I am really getting into the microgenre of connected surreal short stories/vignettes/narratives. QUICKLY falls right into this tiny category for me (along with CRAFT: STORIES I WROTE FOR THE DEVIL and RAKESFALL and TAUHOU), more on the short story end of things than the others but still feeling like it's creating a world that looks like some part of ours, with just the smallest unreal quirks.

The connective tissue here is the political and social landscape of Northern Ireland, and the shadow of the Troubles across stories that span time, borders, boundaries, and peace lines. The emotional logic of the surreal elements—a severed hand that keeps reappearing in a fridge in Ulster, a Catholic ghost haunting a used car bought by Protestants, miracle healing offered and joked about and achieved—hits just right in a setting haunted by violence and division and getting on with life in spite of those things. If a bomb could go off anywhere, any moment, and a fenced wall divides that sort's neighborhood from this sort's, then why couldn't a pillar of heatless fire and smoke be a mental health support device? Even the stories that aren't explicitly surreal deal little electric shocks of surprise, highlighting grief or numbness or resilience or love within the mundane everyday.

For half a minute I thought about picking a favorite story to highlight in this review, but looking through them I don't think I can! Each one was so sparkling and funny and breathtaking like a punch in the chest. I have endearing love for a woman who admires her lesbian sisters-in-law and does her best to support her soft-spoken husband. I laughed so hard at the adolescent impulsivity and shitheadedness of kids who threw a burning baby doll over the peace wall. I can't stop thinking about the boy who chooses to believe his blind friend when he says he's been healed and wants to learn to drive, and the girl who spends all summer working for a space of her own and is denied by a father who must be recontextualized in that moment between childhood and growing up. What a treasure trove of jewels.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This short story collection was equal parts dark, surreal, and real. As someone who lives an ocean away from Northern Ireland and isn't well-versed in any kind of Irish literature, I think a lot of the finer points (and even some of the non-finer points) of these stories went over my head, nevertheless, I found a quiet beauty in many of them.

My favorite by far is "Pillar." I think it was a wonderful look at mental illness and what it would look like if struggles with mental illness and the desire to get help were very visible.

I am very intrigued to explore Jan Carson's full length novels!

Publication Date: July 9, 2024

More Than Just Troubled

“Quickly, While They Still Have Horses” is a wildly robust collection. Short story compilations are often such a mixed bag. It can be dizzying making the adjustment from one selection to the next. Even with a master like George Saunders, I remember reading “Tenth of December” and loving one, only to lose a step when reading the next. Sometimes it is the shifting tone, sometimes a question of quality; some pieces are brilliant, some are just so-so. Here, I admit I kept expecting to write off an upcoming story as a clunker… or, at the least, one that was not going to land with me. Happily, I was wrong. I was drawn into each one right away.

These are set in Northern Ireland, and while this is not a book about The Troubles, life here is lived in its echoes. In “Grand So,” I was struck by a phrase one of the characters used, “He holds his silence like a riot shield...” This was said casually, but of course, this reflects how the conflict still permeates this world. I never had occasion to use that description while growing up in suburbia.

“Grand So” was my first favorite among these. We have a grumpy spirit, of the Catholic persuasion, still riding in the back seat of what was his car. The driver is a Protestant grandmother, oblivious to the ghost, selling homemade jam to people, regardless of what neighborhood they live in. Her granddaughter sees and communicates with the ghost, melting his heart and dissolving the lines that have divided these people for hundreds of years.

In the first offering, “A Certain Degree of Ownership,” we find a woman watching an infant crawl its way into the sea, justifying it with the belief it has nothing to do with her– that the parents did not deserve the baby or this beach. The final entry, “Family Circle,” also has an infant in danger with equally harsh characters withholding vital assistance.

