A bottle of champagne

https://looneybooks79.blog/2024/12/04/so-late-in-the-day/

Cathal has another uneventful Friday, July 29th, and he's about to step into a bus, towards the long weekend. While facing the weekend and during the trip on the bus and the walk to his house, he thinks of a woman Sabine, the woman he could have had a life with if he had acted differently. With only the mind numbing television, a bottle of champagne and his own thoughts and memories, the significance of the date is revealed.

Claire Keegan, the mistress and queen of the short story, has written an intense picture of a lonely man who is caught in his own memories and in his actions that lead to this loneliness. In but 47 pages Keegan takes us in the head of this man and we are the witnesses of what could have become, if only he did things different!

I think this is her finest work that I've read of her so far, with Foster a close second! It has given me a reason to buy 'Antartica' as well now and read more of her beautiful language and her imagery. Claire Keegan is in my opinion a better version of Sally Rooney and David Nicholls. By not writing too much and saying a lot in these novellas, she proves to be the better author!