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The BookBrowse Review
The BookBrowse Review
Published January 24, 2024
ISSN: 1930-0018
The BookBrowse Review
Published January 24, 2024
ISSN: 1930-0018
Contents
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Literary Fiction
Historical Fiction
Short Stories
Essays
Poetry & Novels in Verse
Mysteries
Thrillers
Romance
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Biography/Memoir
History, Current Affairs and Religion
Science, Health and the Environment
Literary Fiction
Historical Fiction
Poetry & Novels in Verse
Thrillers
Romance
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Biography/Memoir
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Brilliant, dark stories of women's lives by "a very major talent" (Joseph O'Connor, Irish Times)
In these visceral, stunningly crafted stories by the author of the much-acclaimed Trespasses, women's lives are etched by poverty—material, emotional, sexual—but also splashed by beauty, sometimes even joy, as they search for the good in the cards they've been dealt.
A wife is abandoned by her new husband in a derelict housing estate, with blood on her hands. An expectant mother's worst fears about her husband's entanglement with a teenage girl are confirmed. A sister is tormented by visions of the man her brother murdered during the Troubles. A woman struggles to forgive herself after an abortion threatens to destroy her marriage. Plumbing the depths of intimacy, violence, and redemption, these stories are "dazzling, heartbreaking ... keen to share the lessons of a lifetime" (Guardian).
Gibraltar
1983
Audrey McGuigan is in front of the wire fence that marks the end of their garden, where newly planted lawn gives way to tufts of roseroot and marram grass. Behind her, Ben Bulben is under cloud, only the west side visible, curving into the sea. The tide is out, an acrid slime covering the seabed. A dog has left the carcass of a sewage-fattened mullet in the low dunes and the smell repulses her; she is seven months pregnant. Marty hasn't figured out how to use his new camera, and Audrey has been stock-still for five minutes. He's just noticed how huge she is, at least as big as when she was at full term with Rory, who is out of the picture, climbing over the Gibraltar Rocks to get away from his parents' bickering. After a clutch of car sales, Marty goes to auctions. He has bought a scrap of waste ground, a terraced house on Harmony Hill, a derelict shop near the docks. He also bought the field that borders Gibraltar. Half an hour ago, he put a sign on one of the gates that reads keep off these lands. Where is he going with his lands, Audrey wanted to know, and him reared in Belubah bloody Terrace. Their Queen Anne–style house is a bespoke pine kitchen away from finished. Rockview Lodge, they'll call it; there will be a row about that too.
1990
This one was taken by a photographer. The parish priest is between Marty and Audrey, delighted to pose with the man who gave him 5 percent off a new Mondeo and threw in alloy wheels for nothing. Audrey's mouth is smiling. Her left hand is buried in the cloud of Shona's veil to stop it from blowing away. The Communion dress is cut from Audrey's wedding gown. Shona would have preferred a dress from a shop, but her mother had been so keen to take scissors to the lace and tulle she hadn't said so. Her palms are touching, as if in prayer, a white satin handbag swinging from her wrist that's already bulging with cards and cash and Nanny Lynch's rosary beads. The more you have the more you get, Marty thinks. The day of his own Communion his father poured him a whiskey in the scullery and went out to the pub to celebrate by himself. There's a meal booked in the hotel, where he'll have to buy drinks for everyone in the bar, because that's what is expected when you
own half the town and employ the other half. At least it'll give him something to do while Audrey and the children are at the long table, flanked by the Lynches. Rory is in a brown blouson jacket, his right foot raised an inch off the ground, as if he's about to bolt. Audrey would bolt too, given half a chance.
2001
Shona is wearing a one-shouldered purple dress, her long hair straightened, eyebrows thin and arched. She is smiling over at her mother while Marty takes the picture. The boy beside her is called Keith and has a blond ponytail and a bar through his eyebrow. His handshake is limp and Marty thinks Shona should think more of herself and find someone else. Not that he will say so. He and Shona aren't that close. Keith has been making a particular contribution to Shona's low self-esteem. A couple of shoves, what the counselor will later call verbal abuse, and the previous night a smack that cut through the fug of hash in her bedroom.
2011
The florist has erected a bower of pink peonies and unripe wheat and white rhododendrons at the end of the garden, on the exact spot where Marty photographed Audrey with Shona in her belly. The family are in front of it, Marty and Audrey on either side of the bride and groom, Rory and
the English girl he lives with in New Zealand (South Island, as far away from Rockview as you can get) beside Audrey, yet slightly apart. Shona's hair is set in loose waves. She has just married Lorcan, an eejity fella, in Marty's opinion, but an improvement on that weasel Keith. They have been blessed with the weather. Not that it matters, because there's thirty grand's worth of a marquee with a merbau floor and chandeliers and vintage china teapots filled with cornflowers and anemones. Audrey is ...
