In a haunting portrayal of the women of Northern Ireland, Beckett writes withsensitivity and feeling about women who are struggling to overcome bitternessand loneliness.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
There's a touch of Katherine Mansfield in these stories by Beckett ( Give Them Stones ) about the lives of Irish women young and old. At her best ("The Pursuit of Happiness"), the author subtly sketches emerging character, paving the way with unobtrusively symbolic details. If no false notes intrude, an awakening of luminous grace ensues; typically, a heroine will come to terms with "that feeling of empty misery . . . a feeling of being useless and unwanted and of dwindling instead of growing." Beckett's women are wronged by unlucky loves, feckless husbands, too many children, poverty and political turmoilbut perhaps suffer most from their appetite for suffering. The women labor, too, in an isolation enforced by the cruelties of community. Beckett is an uncommonly natural writer, telling stories with a radiantly pure lyricism, though not all of the 11 tales here meet that standard.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Beckett's second book is a slim volume of short stories about the desperate lives of women in Northern Ireland. In the title story, a Catholic woman receives an anonymous note threatening to burn down her house if she doesn't move. Looking out on the sunsets of Belfast, the most beautiful in all the world because of the city's dirt and pollution, she decides to stay: "There is Hope for all of us. Well, anyway, if you don't die you live through it, day in, day out." Widowed or forced to manage with drunken husbands, Beckett's women survive the harsh realities of everyday life. Yet rarely do the stories reach full artistic complexity and emotional pitch. Beckett is a talented writer and a fine miniaturist, yet the reader often longs for something more substantial.Donald P. Kaczvinsky, Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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