Walk the Blue Fields

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Our narrator receives a phone call early the next morning, a visitor wishing to present himself - he's actually outside the cottage. Our un-named narrator puts him off until 8 p.m., and what follows are the small preparations and the ways in which she occupies the free time of her first day. But it is beautifully done. I think Keegan with-holds the woman's name, because it then becomes so easy for the reader to slip herself into the story. A small extract:

The austere style and measured pacing of “Foster” is perfect… [A] matchless novella.”— Wall Street Journal Claire Keegan’s brilliant debut collection, Antarctica , was a Los Angeles Times Book of the Year, and earned her resounding accolades on both sides of the Atlantic. Now she has delivered her next, much-anticipated book, Walk the Blue Fields , an unforgettable array of quietly wrenching stories about despair and desire in the timeless world of modern-day Ireland. In the never-before-published story “The Long and Painful Death,” a writer awarded a stay to work in Heinrich Böll’s old cottage has her peace interrupted by an unwelcome intruder, whose ulterior motives only emerge as the night progresses. In the title story, a priest waits at the altar to perform a marriage and, during the ceremony and the festivities that follow, battles his memories of a love affair with the bride that led him to question all to which he has dedicated his life; later that night, he finds an unlikely answer in the magical healing powers of a seer.Yolumun üzerindeki kitapçının vitrininde görünce kitabın ismine gerçekten vuruluyorum. Tanışmak için sadece bir bahaneye ihtiyacım var,biliyorum. Ertesi gün bahanem hazır: İstanbul kartım için parayı bozdurmalıyım! İlk oturduğum yerde okumaya başlıyorum ve bırakmadan devam ediyorum: metroda,işte,merdivenleri çıkarken,yürürken... Fırına girdiğimde sayfalar akmış sonuncu hikayedeyim. Henüz çıkmış sıcaklığı ile kese kağıdını dolduran ekmeğin kokusunu içime çekerek göğsüme bastırıyorum. Mayıs ayı ama sabah çok serin ısınıyorum. Kendi kendime konuşmaktan kendimi alamıyorum; bu hikayeler göğsümün üzerinde sıcak ekmek, yol artık mavi tarla...! Fragments of his time…cross his mind. How lovely it was to know her intimately. She said self-knowledge lay at the far side of speech. The purpose of conversation was to find out what, to some extent, you already knew. She believed that in every conversation, an invisible bowl existed. Talk was the art of placing decent words into the bowl and taking others out. In a loving conversation, you discovered yourself in the kindest possible way, and at the end the bowl was, once again, empty.’ - from ’Walk the Blue Fields In the title story, a priest is conducting the marriage ceremony of the woman he has loved, who he loves still, the woman who now has stony green eyes that give nothing away, the woman who gave him an ultimatum, if he wouldn't leave the priesthood, then she could no longer see him like this. He could not leave the priesthood: but now his life too is empty. Where is God? All he wants is a sign. He wishes God would show himself. But maybe he already did? Claire Keegan's brilliant debut collection, Antarctica, was named a Los Angeles Times Book of the Year and earned her resounding accolades on both sides of the Atlantic. She continues her outstanding work with this new collection of quietly wrenching stories of despair and desire in modern-day Ireland.

