Despite its tranquil tone, Claire Keegan’s ‘Small Things Like These’ packs a provocative punch. In 114 pages, she delves into the heart and mind of a man questioning the purpose of his life. After witnessing a disturbing event, his past comes rushing into the present. Short-listed for this year’s Booker Prize, this novel, like its title, is small and great.
Christmas is fast approaching in the small Irish town where Bill Furlong was born, raised and still lives. The year is 1985 and an economic downturn has enveloped the town. But Bill, a coal merchant, feels fortunate he can still support his wife and five daughters.
One day delivering coal to the Catholic convent for unwed mothers, Bill finds a young woman locked in the coal shed. It shakes him deeply and unearths thoughts about his own unwed mother. When Bill’s mother had become pregnant at 16, her family disowned her. Because the Protestant woman for whom Bill’s mother worked invited Bill’s mother to move in and raise her child, Bill’s mother was spared the convent for unwed mothers. A blessing for Bill and his mother.
What Bill saw at the convent begins to plague him. His wife says, “If you want to get on in life, there are things you have to ignore, so you can keep on.” But the image of that young, scared girl upsets the compassionate Bill Furlong. His relationship with the nuns is cordial, but still, his conscience won’t rest. “Why were the things that were closet so often the hardest to see?” Feelings about his deceased mother and his unknown father stir inside him. Bill begins to reevaluate his obligations to himself, his family and his community. He wonders, “Was there any point in being alive without helping one another?”
Claire Keegan’s sparse prose grabs her readers and places them in Bill Furlong’s heart and mind. In these turbulent times, she provokes her readers to contemplate their responsibilities to others. If each of us does one small compassionate act, our world would undoubtedly be a better place.
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