For many, the idea of Christmas invokes images of snowy hills, twinkling lights, warm meals and cozy fires. Claire Keegan’s 2021 novella, “Small Things Like These,” features all of that and two additional elements: a horrifying local discovery and a life changing crisis of conscious.
The book, which was a finalist for the Booker Prize, is set in a small Irish town in 1985. We follow Bill Furlong, a husband and coal merchant who is preparing for the holiday with his wife and children. He’s in an especially meditative state because Christmas makes him think of his mother, who was kicked out of her family’s house after getting pregnant with Bill when she was 16. The only way mother and son were able to survive was thanks to the kindness and care of a generous neighbor.
As he makes his holiday delivery rounds, Bill is lost in reflection, ruminating over his troubled past and the question of how to provide for his daughters. Then he stumbles on a terrible scene at a local convent, one that will cause him to confront what he believed about his community and whether he has the ability, and will, to fix it.
This December, the Book Review Book Club will read and discuss “Small Things Like These.” We’ll be chatting about the book on the Book Review podcast that airs Dec. 20. We’d love for you to join the conversation. Share your thoughts about the novel in the comments section of this article by Dec. 16, and we may mention your observations in the episode.
Here’s some related reading to get the conversation started:
Read our 2021 book review of “Small Things Like These”: “Keegan’s prose, as she describes this trapped-in-amber world, is both nostalgic and practical: The scope of village life may be small, but its texture is rich.” [Read the full review, written by the author Lydia Millet, here.]
Read our 2022 profile of Claire Keegan, where she speaks about her approach to writing and harnessing the power of brevity in her slim novels: “I think all good writing is good manners,” she said. [Read the full profile here.]
Read our movie critic Alissa Wilkinson’s review of this year’s film adaptation of “Small Things Like These,” starring Cillian Murphy: “Murphy, fresh off his ‘Oppenheimer’ Oscar win, is both producer and star of this film. His performance is unsurprisingly searing and nuanced, especially since Bill is not much of a talker. A lot of his performance is in extreme close-up, his panic showing up like lava pooling below a thin surface, ready to burst through at any moment.” [Read the full review here.]
We can’t wait to discuss this book with you!
The post Book Club: Read ‘Small Things Like These,’ by Claire Keegan, with the Book Review appeared first on New York Times.