In stories brimming with Gothic shadows and ancient hurts, Claire Keegan tells of “a rural world of silent men and wild women who, for the most part, make bad marriages, and vivid, uncomprehending children” (Anne Enright, The Guardian). In the never-before-published story “The Long and Painful Death,” a writer awarded a stay to work in Heinrich Böll’s old cottage has her peace interrupted by an unwelcome intruder, whose ulterior motives only emerge as the night progresses. In the title story, a priest waits at the altar to perform a marriage and, during the ceremony and the festivities that follow, battles his memories of a love affair with the bride that led him to question all to which he has dedicated his life; later that night, he finds an unlikely answer in the magical healing powers of a seer. A master class in precisely crafted short fiction . . . Keegan’s trenchant observations explode like bombshells, bringing menace and retribution to tales of romance delayed, denied, and even deadly.” — Booklist, starred review Keegan writes with such grace and accuracy that it is impossible not to be drawn into each world she creates. Walk the Blue Fields is a superb collection in which each story is a treat; together, they are pure gold.” – Big IssueClaire Keegan’s brilliant debut collection, Antarctica, was a Los Angeles Times Book of the Year, and earned her resounding accolades on both sides of the Atlantic. Now she has delivered her next, much-anticipated book, Walk the Blue Fields, an unforgettable array of quietly wrenching stories about despair and desire in the timeless world of modern-day Ireland. In the never-before-published story “The Long and Painful Death,” a writer awarded a stay to work in Heinrich Böll’s old cottage has her peace interrupted by an unwelcome intruder, whose ulterior motives only emerge as the night progresses. In the title story, a priest waits at the altar to perform a marriage and, during the ceremony and the festivities that follow, battles his memories of a love affair with the bride that led him to question all to which he has dedicated his life; later that night, he finds an unlikely answer in the magical healing powers of a seer.

She looks calm, but the Priest notice her hands shaking under the bouquet of flowers she was holding. Claire Keegan’s brilliant debut collection, Antarctica, was named a Los Angeles Times Book of the Year and earned her resounding accolades on both sides of the Atlantic. She continues her outstanding work with this new collection of quietly wrenching stories of despair and desire in modern-day Ireland. A] stunning second collection . . . Keegan’s stories are the literary counterparts to Picasso’s Blue Period paintings. . . . Keegan’s first collection, Antarctica, led to comparisons with Raymond Carver, but Annie Proulx, with her distilled, poetic prose and attunement to remote landscapes, is a closer match.”— San Francisco Chronicle

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Anlatılanlar çoğunlukla acı şeyler olsa da her öyküde bir umut var. Ya da kabullenişin verdiği rahatlık. Modern şehir insanı, en küçük sıkıntıda "bu benim başıma nasıl gelir?" duygusuyla çatışıp bir türlü huzura eremiyor ama bu öykülerin de işaret ettiği taşra insanlarında ya eyleme geçme dürtüsü ya da ağırbaşlı bir kabulleniş var. urn:lcp:walkbluefields0000keeg_b1e2:epub:3728d8ca-cfc0-4ba7-951b-a3e71e306eda Foldoutcount 0 Identifier walkbluefields0000keeg_b1e2 Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t41s54212 Invoice 1652 Isbn 9780571233069 These short fictions by the Irish author Claire Keegan haven’t a style so much as a microclimate, a chill mist blowing in on a hard wind off the sea. . . . The author’s own storytelling powers have darkened and matured since her first collection, as she takes confident command of her craft.”— Boston Globe Sometimes everybody was right. For most of the time people crazy or sober were stumbling in the dark, reaching with outstretched hands for something they didn’t even know they wanted.’ Claire Keegan’s brilliant debut collection, Antarctica, was a Los Angeles Times Book of the Year, and earned her resounding accolades on both sides of the Atlantic. Now she has delivered her next, much-anticipated book, Walk the Blue Fields, an unforgettable array of quietly wrenching stories about despair and desire in the timeless world of modern-day Ireland.

Please consider this gorgeous book about Ireland today if you're looking for a non gross and stereotyping way to celebrate the day! Claire Keegan blends quirky humor with mystery and darkness in a voice that is quintessentially Irish, deep and untroubled at once, and weaves a meticulous gossamer of spare lives trapped by the common themes of land and past, which take chameleonic shapes in every story. My feelings for this collection are really unchanged except perhaps that discussing each story with others has helped me to define better why I like each one. Keegan writes of Ireland, the people, the land, the elements, fables and reality. I'm sure I will be reading this many more times. HTML: "Seven perfect short stories" from the award-winning author of Antarcticaâ??"a writer who is instinctively cherished and praised" ( The Guardian, UK).

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There are tears there but she is too proud to blink and let one fall. If she blinked, he would take her hand and take her away from this place. This, at least, is what he tells himself. It's what she once wanted but two people hardly ever want the same thing at any given point in life. It is sometimes the hardest part of being human." He led her across the floorboards same as a cat’s tongue moves along a saucer of cream.’ - from ’The Forester’s Daughter