So Late in the Day: Stories of Men and Women - Claire Keegan - ★★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Claire Keegan

GENRE: Short Story Collection.

RATING: 4.3 stars.

In a Nutshell: It’s a Claire Keegan story collection! What more do you want to know?! Read it! (As you must have guessed, this is a very biased review, because I love this author!)

Claire Keegan is one of my top favourite contemporary authors. She has a way of making me feel like a fool, most times.

Hmmm… Those two sentences don’t make much sense next to each other, do they? 👀

Let me elaborate.

I love Claire Keegan. She's among the few writers who believes in the intelligence of her readers and hence never goes overboard elaborating her content. She offers just enough for us to read and then trusts in our capacity to read between the lines and process the gaps. This means that her stories can never be rushed through. That what she says is much less than what she leaves unsaid. That you need to invest in comprehending much beyond the written word. That if you are a perceptive literary reader, you will have the time of your life with her works.

All this also means that when I read her stories, I am almost always left mouth agape after the first round. I return immediately to the start, and read the whole thing again searching for the clues I missed. Only after the second round do I see the cleverness of her hidden hints.

Am I complaining?

No way! I simply love the way she allows me to sink into the story with her vivid writing and yet challenges me with the journey her story takes. She always captures humans in their humanness than in their perfection. Thus she adds so much depth to a short story as even some novels cannot match.

This collection has three stories that have already been published elsewhere. Each story has an interplay between a man and a woman. (Cue: the tagline of the book!) Unlike what you would think though, the stories aren’t dominated by romance. But the juxtaposition of the pair in the stories leaves an aftermath on one of them, and that’s the character we hear from, though not necessarily after the life-changing event. The central character isn’t always likeable, but this is not a problem as they are sketched believably. The endings aren’t what you would call happy, but they are oh-so-perfect for the plot.

As always, I rated the stories individually. And the results weren’t a surprise. For anthologies, I usually review only those tales that impress me, but this time, as there are only three stories, and each of them is a winner, here’s a mini review on the trio:

1. So Late in the Day - 🌟🌟🌟🌟

First published in New Yorker magazine.

I had already read and reviewed this story in July 2022. But I reread it just to see if my opinion has changed. It hasn’t. Still a subtly impactful story. This provides a master class in writing for plot development as well as character development. Now, how many short stories can you say that about?

2. The Long and Painful Death - 🌟🌟🌟🌟

First published in her story collection titled ‘Walk the Blue Fields’.

This story took a while to get going. Initially, I wondered where the author was going with that detailed flow that almost bordered on ‘telling’. But I trusted her, and waited for her to explain the title to me. It’s only at the ending that the meandering plotline made sense and also made me laugh. Wannabe authors, you might find this story very “inspiring”! 😄

3. Antarctica - 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

First published in her story collection titled ‘Antarctica’.

It will be tough to talk about this story (a simple premise at the start, but soon,…) or the characters (so excellently sketched!) without spoiling it, so all I'll say is: Oh. My. God!

Four trivial complaints:

1. Why only three stories?

2. Why only republished works?

3. Why no author’s note?

4. Why such a boring cover?

Strongly recommended to all short story or literary fiction lovers. This collection is a gem not to be missed! Not for those readers who seek quick and easily entertaining stories.

4.3 stars, based on the average of my rating for each story.

My thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the DRC of “So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.