Keegan’s writing is beyond compare and in this collection she depicts man's capacity for tenderness, cruelty, dismissiveness, and violence towards women. Beginning quietly and ending with a bang, these virtuosic stories serve as stand-ins for toxic relationships at large. I featured this title in my fall reading guide (link below)

claire keegan only writes short, perfect books, and much of this is no exception. i loved the first two stories, which were subtle and lovely and excruciating in their depiction of how men and women feel, and make each other feel. the last one i loved moments of but i felt lost much of the nuance and quietness that made the first two so powerful for me. still, claire keegan is among my favorite authors writing today.

Claire Keegan's short fiction continues to completely entrance me. A quiet novel that packs a punch with its small observations. Highly recommended.

I will read anything Claire Keegan writes, and this collection of three short stories demonstrates why: she's a master of the form whose seemingly simple and plain writing packs a serious punch. I felt unsettled throughout these pieces, which are expertly constructed and delivered those stinging, gasp-inducing moments of revelation that I've come to expect in a Keegan story but never quite predict.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Grove Press for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review. Highly recommended.

This is not a happy book. It's subtitled "Stories of Women and Men", but they are all stories of women being faced with men who are not their for the women's benefit. There are three stories - the first is sad (but kind of made me laugh, because Irish men) the second is whimsical and though provoking and the third is full of fear and foreboding ( although it had been written by a man I would have called it misogynistic, because women who take what they want must always, always be punished).
Claire Keegan can put as much emotion and story into ten pages as other authors put in 1000. Her prose is controlled, concise and measured.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a collection of three short stories, by the queen of short stories herself, Claire Keegan.
I'd already heard of Antarctica and So Late in the Day, but I'd never heard of The Long and Painful Death, the second short story. This one turned out to be my favourite, and I wish it was a bit bigger, as I did not have enough of this story.

Keegan's writing is sharp, melancholic and so full of heart-felt digs at some of society's major issues, such as misogyny and violence towards women.

I feel like reading these short stories in a row, rather than reading them individually makes them better, as they compliment each other, despite having been written years apart.

So Late in the Day is brilliantly wrought, not a wasted word or description.
Although the subject matter is somewhat dark-ugly behavior from the male characters, it is a very manageable anger one feels upon reading and the entire book is such an intermezzo for any reader looking for a break from all the daunting and massive tomes being published these days. She can write!

Genre: Literary Short Stories
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Pub. Date: Nov. 14, 2024

“Small Things Like These,” by Irish author Claire Keegan, was a finalist for the 2020 Booker Prize. The novel is centered on the Magdalene Laundries. I very much enjoyed the novella and admired Keegan’s ability to get deep into human thoughts and emotions with concise, pitch-perfect writing. “So Late in the Day” has three slim short stories. Once again, Keegan’s writing is compact, with deep explorations into human vulnerability. In this novel, she examines the power dynamics between men and women. And how those dynamics can shift and deteriorate with little warning.

The title story, “So Late in the Day,” explores unconscious expressions of misogyny. It centers on a man feeling lonely one day and thinks about the woman with whom he could have spent his life had he behaved differently. He purchases his fiancée’s ideal wedding band. However, he declines her request to have it engraved because it would cost more money, and the ring would no longer be returnable. She tells him she did not want to marry him after all. This story is so insightful because without pounding the reader over the head, the author shows us that the man has no idea what he did wrong, although it is glaringly apparent. Still, Keegan lets us see how he could be seen as a sympathetic character as well as an unlikable, noncommittal man.

“The Long and Painful Death” has humorous undertones and is my favorite. It is a story about a female writer staying in Heinrich Böll’s real-life seaside house on Achill Island, Ireland. The house is used as a writer’s retreat. Our protagonist is initially kind to a lonely male scholar who knocks on the door. However, soon, he becomes a daily intrusion, making writing impossible. Her sarcastic remarks made me laugh when he began to be judgmental. Throughout the short, I wanted to hop a plane to Ireland because Keegan describes the island’s beauty so vividly. But the best part of the tale is how she takes the man’s unwanted attention and transforms it into art. I would love to share how she does this with you, but it would be a spoiler. I can tell you that the ending put a smile on my face.

As the title suggests, “Antarctica” is the darkest short in the collection. A happily married but bored woman travels out of town. She tells her husband that she is going Christmas shopping. The actual reason for the trip is to see what it’s like to sleep with a man other than her husband. As the story progresses, we see her slowly let go of her married persona and doing as she pleases, not worrying about consequences. In a bar, she meets a man and has her fling. She soon learns that she is in the grip of a possessive stranger. Instead of gaining freedom, she horrifyingly loses it. The headstrong protagonist that many women could relate to becomes a character you will pity. Keegan transforms the tale into an intelligent psychological thriller rather than interpreting it as a morality tale.

Keegan’s writing is undeniably beautiful. She reminds me of Joyce Carol Oates, who makes her characters feel fully alive and authentic. In this collection, whether they are love partners, acquaintances, or strangers, Keegan skillfully analyzes the subtle interactions between men and women. I recommend this short story collection even if you have never read Claire Keegan or any literary fiction.

4.5/5! IM OBSESSED. i’ve never read a short story collection with stories that compliment each other so well. i also absolutely love the way claire keegan writes & this was super quick read so i high recommend

also thank you netgalley & grove press for the arc !! very excited about this release

I haven't once been let down by Claire Keegan and that continues to be true!

The titular first story was an interesting glimpse into Keegan writing such a contemporary story. I'm so accustomed to her pastoral writing, but this showed just as deft an intuition of hers.