Not all of these people are as despicable. “Caravan” is about a ten-year-old girl who throws herself into refurbishing an old caravan, making it all her own. What we witness is her learning some life lessons and redefining her relationship with her parents. “Tinged” has a family struggling with a mother’s cancer, their religious convictions versus the hopes that superstitions tempt them with. There are sixteen stories total, with not a bad one in the bunch,

And here is the caveat I find myself inserting into quite a few Irish literature reviews: This stuff is funny. With all the heartbreak and suffering, there is always a saving sense of humor running through. In Colin Barrett’s fantastic collection, “Homesickness,” we have story after story of hard times, but the people never lose that twinkle in their eyes, never lose their way of lightening the seriousness of it all. Last year’s “Queen of Dirt Island” by Donal Ryan centered around a woman and her mother-in-law, women under a lot of pressure who constantly bickered and fought in what would seem a miserable existence– remarkably, this turned out to be the most loving and joyous relationship.

So, “Quickly, While They Still Have Horses” delivers a variety of slices of life in Northern Ireland, showing glimpses of a land trying to define itself as more than The Troubles.

Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

A moving, darkly funny collection of essays that say those inside thoughts out loud. This is an excellent read for anyone that enjoys magnificent writing and reading about the human condition.

This is my first collection from this author, but hopefully not my last. Carson’s stories are incredibly dark, but at many times relatable - even for someone living an ocean away.

I appreciated the raw honesty in this collection, and coming from the perspective of a Northern Irelander, I expected to see a lot more bias regarding the national conflict, but Carson presented both sides. I didn’t know a lot about The Troubles in Northern Ireland, and found myself researching alongside these stories which was pretty unique for me.

I also loved how trippy some of these stories were. There was a wide range of subject matter in this collection, including horses, ghosts, and generational trauma. My two favorite stories were “Jellyfish” and “A Certain Degree Of Ownership.”

Check this collection out if you enjoy short stories, brutal honesty, and whimsy!

**Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the eARC of this title!**

Quotes:

“We rarely talked. Instead, we watch each other watching each other as we tiptoe round our loneliness.”

“We may well be holding on by the skin of our teeth, but neither of us has any notion of letting go.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Quickly, While They Still Have Horses is a story collection which investigates a variety of themes.

I always love a good short story collection, and the stories in this book are breathtaking. Carson is an expert at insight, drawing out the unique complexities of our banal existence in ways that are refreshing and compelling at every turn. I've not read a high volume of uniquely Irish literature, but it was still clear to me how much of the Irish identity was entwined in the construction of each of these stories. Beyond all of that, I love a short story collection that is brave about being weird, and in the stories in this collection that lean into the weird, the writing and execution are immaculate. I genuinely don't think I have anything bad to say; Quickly, While They Still Have Horses has earned its permanent place on my shelf of story collections that rocked my world, and I am a newfound Jan Carson fan.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for an Advanced Reader’s Copy in exchange for an honest review.

An engaging collection of short stories covering a broad range of Northern Irish history and culture, in the genres of literary fiction and magical realism.

Throughout the collection, there are tones of dark humor, radical honesty, coming-of-age, grief, and family dynamics. Two of my favorites were ‘Grand So’, in which a girl and grandmother travel around the country selling jam with a ghost in the backseat of their newly purchased vehicle, and ‘Pillars’ about a world in which a those struggling with their mental health are assigned an AI pillar as aid, and the stigma that comes along with that.

Overall, a very succinct and stand out collection. While some stories interested me more than others, I didn’t find their to be any ‘fillers’ or unnecessary additions.

**Full review to be posted closer to publication!**

I always look forward to reading short story collections from different cultures and countries from my own, so I was exceptionally excited to check out this collection from the North Ireland author Jan Carson. I really enjoyed this collection and all the unique and thoughtful stories. Carson truly brought such incredibly insight and consideration to every person in these stories and I absolutely want to read more of her work now. A truly wonderful collection that is well worth the read!

I am so thankful to the publisher, NetGalley, and the Author for granting me advanced access to this one before June 11, 2024. This one wasn't for me, but I am still really thankful for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

An incredibly solid collection of stories. Though most of them made me feel terrible—sick with panic or dread—every story was very memorable and well written.

