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Empty Family: Stories
Empty Family: Stories | Colm Toibin
4 posts | 7 read | 9 to read
Colm Tibn's exquisitely written new stories, set in present-day Ireland, 1970s Spain and nineteenthcentury England, are about people linked by love, loneliness and desire. Tibn is a master at portraying mute emotion, intense intimacies that remain unacknowledged or unspoken. In this stunning collection, he cements his status as "his generation's most gifted writer of love's complicated, contradictory power" (Los Angeles Times). "Silence" is a brilliant historical set piece about Lady Gregory, widowed and abandoned by her lover, who tells the writer Henry James a confessional story at a dinner party. In "Two Women," an eminent Irish set designer, aloof and prickly, takes a job in her homeland, and is forced to confront devastating emotions she has long repressed. "The New Spain" is the story of an intransigent woman who returns home after a decade in exile and shatters the fragile peace her family has forged in the post-Franco world. And in the breathtaking long story "The Street," Tibn imagines a startling relationship between two Pakistani workers in Barcelona--a taboo affair in a community ruled by obedience and silence. Tibn's characters are often difficult and combative, compelled to disguise their vulnerability and longings. Yet he unmasks them, and in doing so offers us a set of extraordinarily moving stories that remind us of the fragility and individuality of human life. As The New York Review of Books has said, Tibn "understands the tenuousness of love and comfort--and, after everything, its necessity."
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Anna40
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I‘m in awe of the intelligence, wit and emotional depth of these stories. I adored Silence and the title story The empty family.

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Gissy
Empty Family: Stories | Colm Toibin
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Mixed feelings. As most of the time happens to me in short stories collection books, I only liked some stories. But I enjoyed 6 out of 9 stories where some were better. I could say the topic of grief and solitude was pretty common specifically in those stories I loved. The book has not the best review ratings but I still like this author writing style. I will like to try another book. Well, I have 2 more books by this author☺️3.6⭐️That cover😍

Andrew65 Well done, I still have one of his books to read. 👏👏👏 2y
TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 2y
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Eggs
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An amazon original story (but not in Litsy database), this was amazing! During the winter solstice, on the shortest day and longest night of the year, the ancient burial chamber at Newgrange is empowered. Its mystifying source is a haunting tale told by locals.
Professor O‘Kelly believes an archaeologist‘s job is to make known only what can be proved. This is that story. #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

rwmg Sounds very intriguing. 3y
Eggs I enjoyed it @rwmg 3y
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 3y
Eggs 🤗📚🤗 @TheAromaofBooks 3y
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Joanne1
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My March #bookspin list. I‘m still making my way through the Feb pick and am hoping to squeeze in the #doublespin too in the next week. Really looking forward to seeing what I can get off my huge TBR pile in March.

@TheAromaofBooks

BookishMe No 17 has been on my radar for awhile 😉😉 4y
TheAromaofBooks Great list!! Keep me posted on your reviews!! And even if you go into March, you can still tag me, just let me know that you're reviewing February's pick!! 4y
Joanne1 @BookishMe mine too! @TheAromaofBooks just finished feb book spin and will start the double spin tonight. 4y
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