I was completely seduced by Claire Keegan’s novellas last year, so obviously I didn’t need much convincing to read her debut collection of short stories, Antarctica.

The titular story, Antarctica, is startling, and sets the tone for the rest of the collection. And I’d describe that tone as violent. The stories explore violence in what are predominantly domestic settings, and the focus is on women, and themes of fidelity and retribution. But before Antarctica takes its frightening turn, it begins with a brilliant first line –

Every time the happily married woman went away she wondered how it would feel to sleep with another man.

Antarctica is followed by the equally strong Love in the Tall Grass (about a long running affair between a woman and a married man), and the standout in the collection, The Ginger Rogers Sermon. The story starts gently, with a girl describing her parents’ preparations for their evening out dancing, and this warm scene is evidence of Keegan’s skill.

The shuffle of the entertainment pages and Da working a lather for his face, sticking the headlines on his chin to stop the blood.

But the focus is on her father’s employee, a lumberjack known as Slapper Jim, who is initially a source of curiosity but then becomes part of the family. I read with my heart in my mouth.

Mention must also be made of two excellent stories where women get their revenge – a wife on her philandering husband in Men and Women, and a woman who gives up her adult years to care for her father in Sisters. The endings of both stories are genius.

Keegan’s writing is undeniably beautiful. She captures elements of nature and describes people in ways that had me re-reading passages –

Light drained out of that day. Dusk stoked the sky, bribing daylight into darkness.

Up close, she smelled mothballs in his winter jacket; he smelled like an old drawer that hadn’t been opened in a very long time.

and of a little boy, whose mother died suddenly at home – He couldn’t go back inside. The house was full and empty at the same time – this is one of the most eloquent observations of grief that I have come across.

The re-reading bits is interesting because Keegan had lots to say about ‘beautiful sentences’ and her emphasis on paragraphs rather than sentences at the Melbourne Writers Festival, when she stated that paragraphs are like ‘bowls’ to hold the sentences. The paragraph should ‘…go into, not on about the subject’. So I read through a ‘wide’ lens, looking for the beautiful sentences nestled next to another, held together gently in their paragraphs.

There were some stories that fell short for me – they either ended in a way that didn’t feel satisfying (and you’re aware of this because Keegan does leave you wondering in some stories but in a welcome way) or were told from a perspective that wasn’t fully convincing (incidentally, these were the stories focused on male characters in America). Overall, the highs and lows are what you expect in a debut collection, and some of the ‘highs’ will stay with me for their strong imagery and beautiful sentences paragraphs.

3/5

There is too much pepper in the salad dressing and the rhubarb tart could have used more sugar, but all that’s left is a few potato skins, chicken bones, greasy dishes.

As part of the 20 Books of Summer reading challenge, I’m comparing the Belfast summer and Melburnian winter. The results for the day I finished this book (June 11): Belfast 13°-23° and Melbourne 10°-16°.