"The Long and Painful Death" ("a writer’s arrival at the seaside home of Heinrich Böll for a residency is disrupted by an academic who imposes his presence and opinions") might be my favorite here. It's a perfect mesh of her usual strength with setting and a modern close-quarters absurd situation type conceit.

I was surprised to see the short story "Antarctica" reprinted here. I had read it before in her earlier collection called Antarctica and it hadn't been my favorite, but recontextualized within this collection I appreciated it much more. Seeing that the French title of this collection is "Misogynie," it made me reflect on the interplay between the three stories in this collection and how they so perfectly tease out larger themes from their subtleties by virtue of being placed next to one another. Antarctica had felt like more of a (reverse for its position?) non sequitur in the other collection, but is strengthened here.

I’ve read or listened to all of these stories before so it was fun to re read the first and third stories in the collection. The Quiet Girl by Keegan was
new to me and I liked it better endings seem predictable in these stories which stand the test of time in an Alice Munro like way. Not sure why the rerelease..maybe another
screenplay in the works.? The lack of good short story writers is telling.

Like her short novels, Claire Keegan's short stories deserve to be read slowly, with careful attention, in order to best appreciate the subtlety with which she pulls of her writerly feats. These three stories, "So Late in the Day," "The Long and Painful Death," and "Antarctica," center on a woman's place- the expectations we put on her as a society- and what happens when she upholds or thwarts those expectations. They are not plot-driven (in the first two, arguably, very little happens), and yet, they are so rich, because each detail bears weight. You feel Keegan's labor over every word-- not one feels wasted. While I favor the first of the three stories, all three are exquisite.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Press for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

So Late in the Day - Review - Claire Keegan (Booker Prize Finalist author)

Short Summary - Three short stories -

⚪️ In "So Late in the Day," Cathal is stuck in his mind over a missed opportunity with a woman he could have spent his life with. It’s a short story of one weekend.

⚪️ In "The Long and Painful Death," a woman writer finds herself at a residency, only to be stunned when an unknown man shows up at her door. What unfolds is a twisted tale of envy, resentment, and psychological unraveling. It’s a short story of a single day.

⚪️ In the third story, a middle aged woman goes to a bar to cheat on her husband but things take a dark turn when she gets kidnapped by a mysterious man! This third story wasn’t something I would really like to read…but the rest two were fine.

Thank you @groveatlantic for sharing the Advance Reader Copy with me in exchange of honest review. The book will be published on November 14, 2023! #arc

Do you like reading short stories?

Once again I was awed by Claire Keegan’s writing in her new story collection ‘So Late in the Day.’ The three stories are about men and women and women and men and prove once again that she is a master. I loved one of the stories, liked one of them, and was disturbed by one of them. All were compelling and included complex characters, for good or bad. Heads up for fans of her previous 'Small Things Like These' and 'Foster' - these are not gentle stories like those two books. And maybe that's a good thing.

I don't think anyone writing right now manages to hit on how people in love feel, or interact, as they go about attempting to live lives that coincide with that feeling, the way Claire Keegan does. This book is a gift.

So pleased to have discovered Claire Keegan (apparently eons after everyone already has) through this! I’m really not one for short stories and novellas in general, but each of the three stories here felt self-contained and impactful, which I think owes a lot to Keegan’s prose. The subtly menacing undercurrent throughout all three stories was gripping, but I do think the collection in itself feels short and could benefit from the addition of a few more stories.

Thanks to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the ARC!

Claire Keegan is probably the short fiction writer of our time. She effortlessly distills human nature into seemingly simple stories that slowly unfurl into something more complex, stories that have lives of their own well after you’ve finished them. I enjoyed the titular story the most, it felt the most Keegan-y to me in that we are pretty much along for the ride in a character’s thoughts. The last story, Antarctica, was a bit more unexpected and shows that Keegan could write a pretty effective thriller, though it lacked that kind of quiet finesse her other stories have, turning in favor of more plot than character work. These three stories worked very well together in terms of theme and tone, if you enjoy short, character-driven fiction this is the collection for you!

Thank you NetGalley and Grove Press for the eARC!

Popped my Keegan cherry, finally!

An interesting collection of short stories that captures the very punch Keegan has been praised for. In such grand economy, she captures spirit of humanity with tensions so frictively close, but don't butt heads. She leaves us with heated moments and gives us room to breathe, to think, for ourselves. There's a generosity in the way she invites readers into these worlds to observe and analyze the relationships we have, even the strangers we encounter.

1. 𝘚𝘰 𝘓𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘺 - First appeared in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳 and there's a great talk about it with Saunders where he breaks down the brilliance for us . What is a word and what is its power? How does that power feed into character and how we behave? React?

2. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 - Questions how we respond to reactivity. How it filters into our own mundanity, our work.

3. 𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢 - This one bites! Makes me think Keegan is incredibly capable of writing a smart and sexy Gillian Flynn thriller.

At first I thought the stories had nothing in common, but there is a single, fine thread - god, men are awful.

3.5 stars. I have been enjoying short story collections lately and was excited to pick up this collection by Claire Keegan. This novella-length collection contains three thematically related stories that examine the relationships between men and women. Each story is quietly devastating in its own unique way.

Overall, I enjoyed each story and the sharp and sparse writing style. Highly recommend for anyone looking for a quick and thought-provoking read. Many thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

a really arresting triptych of short stories. i have never read any claire keegan before but there is something so alluring about the way she writes, and draws you in. i'll definitely be looking for more, which coming from someone who typically avoids short stories like the plague is definitely saying something!