The collection as a whole was delightfully cohesive, with morally grey characters and often disturbing realistic plots. Carson has explored what happens when maybe not very nice people find themselves in not very nice situations, and the result is often… not very nice.

I loved the history woven into each story and the setting was beautifully fleshed out. Very well done, and highly recommended.

I love insightful stories about everyday life, so the stories in this collection pertaining to simple, everyday life were my favorites. The protagonists make such astute observations that I found myself highlighting certain passages that merit further reflection. “Caravan” is definitely a stand-out.

Aside from “Caravan” and “In the Car with the Rain Coming Down,” the other stories, for the most part, seem designed to shock the reader. Maybe this is on purpose, but it comes across as a bit “trying too hard” for my tastes. Moreover, it means the collection is a bit disjointed, whereas I prefer collections that seem designed to work together as a whole with the stories presenting a similar theme or vibe.

However, all in all, I highly recommend this collection for fans of literary fiction. The narratives are thought-provoking and well-crafted. The stories are particularly strong when they explore the dynamics of complex relationships and how the characters’ identities are shaped by those relationships, especially when the characters are undervalued or overlooked.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance e-galley; all opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

This book comprises stories that evoke emotion in a similar fashion to a pebble in your shoe, in that you can't stop thinking about them. Absolutely fantastic writing.

I don’t often read collections of short stories, but the description of this collection definitely caught my interest. And then with the first story, which was a bit shocking and very much had the effect of watching a scene you can’t look away from, I had high expectations.

I did enjoy most of the stories, and I found the most enjoyment in the more mundane ones. They all are laced with a wit that is sometimes venomous, and some of the stories have truly horrifying moments that ratchet up the tension. The two that stand out the most to me are “Caravan” and “In The Car With The Rain Coming Down”.

One tells the story of a loss of childlike wonder and innocence in a truly normal way that absolutely broke my heart. It doesn’t come close to the more disturbing elements of some of the others, but “Caravan” really got to me. “ITCWTRCD” was another relatively mundane story that expertly navigated the territory of being the overlooked or under appreciated person in a group. These two especially stood out, and they definitely make me inclined to rate the collection higher as opposed to some of the more shocking tales.

All in all I would say this is a 3.5⭐️ in total with a few 5⭐️ standouts inside.

In this captivating read, the author masterfully weaves a narrative that is both engaging and thought-provoking. Through a blend of richly developed characters and a meticulously crafted plot, the book offers a unique exploration of its central themes, inviting readers to immerse themselves in the story's depth and complexity. The narrative is paced perfectly, balancing moments of intense action with thoughtful reflection, ensuring that readers are hooked from the first page to the last. The author's ability to evoke emotion and create a vivid, immersive world is truly remarkable, making this book a must-read for anyone looking for an exceptional literary experience.

Beyond its compelling storyline, the book stands out for its insightful commentary on the human condition, weaving philosophical questions into the fabric of its narrative. The author's skillful use of language not only enriches the text but also elevates the reader's experience, offering new perspectives on familiar themes. Whether it's the intricate dynamics of relationships, the exploration of identity, or the confrontation with ethical dilemmas, this book tackles complex issues with sensitivity and intelligence. It's a testament to the power of storytelling to illuminate the nuances of life, making it a valuable addition to any book lover's collection. Regardless of genre, this is a work that resonates on multiple levels, affirming the enduring impact of well-crafted literature.

Northern Irish short stories infused with absurdity and humanity, they will take you on a roller coaster of emotions.

I loved Carson’s addictive writing. You can find her humor in the most absurd and horrifying scenes. This book will take you for a ride. I don’t even know if I’m better for it, but I think there is beauty in that. A must read, check the content warnings!

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for this ARC.

Entertaining, irreverent, and voicey. A recommended purchase for collections where short stories lit are popular.

Some of the stories are confusing and I feel like they end on cliff hangers weather or not it's intentional I don't know. Part of it might be a cultural disconnect because there were a lot of English references that made it difficult for me to understand.