I found Claire Keegan’s “Antarctica” an uneven collection, but the standout stories nonetheless exemplify her mesmeric readability.
This collects Keegan’s earlier work, and it’s easy to recognise that nascent spark that eventually exploded into literary phenomenon. There’s also a darkness, or maybe a grimness, that permeates many of these stories, which I’ve never really associated with her work, alongside her trademark sharp observations on relationships and Irish culture, and masterfully constructed sentences that read like pearls on a string, forming paragraphs that I can only describe as phosphorescent. I’m not a language guy, but even I had to pause and on more than a few occasions.
My three favourites here include the titular “Antarctica,” “Passport Soup,” and “Love in the Tall Grass.” Keegan opens with “Antarctica,” perhaps the strongest of these offerings, which explores the depraved consequences of a woman indulging in an extramarital affair. “Love in the Tall Grass” follows a familiar theme, involving a long-running affair between a doctor and a young woman, and the ramifications when his wife learns of his betrayal. And “Passport Soup” is about a man engulfed by grief and guilt after his daughter goes missing while in his care.
Few of the other stories resonated as strongly as Keegan’s later stuff has for me, but her graceful narrative skills are firmly demonstrated throughout.
Written By Sime 