
April 28, 2019
Just not my thing. Every year I try to get 2 books of short stories in there. Short stories leave me irritated for their shallow verve. Rather like walking into a lake on a 90 plus degree F day and only being able to go up to your knees. I'd just prefer to swim.
These are written well and are full of locale and situational nuance to a 4 star, at least. But they are a kind of "laughing" irony of "interesting" times too. Another mode that underwhelms me.
If you like short stories about Irish troubles and mixed message "community"- you'll like these more than I.
It's the end of April. No more short stories for me until way after Labor Day. Especially any which have squirting head wound bleeds.
These are written well and are full of locale and situational nuance to a 4 star, at least. But they are a kind of "laughing" irony of "interesting" times too. Another mode that underwhelms me.
If you like short stories about Irish troubles and mixed message "community"- you'll like these more than I.
It's the end of April. No more short stories for me until way after Labor Day. Especially any which have squirting head wound bleeds.
January 15, 2008
I don't know if this book is 4½ stars, or 5. Nonetheless it is an excellent collection of short stories that I just found by coincidence at the library.
The title stories (Matters of Life and Death I, and II) are set during a blizzard in Iowa, but the majority of the stories deal with the conflict regarding Northern Ireland.
I am pretty picky when reading short stories; far from all writers manage to 'suck' me into the story fast enough, only to kick me out, feeling content, some 20 pages later. The real mark of a good short story, in my opinion, is that you should wish the story was longer, yet feel content that it ended where it did.
Matters of Life and Death is exactly that type of collection. MacLaverty's characters are believable as human portraits - flaws and all, his familiarity with the geographic and social setting is apparent.
My favorite stories is doubtlessly "A trusted neighbor" and the two title stories.
I definitively plan on reading more from MacLaverty.
The title stories (Matters of Life and Death I, and II) are set during a blizzard in Iowa, but the majority of the stories deal with the conflict regarding Northern Ireland.
I am pretty picky when reading short stories; far from all writers manage to 'suck' me into the story fast enough, only to kick me out, feeling content, some 20 pages later. The real mark of a good short story, in my opinion, is that you should wish the story was longer, yet feel content that it ended where it did.
Matters of Life and Death is exactly that type of collection. MacLaverty's characters are believable as human portraits - flaws and all, his familiarity with the geographic and social setting is apparent.
My favorite stories is doubtlessly "A trusted neighbor" and the two title stories.
I definitively plan on reading more from MacLaverty.
February 23, 2018
I read this collection of short stories for my modern literature class for university (it's written by one of the most popular writers alive in Scotland at the moment-- which I also had the chance to meet because he guest lectured in my uni). I really enjoyed it overall. Some stories were more successful than others, but what I particularly appreciated is how each and every one of them gave me the feeling and satisfaction of full closure, rather than being like reading a fragment off a novel.
March 13, 2023
A parcel of treasures, some more beautiful than others, the darkness of a couple of stories does not diminish their simple truths. A great read, some of its time 2006, however most themes don’t date.
July 17, 2012
Honestly, I am not a big fan of short stories. Just too many of them leave me without a satisfying end and therefore with the slight feeling of being betrayed.
Not these. Bernard MacLaverty writes with such seeming ease, creates these great and involving characters and always manages to surprise in the end without taking refuge in lazy "open" endings. Of course, not all is revealed - still I felt I read a novel in 20 pages.
A good deal of these stories are set in troubled Northern Ireland but I think they are relevant and most readable in a wider context. So can only recommend this. BIG TIME!
Not these. Bernard MacLaverty writes with such seeming ease, creates these great and involving characters and always manages to surprise in the end without taking refuge in lazy "open" endings. Of course, not all is revealed - still I felt I read a novel in 20 pages.
A good deal of these stories are set in troubled Northern Ireland but I think they are relevant and most readable in a wider context. So can only recommend this. BIG TIME!
February 21, 2016
As is to be expected from the title, there's a lot of death in here. For the most part the lives are, have been, lived quietly. Grey, no ripples. In fact it's the lack of ripple that gives them their sadness and poignancy. 'Up the coast' was the most violent, and was the one I liked best, though not entirely for that reason.
February 12, 2012
Too good to put down, this book has just ruined my plans to get up early tomorrow. Seamless, witty....i think maclaverty is my new favourite author.
September 6, 2021
A very tiny 3 stars. The author is great in descriptions of surroundings, nature but that's about it. A couple of stories are just anecdotes. Then there are two that really are inferior, the one with the demented old lady is very cliché, and the one with the spinster taking her nieces' kids for an outing is incredibly sentimental. The one I liked best is the first of the two title stories but... This author doesn't seem to have mastered the art of perspective or point of view, switching in of out the head of the characters in an awkward fashion.
June 26, 2019
Eleven stories are in this excellent read. Some of these I enjoyed quite a bit more than others though. All of them are a bit on the dark side. They reminded me of Chekhov's stories, and, curiously enough, he referred to Chekhov in two of them...
May 27, 2024
This book was a gem of a find. Fabulous, compelling short stories beautifully written. MacLaverty is a true master of the genre and I can't wait to read more of his work. I especially like the way he subtly imbues suspense into his stories by withholding just the right amount of information.
October 4, 2018
"The Trojan Sofa" was my favourite one, great title.
April 27, 2021
Short stories... I enjoyed reading most of them. Very thought provoking.
April 3, 2025
Short stories (1 longer and some quite short) ranging from 4-5 stars. My favourite was the last one Winter Storm.
One of my favourite Irish authors.
One of my favourite Irish authors.
March 25, 2014
Why have I only just read Bernard MacLaverty? These are extraordinarily good short stories - mostly set in Northern Ireland - that are rich, nuanced and powerful. None more so than the superb long-ish 'Up the Coast' which is alone worth the cover price, and one of the best stories I've read in months. Definitely an author I'll be reading more of.
July 8, 2012
Eleven terrific stories, diverse characters with diverse concerns. Some, but not all, are infused with the Troubles, but these are stories that speak to much broader lives, not only Northern Irish lives.
February 6, 2016
Really enjoyed this collection of short stories. I thought they were really well-done. It took me a little while to get into "Up the Coast", but it turned into a very good story. The only one that I didn't really like was the final story, "Winter Storm." Otherwise, an excellent collection.
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April 14, 2009great collection of short stories
November 13, 2010
The Roundabout and The Clinic are oustanding. MacLaverty makes the art of placing a reader in his narrative so acutely that they feel it, look easy.
July 18, 2012
Check out my book review on Youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9jrru...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9jrru...
August 14, 2012
Brilliant.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews