Loved this, even if it didn’t have the personal impact of Foster
Published: 2020
This was my second Keegan novel after Foster, which hit me at a very personal level. I still think about that book all the time, mostly when I think of my dad.
This takes place in the mid-1980’s, and is about the Magdalene laundries, of which I knew the existence but not the name. It’s about a working class man named Bill, with a bit of mystery to his past, who stumbles across a bit of information that forces him to make a very personal choice.
It’s a short book but it isn’t missing anything. Keegan’s such a good writer – a few words from her can do what can take others several pages. Her writing is worth reading aloud, parsing each sentence fully, which isn’t a big ask because the book is so short:
The worst was yet to come, he knew. Already he could feel a world of trouble waiting for him behind the next door, but the worst that could have happened was also already behind him; the thing not done, which could have been – which he would have had to live with for the rest of his life.
It’s beautiful, it’s tender, and the characters are fully fleshed out, but to me this didn’t have the emotional heft of Foster. It felt a little lighter, a little less unique. This is likely because of how Foster hit me personally, not at all a slight against the book. I’ll remember both fondly, but I’ll read Foster again before this one.
Apparently the film is out to fairly positive reviews, though it probably takes less time to read the book than watch the movie.