Tags
4 stars, books, Claire Keegan, first time read, Irish literature, library book, read in 2021, read in 2022, reading, review, short stories, Walk the Blue Fields
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Title: Walk the Blue Fields
Author: Claire Keegan
First published: 2007
Dates read: 16.12.2021 – 12.01.2022
Category: first time read, library book, short stories
Rating: 4/5
The book in five words or less: beautifully written but very bleak
My thoughts:
There are some authors who come into your life with fanfares, and whose works you can tell will be new favourites from the very first pages. And then there are other authors who grow on you slowly and quietly, almost by increments. Perhaps it’s because their works are of a quiter nature, too, or perhaps because the true impact of their writing only unfolds over time. In any case, Claire Keegan is just such an author. I first encountered her when I picked up her novella Foster at my library in August last year, and while I did not instantaneously fall in love with Keegan’s writing, it apparently left enough of an impression that I picked up this collection later the same year.
I will not lie; I took my time reading Walk the Blue Fields, not only because I wanted to prolong the experience, but also because some of the stories are very bleak and I needed to moderate my emotions. Keegan’s stories are full of unhappy people – characters are trapped in loveless marriages, sexually abused as children, depressed, born out of wedlock, or still hung up about lost loves – but despite all the melancholia, they are also very beautiful. Keegan’s observations of all the ways in which relationships can be both painful and nourishing are poignant, and her sense of place is impeccable. In some of the stories, the landscapes of Ireland almost become characters in their own right, complementing and contrasting the human characters’ emotions. In many ways similar to Foster, Keegan’s writing in Walk the Blue Fields is exquisite – very lyrical and very evocative – and the way she manages to translate her stories’ settings into words almost magical.
In the end, I’m not sure how long I will remember these stories in detail, but I know that some of their characters and settings will stay with me, as will the feeling of deep melancholia that permeates them all.
Read if you like: Seamus Heaney’s nature poetry, Heinrich Böll’s Irish Journal, Sebastian Barry’s The Secret Scripture, Keegan’s novella Foster, and sad, complicated relationships