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Homesickness
Colin Barrett
FREE Delivery in Ireland
Description for Homesickness
Paperback.
The second book from the "exact and poetic" (New York Times) author of critical smash Young Skins, winner of the Guardian First Book Award and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35, Homesickness is an emotionally resonant and wonderfully wry collection that follows the lives of outcasts, misfits, and malcontents from County Mayo to Canada.
When Colin Barrett's debut Young Skins published, it swept up several major literary awards, and, in both its linguistic originality and sharply drawn portraits of working-class Ireland, earned Barrett comparisons to Faulkner, Hardy, and Musil. Now, ... Read morein a blistering follow-up collection, Barrett brings together eight character-driven stories, each showcasing his inimitably observant eye and darkly funny style
A quiet night in a local pub is shattered by the arrival of a sword-wielding fugitive; a funeral party teeters on the edge of this world and the next, as ghosts simply won't lay in wake; a shooting sees a veteran policewoman confront the banality of her own existence; and an aspiring writer grapples with his father's cancer diagnosis and in his despair wreaks havoc on his mentor's life.
The second piece of fiction from a 'lyrical and tough and smart' (Anne Enright) voice in contemporary Irish literature, Homesickness? marks Colin Barrett out as our most brilliantly original and captivating storyteller.
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Product Details
Publisher
Vintage Publishing
Place of Publication
London, United Kingdom
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 2 to 4 working days
About Colin Barrett
Colin Barrett grew up in County Mayo, Ireland. His stories have been published in The Stinging Fly, Granta, Harper's and the New Yorker. His first book, the short story collection Young Skins, won the Guardian First Book Award, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. His second collection, Homesickness, made the New York ... Read moreTimes 100 Notable Books of the Year and was a Book of the Year in Oprah Daily and the Irish Times. Show Less
Reviews for Homesickness
A mesmerisingly powerful book, full of the strangeness and beauty of life. I've learned so much from Colin Barrett's work as a reader and writer...these stories are his best yet
Sally Rooney Full of humour and small-town Irish colour... His [Barrett's] second collection confirms him as one of the very best short-story writers in the business
New Statesman, ... Read more
Books of the Year
A masterwork - by turns hilarious and heartbreaking... What fierce, tender stories. Totally unforgettable
Brandon Taylor The stories in Homesickness are crafted with skill and flair. Colin Barrett anchors the work with emotional accuracy and careful delineation of character, and then, using metaphors and beautifully made sentences, he lets his narrative soar
Colm Toibin Lyrical and tough and smart... His stories are set in a familiar emotional landscape, but they give us endings that are new
Anne Enright Addictive, stylish and violently funny stories, with riches on every page - an outstanding collection
Kevin Barry Shot through with dark humor, pitch-perfect dialogue and a signature freshness that makes life palpable on the page...Homesickness is graced with an original, lingering beauty
Stuart Dybek, New York Times Book Review
Even though we rarely enter their internal worlds, Colin Barrett conjures interiority through his linguistic precision and attention to external detail, so that each story lingers in the mind and haunts its successors
Alexander Leslie
Times Literary Supplement
Superb...[T]here is an utterness to his attention, a devotion to the lives of his characters, that shifts the work into some more lasting place. Barrett is already one of the leading writers of the Irish short story, which is to braggingly say, one of the leading writers of the short story anywhere. He means every word and regrets every word. He just kills it
Guardian
Something struck me as I read these beautifully crafted, desperately sad, but often very funny stories: there is now a branch of English called the Colin Barrett
Roddy Doyle This is a beautiful and moving collection, from one of the best story writers today.
Luke Brown
Financial Times
Homesickness is an adroit, wry set of stories by an author who has an eye for the quirks of human nature.
Martin Chilton
Independent
With a sharp eye for the absurd in the ordinary, Barrett's stories impart gritty and touching realisations about life as it really is. Edgy, sharp and utterly original, Homesickness is an utterly compelling collection and Barrett is meticulous
Elaine Feeney Colin Barrett is a young man in the town of the short story, but it's fair to say he has the run of the place
Jon McGregor Homesickness is another finely crafted collection... Crisply told, fond of an eye-catching flourish... the stories draw energy from the rhythms of west of Ireland small talk, added to Barrett's eye for striking detail...The scenarios are richly layered, with punchy payoffs.
Anthony Cummins
Observer
Strange and haunting fiction. You could open Homesickness at any page and find sentences of vim and elegance, ringing dialogue...and similes to savour.
Max Liu
i
Homesickness presents us with a set of characters forever losing things: other people's dogs, girlfriends, the will to live. But in the course of these stories they find things, too: courage; a crumpled sort of wisdom; the will to live. Between the comedy, and the pure thrill of the language, there's a lot of sorrow and mental illness here, but the afterglow of the stories, which settle and stay with you, is one of moving regard for the flaws and wants we battle, flee, and bargain with every day of our lives
Chris Power Vivid, punchy... Barrett delineates with verve the ways his characters struggle.
Melanie White
Literary Review
Worth the wait... few do it as well as Colin Barrett.
Tom Gatti
New Statesman
Barrett's... brilliant second collection confirms him as one of the very best short-story writers in the business.
New Statesman,
The Best Books of 2022 so far
Barrett's stories are, without exception, beautifully written, full of arresting imagery.
Booklist (starred review)
Bittersweet and chiseled...From gritty realism to oddball noir, this assured collection demonstrates the talent of a distinctive writer.
Publishers Weekly
Richly descriptive...This sharply observant collection resists pigeonholing its recalcitrant characters.
Kirkus Review
A masterwork-by turns hilarious and heart-breaking, these stories shimmer. No story writer at work today thrills me more than Colin Barrett, whose characters feel immediately so familiar and true in their capacity to maim and love. What fierce, tender stories. Totally unforgettable.
Brandon Taylor
Funny, devastating, slow-burning, these understated tales of misfits and misadventures in smalltown Ireland are written with a casual grace.
Guardian,
Summer Reads of 2022
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