Kevin Barry: Dark lies the island (2015, Graywolf Press)
185 pages
English language
Published July 15, 2015 by Graywolf Press.
This is a collection of stories about love and cruelty, crimes, desperation, and hope from the man Irvine Welsh has described as "the most arresting and original writer to emerge from these islands in years."
Start-stop stories, some that really get under the skin and others that try to bore a hole but don't even scratch the surface. A good book as an introduction to Barry I hope, and reason enough to read some more.
I loved these dark, often funny, stories. As other reviewers have mentioned Barry is a terrific reader of his work, and hearing him read "The Girls and the Dogs" in St. Paul this fall was great fun. I could hear his voice through these stories. You can hear him read the first story in this collection here: www.graywolfpress.org/blogs/kevin-barry-reads-his-story-across-rooftops .
