HIGH GROUND

by John McGahern ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1986

McGahern's stories remain problematic: his aim seems to be to faithfully render the inertia, the texturelessness of days, dramas of living so small that they register as mere whim or mood. To do this, though, he's forced into writing without climax or any staginess--and, in short forms especially (his 1980's collection, Getting Through, had the same flavor), this can make for very drab fiction. There are indications, however, of some straining at the dun fabric: ""A Ballad""--the nonsequential inconsequences of a bunch of Dublin bar cronies--has a certain shaggy drape to it that's appealing; and ""The Conversion of William Kirkwood""--a Protestant aristocrat, the last of his line, yearning for more contact with those Catholics around him (to bad effect)--has bite as well as inexorability. But too much else seems tied to the initial premises of its portraiture: a reunion of ex-schoolmates, the wreckages of their dreams brought along (""High Ground""); a breath-held sexual encounter, love just slipping from grasp (""Like All Other Men""); the unstable gentrification of Irish nostalgia (""Old-fashioned""). McGahern is an ""intimist""--but the stories, by rarely surprising, seem to little reward such tight-in peering.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986

Categories: FICTION