Claire Keegan: Small Things Like These

Hi everyone

Small Things Like These is a little book by Claire Keegan. The beautiful cover totally sucked me in. 
I got my book from Bol.com.

"It is 1985, in an Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant, faces into his busiest season. As he does the rounds, he feels the past rising up to meet him - and encounters the complicit silences of a people controlled by the Church."

This was lovely and a perfect winter or Christmas read.

I loved the atmosphere and the setting. You can feel the cold air and see your breath misting the windows. Keegan writes so evocatively!
It was refreshing and compelling to experience the story through the eyes of a man who doesn’t fully understand what’s happening; while the women around him do. That ignorance and slow realization added a layer of tension and tragedy.
I loved the story at its heart, about small acts of kindness in a cruel world, about silence that speaks louder than words, and about what we choose to see, what we look away from and why. It’s a gentle but profound exploration of morality, guilt, and the weight of doing (or not doing) the right thing. 

But I expected more. There's not much to the story, not much happens. The story unfolds over just a few days, and while that adds to the intensity, it also felt too limited and too much is left unsaid. I'm also left with too many unanswered questions; what happens after they get home? How do his wife, his children and the community react to his decision? It feels like the book stops just as the real story is about to begin (or at the very least the second part of the book).

The story is a bit too sweet and cozy for the topic of the Magdalene Sisters. a dark, gruesome, painful chapter in Irish history where women and girls were imprisoned, abused, and exploited by the Church. But the treatment of this topic felt too sweet, too cozy for such a brutal reality. I wanted more impact, more confrontational truth. 
We learned about this in high school so I immediately recognized what was happening but I can't imagine everyone reading this book knows what happened. So I really feel it should have been more at the front of the story, more elaborated on this.

Have you read Small Things Like These? What did you think of the balance between sweetness and the harsh topic? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Happy reading!
Helena