As Laimh a Cheile tells of a gay encounter between a young man and a priest.
The abuse which the young footballer suffers at the hands of his manager is slowly brought to the surface and its final stages are brutally effective. Gabhal na gCloch deals with male rape and is shot through with real terror. However, O Conghaile pulls no punches in his portrayal of sex illicit, welcomed or forced as the case may be. I wonder if there is not too conscious an attempt in these fantastical stories to try to out Titley Alan Titley. Similarly, Seacht gCead Uaireadoir and An Mala Freagra a Goideadh, while entertaining, lack a certain bite. However, less frivolity and a little more menace might have turned a good story into an excellent one, and might have highlighted more starkly the issues of who and what we are, or what we think we are.Īr Pinsean sa Leithreas, the story of a man who locks himself in the loo, is more successful in its portrayal of estrangement. The angst the man experiences when realising that his shadow is demanding parity of esteem is well captured, as are his belated attempts to establish a rapport with his newly autonomous phantom. Faoi Scath Scaile, the story of a man who becomes estranged from his shadow, is certainly impressive. The stories which deal with the ludicrous and the fantastical are the weakest ones. The title story is an enigmatic work which relies heavily on the reader's indulgence towards the narrator and the reader's indulgence is certainly required, as the narrative melanders a little too much for its own good. For example, while he has little difficulty beginning a story, he occasionally fails actually to grab it by the throat in order to give it direction and arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. That said, O Conghaile does fail in some basic aspects of writing. All the stories are driven forward by a style which is forceful, subtle and unique. Thematically, the book may be divided into two parts those stories which deal with the bizarre, the ludicrous, the fantastic, and those which examine more fundamental issues of contemporary life, from death to gay love to male rape. Eleven years is a long wait for a follow up, but, for the greater part, these 13 stories have been worth waiting for.
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His first, Mac an tSagairt, was published in 1986.
THIS is Micheal O Conghaile's second collection of short stories.