Logo image
  • BookDragon
  • About
  • The Blogger
  • Review Policy
  • Smithsonian APAC
 
49087
post-template-default,single,single-post,postid-49087,single-format-standard,stardust-core-1.1,stardust-child-theme-ver-1.0.0,stardust-theme-ver-3.1,ajax_updown_fade,page_not_loaded,smooth_scroll

BookDragon Blog

04 Mar / Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan [in Booklist]

*STARRED REVIEW
Narrator Aidan Kelly persuasively transforms Claire Keegan’s brilliantly polished story into a gorgeous treasure. Adapting the lilting rhythms of Keegan’s Irish-accented English, Kelly utterly embodies local coal man Bill Furlong making his delivery rounds as the Christmas holiday approaches.

A devoted husband and father of five girls, Bill – like all the villagers – navigates his life overshadowed by the Catholic Church. Bill’s mother was a fallen woman, bearing the stigma of being an unwed mother, but Bill manages his adulthood relatively unscathed. And then he discovers a desperate girl locked in a coal shed on convent grounds. Fourteen weeks prior, she gave birth to a son, who was taken by the nuns. Her circumstances will require Bill to make a crucial decision, eschewing indoctrination and embracing individual conscience.

Kelly’s affecting narration remains mostly gentle, with perfectly timed shifts toward sarcasm and outrage – the Mother Superior’s intolerant “You don’t mind bringing the foreigners in” matched with “Hasn’t everyone to be born somewhere … Sure wasn’t Jesus born in Bethlehem.” Kelly’s timing throughout proves superb.

Small Things might be the first audio-adaptation of Keegan’s international bestsellers; more Kelly-starring adaptations would surely be welcome gifts for eager audiences.

Review: “Media,” Booklist, February 15, 2022

Readers: Adult

Published: 2021

By Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Irish, Repost Tags > Aidan Kelly, Betrayal, BookDragon, Booklist, Claire Keegan, Family, Love, Parent/child relationship, Religious differences, Small Things Like These
No Comment

Post a Comment
Cancel Reply

Smithsonian Institution
Asian Pacific American Center

Capital Gallery, Suite 7065
600 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20024

202.633.2691 | APAC@si.edu

Additional contact info

Mailing Address
Capital Gallery
Suite 7065, MRC: 516
P.O. Box 37012
Washington, DC 20013-7012

Fax: 202.633.2699

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

SmithsonianAPA brings Asian Pacific American history, art, and culture to you through innovative museum experiences and digital initiatives.

About BookDragon

Welcome to BookDragon, filled with titles for the diverse reader. BookDragon is a new media initiative of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC), and serves as a forum for those interested in learning more about the Asian Pacific American experience through literature. BookDragon is inhabited by Terry Hong.

Learn More

Contact BookDragon

Please email us at SIBookDragon@gmail.com

Follow BookDragon!
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Looking for Something Else …?

or