Small Things Like These
Among the works of fiction I read in 2022, Small Things Like These (Grove) by Claire Keegan was my standalone favorite. I first listened to the audiobook of this novella. But the more I sat with the masterful, haunting story I had just heard, I found myself wishing I had actually read it. More specifically, I wished I had read it at Christmastime. So that’s what I did. And it resonated even more deeply the second time around. This is a gentle book. But it’s not naive, not by a long shot. It’s a story with staying power, the kind of story where every word counts.
“As they carried on along and met more people Furlong did and did not know, he found himself asking was there any point in being alive without helping one another? Was it possible to carry on along through all the years, the decades, through an entire life, without once being brave enough to go against what was there and yet call yourself a Christian, and face yourself in the mirror?”
