30 Under 30: A Selection of Short Stories by Thirty Young Irish Writers edited by Elizabeth Reapy with a foreword by John Walsh
The Irish Quarter
Ciara Gillan
There are thirty stories in 30 Under 30: A Selection of Short Stories by Thirty Young Irish Writers. So far I have posted on 16 of them. (I totally endorse purchase of this very fairly priced collection and will provide a publisher's link at the end of this post.) There is also a very interesting introduction by the editor Elizabeth Reapy (I have posted on her very well done short story, "Statues") and a foreword by John Walsh.. Agreeing with John Walsh, I think this book could well be a collector's item one day.
Posting on collections of short stories that include the works of many different authors presents a big challenge, to me at least. I do not personally care for reviews or posts on short story collections that simply have one or two lines on a few of the stories and then gush over the collection as a whole with standard book review quotes. These could in fact easily be written without reading much of the collection and to me it is like going on about a forest without realizing it is made up of trees. Because of the high quality of the stories and the collection's ability to acquaint me with contemporary Irish short stories, I now plan to post individually on all of the stories in the collection.
Upon completion of this project, I will list my top five stories.
"Caught" by Ciara Gillan is a very interesting story about what takes place when a man looks out of his apartment window and sees a stalker about to attack his wife. It is a brilliant story about the emotions of the couple, complicated by their degenerating relationship. We also see how the man's rescue of his wife produces atavistic emotions. The woman will not allow him to have a sense of pride in his accomplishments as she thinks this event may somehow give him the upper hand in their relationship.
"Caught" is an exciting story that brings out many of the elements in the marriage of the couple.
I look forward to reading more of the work of Gillan in the future.
Author Data-(From 30 Under 30)
The author was born in Dublin in 1983. She completed an MA in creative writing in 2010. She is an animator and had produced an award winning short Hasan Everywhere. She now spends her time writing and producing short films.
You can find more information on 30 Under Thirty: A Selection of Short Stories by Thirty Young Irish Writers at the web page of Doire Press.
Mel u
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