From THE END OF THE WORLD IS A CUL DE SAC by Louise Kennedy, published by Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2023 by Louise Kennedy
Most of the stories in Louise Kennedy's debut collection follow women through the trials and tribulations of everyday life. Relationships, mortality, womanhood, loyalty, and memory are all placed beneath the microscope as we move throughout the collection, almost as though we are drifting around the titular cul-de-sac, glimpsing the loves, losses, hopes, and sorrows playing out behind each door.
An exact timeframe is never made clear, but one story, "Silhouette," stands out for being the only to make specific reference to the realities of life in the wake of the Troubles. In it, we see a young woman coming of age, wrestling with her love for her brother and the knowledge that he killed a man during the conflict that ruled the streets. Though the other stories rarely deal with subject matter this overtly political, several explore the theme of women attempting to live in a society that seethes with latent anger and a simmering threat of violence. Take "Hunter-Gatherers," for example, where a man is determined yet misguided in his attempts to live off the land. In a display of power and performative violence, he needlessly kills a wild hare, despite knowing his partner adores watching it: "There was a treacly hole at the front of his head, his eyes were hazel and still." The frank yet oddly lyrical prose in moments like this creates a sense of how normalized death and destruction have become under a cloud of modern toxic masculinity. Loss, for this generation of women, is simply a way of life.
The stories are often bleak in concept and narrative. While this can make them tough going if consumed as a whole, many offer subtle glimmers of hope, be it through deadpan humor, hard won resilience, or hints of possible change to come.
The rugged beauty of the Irish landscape forms a solid backdrop for the vast majority of the stories, as in the following quote from "Garland Sunday":
"The hillside sliced down toward the road, shorn like a lawn by the sheep that clung to it. In front of her, over fields and bog and a silver lake, were the hills of three counties. Behind her, the wind was blowing through the caves."
This sense of place is so well drawn that the instances in which the action strays outside of Ireland can feel slightly jarring. Still, there is never a feeling that any of the stories are filler. To maintain a consistently high standard across such a lengthy collection is impressive, but Kennedy pulls it off.
A couple of entries stand out as highlights: "Garland Sunday" and "Brittle Things." In the former, we look at the repercussions of a couple's decision to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. In the latter, we follow the mother of a non-speaking autistic child, as she attempts to simultaneously shield and nurture him in a world he finds overwhelming. To do so, she must navigate the frustrations of daily life, grapple with misplaced guilt, overcome her husband's denial about their son's condition, and face the constant pity of her friends and neighbors. Throughout the book at large, there is a sense of the weight held by words that go unspoken. This idea is presented most literally and poignantly in these two stories.
In a depiction that is direct and unflinchingly real, Kennedy brings a universal relatability to the notion that we all must trudge on in the face of life's melancholies. For this reason, almost every reader is likely to connect with the quiet struggles of at least one character found within The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac.
Reviewed by Callum McLaughlin
Anne Enright
Emma Donoghue
In 2018, in a culturally and historically significant move, the Irish public voted in favor of overturning the country's long-held ban on abortion, with more than 66% supporting the repeal. This victory for improving access to healthcare for millions was by no means an overnight success, however.
On the contrary, the fight to legalize abortion in Ireland was a long and arduous one. The procedure was first criminalized in 1861 with the Offences Against the Person Act, which forbid women from seeking to "procure a miscarriage." This law would see a sentence of life imprisonment handed to anyone who had or provided an abortion, or helped to provide access to one in any way.
In 1983, the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland came into effect. It protected "the right to life of the unborn." This effectively banned abortion under any circumstances, even when there was a direct threat to life for either the expectant mother or the unborn fetus.
Even now, following the removal of the Eighth Amendment, access to abortion is still somewhat restricted in comparison to many other countries. Aside from extreme circumstances, abortion in Ireland is only legal up to 12 weeks of pregnancy (compared to 24 weeks in the United Kingdom, for example), with at least a three-day waiting period required upon request for one. Access is not equal, having been described as something of a "postcode lottery." Rural communities in particular are experiencing a lack of care, with nine out of 26 counties having fewer than five general practitioners registered to provide abortion services. These gaps in access are believed to disproportionately impact marginalized groups, with people who are homeless, disabled, or dealing with domestic abuse having been acknowledged as particularly at risk.
Another important factor to consider when analyzing the success of Ireland's legalization of abortion is lingering stigma. Not only is this a huge issue socially, research from the University of Limerick found evidence that women dealing with stigma post-abortion experience associated psychological and physical health problems. A separate survey found that medical professionals providing abortion services also continue to face stigma, despite their work being protected by law and the sense of pride they feel in being able to provide healthcare that for so long was inaccessible.
Stigma and internalized shame following an abortion is explored in "Garland Sunday," one of fifteen stories painting pictures of Irish life in Louise Kennedy's The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac. This story, like the aforementioned research, highlights that while undeniable progress has been made, there is still some way to go in making sure everyone who wants or needs an abortion in Ireland can access it without fear of judgment or repercussion.
Crowd at Dublin Castle after Eighth Amendment referendum results on May 26, 2018
Photo by Katenolan1979 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Filed under Society and Politics
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