Customer Reviews

Two lovely beasts, and other stories

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Every year when March rolls around I look inside my collection for something to read that is Irish in its topic. It could be Irish fantasy or Celtic history or poetry or simply a work written by an Irish author.

This year (2010) I chose a collection of stories from Liam O'Flaherty. He is the author of "The Informer", his most famous novel about the Irish Troubles, and filmed in the 30s by John Ford, and starred Victor McLaughlin as the main character Gypo.

This book, a battered copy published in 1950, was obtained from a library sale. It's so beaten, I wouldn't be able to sell it, but it's the fiction that's important.

These stories all take place in Ireland. This is the Ireland you would know from another John Ford film, "The Quiet Man". Many are about poor rustic people living on farms and never having enough money for anything: Two Lovely Beasts, The Touch, Life, Grey Seagull (horse-racing), The Lament, The New Suit, The Wedding, The Eviction, The Old Woman.

Some tales take place as one would expect in a pub, or around the city streets: The Flute Player, The Bath, The Challenge, The Beggars. Others have to do with the sea: The Tide, Galway Bay, The Parting.

The last group includes tales about animals in the wild: The Mouse, The Water Hen, The Seal, and Light.

For this review, I'd have to say the best story is the book's title. "Two Lovely Beasts" not only refers to a pair of cattle, but also ironically to the two main characters: Colm Derrane and Kate Higgins. Kate, a poor widow with children is in desperate need of money. Rather than work, she tries to sell her new young calf to her neighbor Colm. At first he doesn't want to invest in raising the calf, but he later sees the potential for profit. As the Derranes begin to make money, and Kate's situation deteriorates into poverty, the townspeople get jealous and look for ways to discredit Colm.

Being also an avid reader of Ayn Rand, I found this story very meaningful in how Colm tries to better himself amidst those who would like him to fail. The author tries to provide both positive and negative arguments to making money and rising above one's station in life. This was when writing was about something profound, not the stuff we see today wallowing in experimentation that goes nowhere and alienates the reader.

I wish we had more writers like Liam O'Flaherty.