Homesickness

(Paperback)

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The second short story collection from Colin Barrett, HOMESICKNESS marks the long-awaited return of the award-winning author of YOUNG SKINS From the prize-winning author of YOUNG SKINS, comes HOMESICKNESS - a quietly caustic, startlingly beautiful and wonderfully wry new short story collection. In these eight stories, Barrett takes us back to the barren backwaters of County Mayo, via Toronto, and illuminates the lives of outcasts, misfits and malcontents with an eye for the abrupt and absurd. A quiet night in the neighbourhood pub is shattered by the arrival of a sword wielding fugitive. A funeral party teeters on the edge of this world and the next, as ghosts won't simply lay in wake. A shooting sees an everyday call-out lead a policewoman to confront the banality of her own existence. A true follow-up to his electrifying debut collection, HOMESICKNESS marks Colin Barrett out as our most brilliantly original and captivating storyteller. Praise for YOUNG SKINS 'One of the best books of the past decade... The characters are edgy, often violent, locked into a world described in ways that are both harsh and tender' Colm T ibin, Washington Post 'Language, structure, style - Colin Barrett has all the weapons at his disposal, and how, and he has an intuitive sense for what a short story is, and what it can do' Kevin Barry 'Colin Barrett is a young man in the town of the short story, but it's fair to say he has the run of the place' Jon McGregor 'Colin Barrett's sentences are lyrical and tough and smart... His stories are set in a familiar emotional landscape, but they give us endings that are new' Anne Enright

Reviews

A mesmerisingly powerful book, full of the strangeness and beauty of life. I've learned so much from Colin Barrett's work as a reader and writer...these stories are his best yet -- Sally Rooney
Full of humour and small-town Irish colour... His [Barrett's] second collection confirms him as one of the very best short-story writers in the business * New Statesman, *Books of the Year* *
A masterwork - by turns hilarious and heartbreaking... What fierce, tender stories. Totally unforgettable -- Brandon Taylor
The stories in Homesickness are crafted with skill and flair. Colin Barrett anchors the work with emotional accuracy and careful delineation of character, and then, using metaphors and beautifully made sentences, he lets his narrative soar -- Colm Toibin
Lyrical and tough and smart... His stories are set in a familiar emotional landscape, but they give us endings that are new -- Anne Enright
Addictive, stylish and violently funny stories, with riches on every page - an outstanding collection -- Kevin Barry
Shot through with dark humor, pitch-perfect dialogue and a signature freshness that makes life palpable on the page...Homesickness is graced with an original, lingering beauty * Stuart Dybek, New York Times Book Review *
Even though we rarely enter their internal worlds, Colin Barrett conjures interiority through his linguistic precision and attention to external detail, so that each story lingers in the mind and haunts its successors -- Alexander Leslie * Times Literary Supplement *
Superb...[T]here is an utterness to his attention, a devotion to the lives of his characters, that shifts the work into some more lasting place. Barrett is already one of the leading writers of the Irish short story, which is to braggingly say, one of the leading writers of the short story anywhere. He means every word and regrets every word. He just kills it * Guardian *
Something struck me as I read these beautifully crafted, desperately sad, but often very funny stories: there is now a branch of English called the Colin Barrett -- Roddy Doyle
This is a beautiful and moving collection, from one of the best story writers today. -- Luke Brown * Financial Times *
Homesickness is an adroit, wry set of stories by an author who has an eye for the quirks of human nature. -- Martin Chilton * Independent *
With a sharp eye for the absurd in the ordinary, Barrett's stories impart gritty and touching realisations about life as it really is. Edgy, sharp and utterly original, Homesickness is an utterly compelling collection and Barrett is meticulous -- Elaine Feeney
Colin Barrett is a young man in the town of the short story, but it's fair to say he has the run of the place -- Jon McGregor
Homesickness is another finely crafted collection... Crisply told, fond of an eye-catching flourish... the stories draw energy from the rhythms of west of Ireland small talk, added to Barrett's eye for striking detail...The scenarios are richly layered, with punchy payoffs. -- Anthony Cummins * Observer *
Strange and haunting fiction. You could open Homesickness at any page and find sentences of vim and elegance, ringing dialogue...and similes to savour. -- Max Liu * i *
Homesickness presents us with a set of characters forever losing things: other people's dogs, girlfriends, the will to live. But in the course of these stories they find things, too: courage; a crumpled sort of wisdom; the will to live. Between the comedy, and the pure thrill of the language, there's a lot of sorrow and mental illness here, but the afterglow of the stories, which settle and stay with you, is one of moving regard for the flaws and wants we battle, flee, and bargain with every day of our lives -- Chris Power
Vivid, punchy... Barrett delineates with verve the ways his characters struggle. -- Melanie White * Literary Review *
Worth the wait... few do it as well as Colin Barrett. -- Tom Gatti * New Statesman *
Barrett's... brilliant second collection confirms him as one of the very best short-story writers in the business. * New Statesman, *The Best Books of 2022 so far* *
Barrett's stories are, without exception, beautifully written, full of arresting imagery. * Booklist (starred review) *
Bittersweet and chiseled...From gritty realism to oddball noir, this assured collection demonstrates the talent of a distinctive writer. * Publishers Weekly *
Richly descriptive...This sharply observant collection resists pigeonholing its recalcitrant characters. * Kirkus Review *
A masterwork-by turns hilarious and heart-breaking, these stories shimmer. No story writer at work today thrills me more than Colin Barrett, whose characters feel immediately so familiar and true in their capacity to maim and love. What fierce, tender stories. Totally unforgettable. * Brandon Taylor *
Funny, devastating, slow-burning, these understated tales of misfits and misadventures in smalltown Ireland are written with a casual grace. * Guardian, *Summer Reads of 2022* *

Author Bio

Colin Barrett was born in 1982 and grew up in County Mayo. His stories have been published in The Stinging Fly, Granta, Harper's and the New Yorker. His first book, the short story collection Young Skins, won the 2014 Guardian First Book Award, the 2014 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the 2014 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. In 2018 Barrett was selected as the Rolex Arts Initiative protege in Literature. His debut novel is forthcoming from Jonathan Cape.