Small Things Like These (Oprah's Book Club)

What a simple parable of a story which reminds readers of the impact of day-to-day gentle, sincere kindness. Without preaching about hypocrisy, the readers discover through the eyes, feelings, memories, fears and hopes of a man, a husband, father of 5 daughters, who has lived in his village known by all. His childhood was defined by his “fatherless” status and his mother’s dependence on a war widow’s compassion. As lacking in material surpluses as his childhood had been, Furlong has realized the value of all that he ever received particularly during preparation for Christmas season. His reflections allow him to truly remember and connect 5he longevity of values of gifts received and the impact n him, especially when he had once only remembered “that” Christmas as one delivering, not the complicated jig saw puzzle he desired, but “other” gifts. And at this age and stage, he has connected his puzzle pieces of his life solving the unspoken, disconnected, and unseen into a clear image. With his growing clarity, he begins not only to see, to witness, and to engage with the customers he has served every day of the year for decades supplying them with fuel for warmth and cooking. And when he discovers a fragile, abused, and near frozen waif of a girl, too young to be a woman, too tortured to be a child, he rescues her from the outer shed, cloaks her in his coat, and accompanies her to the convent. Rather than ignore her or abandon her, he remains present observing and waiting until she is cleaned, clothed, and fed. And as Christmas Eve arrives, he makes a final journey gathering gifts for his family and making a final decision that will impact his family, all their lives, for he has realized the gifts of a recipient of small, great things throughout his life.

ACTUAL RATING: 4.75 ⭐️’s This is the third novella I’ve read, and I have to say, I have found the most powerful stories I’ve ever read in novellas. There’s something about these tiny books that packs so much meaning, and the stories are so memorable. With this story taking place in Ireland, the dialog was so unique. I enjoyed it and enjoyed the departure from “typical” dialog that I’d encounter in other books. This is a great winter/Christmas time book. I wanted to read it in the winter, but when I came across it at my library, I just couldn’t help myself. Even still, sitting down and reading it in September, I was very easily transported to the feelings of an unforgiving winter. I could foresee myself re-reading it during that time. It’s not the most uplifting book to read during Christmas time. But it encapsulates that time of year so well that I have to recommend it. There’s a bit of history that was explained in the acknowledgments that I wasn’t aware of before reading that makes the rest of the book more meaningful. I don’t want to say what it is because it’ll spoil the book itself. But if you’re unaware of the historical significance of the book beforehand, then I would recommend reading on to the acknowledgments to clear things up. Overall, I enjoyed it. I know the author has a few other well-known novellas, and I think I’ll check them out in the future.

This is an excellent book and very well written. I did not know that the background of laundries run be the Catholic church. Eye opening.

Small Things Like These is a single POV historical fiction set in Ireland in the 1980s. It is told from the perspective of Bill Furlong, the local coal merchant and a father of five girls. During the month of December, he stumbles upon something at the local convent that has him taking a hard look at his life, reflecting on his upbringing by a single mother, and considering what message he is sending through his silence. This book came heavily recommended, and I think that impacted my enjoyment a little bit. It felt overhyped for what it was. The story was good, but it felt like it was leading up to something bigger and then just abruptly stopped. And I get that novellas are shorter by nature, but even so, a lot of them feel like there is a resolution to the story, and this one felt like it was lacking the resolution.

Warm and concisely constructed tale of instinctive courage carried out in the space of many books' chapter lengths. It makes me proud to have been right with Furlong in his unspoken anger and rebellion against what he discovered at the convent. It gives me hope, in a 'helping stranded clams on a beach' kind of way, when I think of the institutional and systemic cruelties routinely carried out, often with the cover of religion and righteousness, to read tales where people do the right thing because its the right thing to do. Ms. Keegan's story is so readable, and so full of detail in a compact way. I enjoyed it all the way through.

Amazing story thats a quick read. Made me cry in the end. Very heart-warming. Loved the way the author told the story. I felt like I was in the past.

This book is a gem. Literature with a capital L. Every word is perfect, every sentence is exactly right. I think Claire Keegan is a genius. I love the humanity of her characters. I love how there’s no bloat or excess- just spareness and integrity.

You will be tempted to treat Claire Keegan's beautiful novella as something to race through in a single sitting; it's only 70 (Kindle) pages long, seemingly perfect for an hour spent waiting for your license renewal at the DMV. But if you read this book for the plot alone you'd be missing the best part of this book: the glorious language, which makes virtually every sentence a poem. I found myself frequently rereading a sentence or a paragraph to enjoy again Keegan's use of language. Which isn't to say that there isn't a plot. It's 1985, and Bill Furlong is a married man with a loving wife and five daughters, a Catholic in a Catholic town in a Catholic country, Ireland. He lives not far from a convent of intimidating nuns who run a school his two eldest daughters attend, the best school around and the one most likely to ensure his daughters can reach their potential. But the convent also runs a "training school," about which much is whispered and not much is known except that the training school runs a laundry that produces beautifully washing clothing and linens, looking like new. Christmas is approaching and Bill, who runs a coal and wood business, is extraordinarily busy in the very cold weather that has set in. When he delivers to the convent, he discovers a teenage girl in the nuns' coal shed. She is desperate to get away, and the why of that desperation, and the effect it has on Bill, is what fuels this tale. I read this novel yesterday, Christmas Day 2024, and it was perfect for the day. It gave me much to think about, both in terms of craft and in terms of what we owe one another in this world. I recommend it highly.