'Small Things Like These' by Claire Keegan - Book Impressions

Impressions:

I decided to read this book before going to see the movie. 

This is a ‘short story’ set in an Irish community in the 1980s, in the buildup to Christmas. It is 66 pages long in Kindle Format.  

I had the dissatisfaction I normally feel with short stories - that they are over before they have begun.  However, I also felt that this particular short story left me in limbo, with numerous loose ends and unanswered questions.

I could not totally relate the storyline I had read about in book reviews to what I was reading.  There appeared to be a different emphasis.  I had been looking forward to reading about the Magdalen laundry and the convent.  So, understandably, I felt cheated.  I felt, instead, that the storyline was about Bill Furlong repaying an act of kindness to another human being, one his mother had received when she was in a similar position to the laundry girls.   An act of kindness which, during his mother’s time, had gone against the teachings of the church.

Bill uses his judgment to take a girl from the convent under his wing, regardless of the wrath that such an act could bestow on him and his family. He felt that he needed to do the decent thing. For that, he had my admiration.

There were many other avenues the storyline could have wandered down, but it didn’t.

The story pulled me in beautifully, and then it was abruptly over!  I was met with a brick wall of nothingness. So abrupt that I checked to make sure I had fully downloaded all the Kindle pages!  It was like eating a juicy burger, with all the toppings, and just as you’re going in for a large bite, the burger is snatched up by a seagull!! Leaving you dissatisfied.

I enjoyed the flowing style of writing and the little lyrical Irish sayings. The gossips having a field day at the weekly mass. The everyday activity in this Irish community. The hospitality of the Irish was washed down with lots of tea. The hardness of life for the working classes (a treadmill existence) - working 6 days a week with only 1 day off per week (men) and the ceaseless work of the women keeping house. A sense of a small community where everyone knew each other’s business. The small acts of kindness carried out despite people not having very much.

The nuns and priests were seen as a law unto themselves. They set themselves apart as a hierarchical institution.  There seemed to be a general resolve in the lay community to ignore their shortcomings and to put their heads down, say nothing, and get on with it. The penalty for speaking up was often that your child did not get into the convent schools or the other facilities run by the convent.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a short read and is happy to fill in the gaps using their imagination. It may be a good book to get yourself into the Christmas spirit.

I would love to have read a longer version of this story, with the current book forming the starting point. Being in a short story format does not do this storyline any justice.  I wanted more about the ‘laundry’ girls in the convent. What happens when Bill gets home with the girl from the laundry - how does Eileen react? Is Ned Bill’s father? Do Bill’s children suffer at the convent school as a result of Bill's actions?  Does Bill end up having an affair with the woman who gave him steaming hot water for the icy work gate lock? And so much more. I guess what I'm asking for is the development and conclusion of the current ‘short story’ that was only just started in the current format.

Having now seen the movie, I feel that the movie better portrays the life of the young pregnant females at the Magdalen convent.  It also ends differently from the book, which had a more satisfying, but still non-conclusive ending.  There is still plenty of room left for a sequel!

Favourite Quotes

‘‘All thinking does is bring you down ….  ‘If you want to get on in life, there’s things you have to ignore, so you can keep on.’ (p.30)

[Context: Bill has told Eileen about what he saw at the convent, and she wants him to turn a blind eye to it all]

‘Where there’s muck, there’s luck.’ (p.41)

[Context: Said by a nun as Bill walked across her floor in muddied boots and was apologising to her]

‘Gossipers stayed down on the edge of the aisle to get a good gawk, watching for a new jacket or haircut, a limp, anything out of the ordinary.’ (p.49)

[Context: A description of the different groups of people attending Sunday mass, which also included the gossipers]

To get the best out of people, you must always treat them well, Mrs Wilson used to say. (p.56)

[Context: Bill reflecting on what Mrs Wilson (RIP) used to say - and Bill relating this to the fact that he treated his employees well]. 

Furlong…. found himself asking ".. was there any point in being alive without helping one another? Was it possible to carry on along through all the years, the decades, through an entire life, without once being brave enough to go against what was there and yet call yourself a Christian, and face yourself in the mirror?” (p.67)

[Context: Bill is coming back from the convent with one of the laundry girls at his side - he is taking her to his home due to her mistreatment at the convent.  He knows it will cause a stir when it is found out by the nuns.]

Other related posts:

The Woman in the White Kimono, which dealt with the issue of pregnancy in young Japanese girls

If you enjoyed this, you may enjoy my other book impressions.

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