These were very quirky and sometimes really good short stories. There is quite a gap between some of them, quality-wise. I found that I really enjoyed the ones with a male pov, strangely, rather than the ones with a female pov. My absolute favourites were the one in which the main character, after meeting his ex at a wedding, makes friends with the two guys who were trying to steal his wallet; and the one of the guy with his leg in a cast. What links these stories is a sense of loneliness, of isolation or, better still, of estrangement. All these characters try to find a place in society, not always succeeding in their attempt. I really enjoyed the writing style, which I found pleasantly electric and reminiscent of Peep Show, especially in the male-pov ones. I think this author has some real raw talent to show, and I'll keep an eye on her future works.

*thanks to #netgalley for the #arc in exchange for an honest review*

Whilst I must absolutely give credit for the content able to be squeezed into such short stories, the writing style and themes weren’t particularly for me on this occasion unfortunately.

That’s not to say that others won’t love this as I can certainly see this being a favourite for some!

This was a nice story collection. The author has a slightly eccentric writing style that I can imagine would be offputting for some people but it worked for me. Not every story was good, but I think there were three standouts for me that carried it.

This posthumous collection of short stories by the Oscar-nominated Irish writer is darkly hilarious in places, wistfully touching in others and completely unforgettable: the book’s beautiful introduction is written by the writer’s daughter, placing her mother’s work in context and providing fascinating insight into the author’s relationship with her own creative process. Though short, the stories within the book are packed with unique characters and cinematic levels of description which often suddenly tips you into magical realism: best to loosen your grip on the plot and just enjoy the ride. When viewed as a whole the stories’ loosely connected themes become apparent, circling around questions of reality and how each character chooses to perceive the world, and the fuzzy line drawn between fiction and real life. A viscerally challenging yet life-affirmingly nourishing read that’ll leave you astounded at the author’s creativity and seeking out her other works.

Incredibly observed at times while at others utterly absurd. This collection of short stories features a compelling cast of characters living, frankly, some bizarre and depressing lives.
At times, when reading these short stories, I felt a bit confused because they were so unusual I thought I must be missing something. However, I suspect they will remain with me for quite some time.

I've never read Bridget O'Connor before, and much though I can see the craft and cleverness in her writing, I'm afraid these stories weren't really for me. I love to be able to really inhabit a character, and the style here is so poetic that it just didn't suit me.

These are well written short stories of weird and dysfunctional situations and strange characters. I enjoyed some parts but not all parts. I didn’t really enjoy the writing style and found myself getting a bit bored.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a short story collection as slowly as this, taking in just one or two at a time over the course of many weeks, but it seemed to demand this sort of attention with its poetic prose. I could have done without all the pet deaths in the first couple of stories, but I liked the ones about strange and wild women, ‘Nerve Endings’ in particular.

I’m a huge short story fan but these weren’t to my taste - too formless and sordid and focused on unpleasant things. They’re well written though and the failing is on my part rather than theirs - many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A wonderful collection of short stories with very unique perspectives. Bridget O'Connor manages to captures ordinary lives in an insightful way with great attention to detail. Clever stories that can be picked up and read and then reflected upon. An under-recognised author. that deserves attention.

Bridget O'Connor was an author, playwright and screenwriter who sadly passed away in 2010. This new collection includes a foreword from her daughter and brings together some of her short stories which all have a surreal element to them. The stories are set in the 1990s and feature characters whose perspectives are often disturbing, unnerving and, at times, perplexing.

While I highlighted some interesting turns of phrase and can see that O'Connor had a unique talent for capturing the language, culture and feel of a certain place and time, I really struggled to ground myself in the stories. It makes complete sense that she was a playwright and screenwriter. I think her writing style lends itself to the screen. The imagery in her stories is strong and almost visceral but, for me, they lacked a thread that allowed me to follow what was happening. I would sometimes get frustrated if I couldn't understand a story and just skim read it to get to the end.

The collection is a short read and is worth a try. The stories are a bit more on the experimental side and won't be for everyone. Sadly, they weren't for me but I can see that other readers will love them. There is no doubting O'Connor's talent and I hope this collection will help her work find a new audience that connects with her stories.

A perplexing collection of short stories that might kindly be called “quirky” or more honestly, chaotic and nonsensical.

I gave up after three stories - the style of writing is not for me.

The opening introduction by the author’s daughter was the highlight of what I read.

Such great stories that make up one amazing book. This is literary fiction at its core. Will definitely recommend.

An interesting collection of stories containing characters which made the reader feel uncomfortable at times, but it worked well with the content.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

These stories are wild. They are funny. They are clever and sweet and heartfelt and completely bonkers. I loved them and felt refreshed for having read them.

So glad I discovered this collection of stories that are unlike anything I've read before. O'Connor captivates you by putting you right at the centre of these stories. Stories that feel surreal yet could happen to any of us.

Bridget O’Connor was one of the greatest short story writers of her generation, and yet, somehow, I hadn’t read any of her work until now.

This collection of short stories was a real mixed bag. the characters are so diverse and all have their own thing going on. Each story really throws you into the middle of what’s going on and the characters’ quirks, in might I say a Hemingway-esque way.

