Lezersrecensie
Magdalena Laundry
3,5/5
https://looneybooks79.blog/2024/09/25/small-things-like-these/
1985, in a small Irish town where everybody knows everybody. Bill Furlong is a coal and timber merchant and it's a very busy period as Christmas is approaching. At home he has a wife and five daughters waiting for him, happily married and coming by with what Bill brings in. As he makes his rounds in the town and encounters the citizens he reminisces on his past, as he grew up with his mother never knowing who his father was. And as is known in tiny communities, especially those ruled still by the Church (whether Catholic or Protestant doesn't matter), gossip is never far off. But also the protection of the Church by the churchgoers.
When he delivers to the convent that oversees the town and serves as the laundry for restaurants and hotels in the vicinity, with a spotless reputation. But Bill meets some of the girls that work there and he notices strange things are happening in the convent. But before he even gets the chance to mingle or question it, he is subtly threatened. And in a town where the Church has the all-saying, you better not mess with Mother Superior Mary!
This was my introduction to Claire Keegan. And I don't mind a short story, which I believe Keegan is queen of (if I see the next book of her I plan to read, Foster, I kind of think she has not written any thicker books yet), but it does have to go somewhere and I was left a bit hungry for more after finishing this novella. Though it was written beautifully, Keegan's prose is poetically, she transports you to the mid eighties in only a few words and it gives you a sense of the coldness she describes and can see and feel the breath coming out of Bill's mouth when he wanders around town in the novel. Keegan pulls you in with this little tale and has the ability to make you feel things for the girls, for Bill and his family and even know what shelters behind the doors and windows that are closed, even without her needing to share it all. But it's the ending that was too abrupt for me, too unfinished. And I think my OCD can not handle unfinished business. I don't mind an open ending, but that's something for thrillers that have a sequel waiting... this story does not have a sequel in the making (as far as I know)
The reason I read this now was because of the movie made by Tim Mielandts, which I'll be seeing very soon on FilmFest Gent in October. And I wanted to know what to expect.
Even though I did not like the unfinished ending, I did like the book in general and of course and especially the writing of Keegan so I am looking forward to reading other stories by her. (As said, next is Foster)
In the afterword it is mentioned that the subject of this book, the Magdalen Laundries as they were called, is based on true events. Girls were taken to convents where they suffered abuse and had to work hours on end. Mostly these girls were pregnant and lost their babies (often they were sold or even killed). So another atrocity committed by Church is touched here!
https://looneybooks79.blog/2024/09/25/small-things-like-these/
1985, in a small Irish town where everybody knows everybody. Bill Furlong is a coal and timber merchant and it's a very busy period as Christmas is approaching. At home he has a wife and five daughters waiting for him, happily married and coming by with what Bill brings in. As he makes his rounds in the town and encounters the citizens he reminisces on his past, as he grew up with his mother never knowing who his father was. And as is known in tiny communities, especially those ruled still by the Church (whether Catholic or Protestant doesn't matter), gossip is never far off. But also the protection of the Church by the churchgoers.
When he delivers to the convent that oversees the town and serves as the laundry for restaurants and hotels in the vicinity, with a spotless reputation. But Bill meets some of the girls that work there and he notices strange things are happening in the convent. But before he even gets the chance to mingle or question it, he is subtly threatened. And in a town where the Church has the all-saying, you better not mess with Mother Superior Mary!
This was my introduction to Claire Keegan. And I don't mind a short story, which I believe Keegan is queen of (if I see the next book of her I plan to read, Foster, I kind of think she has not written any thicker books yet), but it does have to go somewhere and I was left a bit hungry for more after finishing this novella. Though it was written beautifully, Keegan's prose is poetically, she transports you to the mid eighties in only a few words and it gives you a sense of the coldness she describes and can see and feel the breath coming out of Bill's mouth when he wanders around town in the novel. Keegan pulls you in with this little tale and has the ability to make you feel things for the girls, for Bill and his family and even know what shelters behind the doors and windows that are closed, even without her needing to share it all. But it's the ending that was too abrupt for me, too unfinished. And I think my OCD can not handle unfinished business. I don't mind an open ending, but that's something for thrillers that have a sequel waiting... this story does not have a sequel in the making (as far as I know)
The reason I read this now was because of the movie made by Tim Mielandts, which I'll be seeing very soon on FilmFest Gent in October. And I wanted to know what to expect.
Even though I did not like the unfinished ending, I did like the book in general and of course and especially the writing of Keegan so I am looking forward to reading other stories by her. (As said, next is Foster)
In the afterword it is mentioned that the subject of this book, the Magdalen Laundries as they were called, is based on true events. Girls were taken to convents where they suffered abuse and had to work hours on end. Mostly these girls were pregnant and lost their babies (often they were sold or even killed). So another atrocity committed by Church is touched here!
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Een roman die bijna uit zijn voegen barst van emotie met een prachtige schrijfstijl en onvergetelijke personages, een verhaal dat je telkens weer zult willen herlezen.
