Vicki_F

The Irish Goodbye by Beth Ann Fennelly is a collection of micro-memoirs. The short selections range from a single sentence to several pages and touch on family, friendship, joy and grief. Do not think "micro" means slight or trivial. A one-sentence comment on her long marriage had me laughing in recognition and then a few pages later a short essay on her mother's decline and death from dementia during the covid pandemic had me in tears. This is life – the ordinary or eventful described with understanding and empathy, humor and sadness. I seldom read memoirs by "ordinary" people but I will keep this book on my shelf to dip into when I need to pause, take a breath and move on, I hope with her humor and compassion.