I didn’t expect to enjoy these as much as I did but my favourites were Heavy Petting, Plastered, Kissing Time and Here Comes John. Here Comes John was my favourite of the lot, talking about gender, femininity and how we as women present ourselves. I'll definitely be reading more of Bridget O'Connor this year.

*I received an ARC from Picador, Pan Macmillan in return for an honest review.

publishing 15 February 2024.
#AfteraDance

This is a collection of totally engrossing short stories that launch you into people's chaotic, bizarre or humdrum lives from the first sentence. O'Connor seems to drop you right in the middle of scenarios - no words are wasted on build-up. In fact, most of the time no words are wasted at all. And it's impressive how so much is said with so few of them.

The stories feel like they tear away the surface appearances of people's lives and characters to reveal the darker, more unpleasant realities beneath. O'Connor uses a calm, measured tone to describe appalling scenarios and they are all the more striking as a result. There's a sad sense of waste, that people are doing so little with their time and that life is so limited.

In Love Jobs, a man taking a friend's dog for a walk ends up trapped in a surreal nightmare involving a botched mugging and a dead pet. In Plastered, a lonely and awkward man realises that having an injury does wonders for his social life because people suddenly look out for him. "My luck held out because, actually, I did have a cracked femur."

Like most of the stories, it has a great first line: "My name's Tony Wornel, to cut a long story short."

In Heavy Petting, we see a young woman desperately trying to hold onto her sanity - and protect Godfrey the pet goldfish - amid the spiralling chaos of her family. Her sister is increasingly dependent on drugs, her dealer "a slice of shadow, a stripe of Adidas in the crack of a cab". Meanwhile her mother is, inexplicably, making disgusting versions of "soup". She details one recipe to her new pet mouse: "Vanilla essence obviously, stupid mouse, ha ha ha fluff! One cornflake, leather thong...'

The story After a Dance is a depiction of unfulfilled, unconnected sex that probably speaks to way too many women. The woman's realisation that there are fancy sheets in a drawer but, instead, she got a stained mattress and a blanket sums up the experience: "So, she was not good enough for sheets."

Harp is another good one, a hyper monologue from a thief. Again, there's a great first line: "I didn't take his Reeboks, somebody else will get his Reeboks, it was the harp I was after, a friggin harp." In Kissing Time, a young woman is panicking because she's going to lose her teeth and then no one will kiss her. "The gums were receding, going nowhere fast."

The writing is excellent. O'Connor has a way of putting things so that they stay in your mind for some time after reading. In all of them, there's a sense of people flailing around with no real idea of how to live their lives or even of how they want to live their lives. Everything feels out of control. As another review put it, the stories are full of people who are living on the edges of their own lives.

Bridget O’Connor published three volumes of short stories before her early death from cancer aged 49 in 2010. Picador have made a collection of fifteen of her twisted tales some from these books and some which have previously appeared in other publications. At just 160 pages it is a very thin book and I would have liked more- but it serves as a valuable introduction to those, like me, who have not experienced her writing before.
Bridget was from North-West London with Irish parents and wrote screenplays with her husband, one of which “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” their adaptation of the John Le Carre spy classic was awarded a BAFTA and nominated for an Oscar but by this time she was no longer around. Her real love, however, was writing short stories.
Picador are marketing this work with a quote from ‘The Times’; “Irvine Welsh meets Edna O’Brien for a filthy feast.” These are urban tales of usually very self-centered people with warped perceptions of themselves. These tales aren’t pretty, there’s often some kind of decay going on with these characters, morally, psychologically and with their own bodies. The humour is dark. In the Introduction the author’s daughter Constance Straughan relates that Bridge’s grandmother had the local priest say a mass over her copy of the book as a form of exorcism, so horrified was she by the depravity implied by the work! At times they reminded me of an earlier British take on Otessa Moshfegh, especially “Eileen”.
I’ll pick out three of my favourites- “Old Times” features a couple of friends, blood brothers as children whose relationship now exists in an annual commemorative drunken binge. In “Plastered” we meet Tony Wornel, who sees himself as a ladies man with his black satin sheets and “a stack of magazine knowledge” to provide the chat when in reality he’s a disturbed loner. A plaster cast on a broken leg changes things until that too further warps his perception of life. In “I’m Running Late” a friend’s cry for help is not recognised by a young woman obsessed with hanging around a shopping centre completely misjudging her responses and interactions in a tale which made me laugh as well as being very disturbing.
Bridget O’Connor’s environment is one where a park can be described thus; “the sky’s a rattling metal sheet and the willow trees have blown up skirts and the ducks are getting blasted around on the pond and the swans have a centre parting up their white backsides.” It’s a place where a husband can be angered by his wife becoming a celebrity due to her remission from cancer whilst he is waiting for the insurance payout and where a spurned lover attempts to stabs a goldfish her ex gave her with a fork. Not everything works here but those that do blast the reader between the eyes which is an ideal response, I suppose, to a short story.
“After A Dance” will be published by Picador on February 15th 2024. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

3.5 for me, i do love short stories, and these were well written quirky stories for sure! i thought the writing style was was different from what i normally read so it was refreshing, but i did find it a little coppy!