Every One Still Here
Liadan Ní Chuinn
In this book of short stories set in Northern Ireland, the rage is often palpable; both in the terse prose and in the narratives themselves there is fury at the injustices of the world. More than anything, the characters in these tales are disappointed, telling us “I thought I was going to have this beautiful life but I just, I just feel tired all the time, actually”. The first and last stories connect (which I found satisfying) and the second builds to a powerful and defiant conclusion; by the end, the book feels more like a political speech than a work of fiction. Indeed, the acknowledgements assert that “all of those named in the final section of the final story, ‘Daisy Hill’, are real people killed by British state forces”. This is a historical work as much as a literary one.
Thus, this is hardly a comfortable or cheerful read. It was, however, a moving one. I was most struck by the story “Novena”, which is ostensibly about various stall holders at a weekly market. As the story progresses, Chuinn gradually and skilfully reveals a common event by which they are all connected – “a fertility clinic” that “has conned an unknown number of patients out of thousands of pounds”. The story tells of the different ways in which each character is affected by this scandal.
For me, the thing this story best captures is the way in which people avoid their pain. The story opens with the sentence “flying ants are everywhere”. Mid-way through the paragraph “Felix has a text from him this morning. Tough day for you mate tough news. Felix hasn’t replied. The text is from his sister, really. There are flying ants walking across the dashboard”. The paragraph both captures Felix’s refusal to engage and adeptly tantalises the reader. Overall, the story (and the collection as a whole) brilliantly, and touchingly, evokes the effects of emotions unexpressed and thoughts unsaid.
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