After a Dance by Bridget O'Connor is a collection of the late author and playwright's short stories mainly set in the 1990's.

The protagonists are a rag tag bunch of misfits and the stories leave the reader a little off balance. There are frequent uses of the wrong colour and unpleasant smells in descriptions, which adds another dimension to the weirdness.

"He shoots up to the office in the morning with a skiddy stink of burning rubber. He shoots up the lift shaft. In the boardroom, above the mahogany table, he sees, as though through a funhouse mirror, his shirt distorted, his wavering sideburns. A giant green pulse beating down the centre of his skull. Thump, thump pulse."

A recommended read for lovers of short stories.

Three excellent short stories full of dark humour, weird and fascinating. Bridget O'Connor was a great storyteller and I would like to read more by her
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This collection stands out for its masterful construction of characters and its mesmerizing use of language, drawing readers into its depths. Each story is not only moving but also immersive, evoking a sensation akin to the act of writing itself. Reading these stories transcended mere consumption; it was an experience that resonated deeply, leaving a lasting impression.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

After a Dance' is a collection of short stories by late british author Bridget O'Connor, who I am very glad to have been able to read from, since she is not a famous figure in France. I am usually not the biggest fan of contemporary short stories, for I think it is a format much more well-suited to horror for example, but I was amazed at her prose. It is indeed so vividly written, as if she had put into words some boiling thoughts that read so realistic. I especially adored the unhinged dialogue in 'Shop Talk' and the intricate feelings displayed in 'Heavy Petting', they were my two favourites.

That being said, I must admit that I was not really moved by any of the stories, although they tackle profound subjects such as family or loneliness. I would absolutely recommend this author to someone interested in smart Irish litterature, who really enjoys form, but maybe not to someone who seeks out a deep connection to the characters, who can look quite poser or bored at times. Overall, although a bit polarizing, Bridget O'Connor was undeniably a precious voice, who deserves to be rediscovered and recognised!

Really disappointed in this book, as I expected to love it (I'm a fan of Irish literature generally). Felt very disjointed, most of the stories didn't make sense at all and some of them actually made me angry in their pretentiousness.

Published over a decade after the death of author and screenwriter Bridget O'Connor, After a Dance collates some of her finest short stories - mostly written in the 1990s - and packages them for a new audience.

It is a real talent to be able to write good short stories. To make the reader feel something in such a modest number of words requires wit, an understanding of the human condition and the ability to make a point incisively and memorably. O'Connor demonstrates this in spades, bringing bleak humour, pathos and a wry cynicism to stories of selfish, callow characters set in desolate seaside towns, declining city centres and family homes which just feel wrong in a way that makes you squirm.

Some stories feel dated - fatness is presented as horrifying, and a magical trans character appears whose unquantifiable nature allows them to act as an other-worldly guide to the protagonist. However, as a glimpse into a moment in time in a particular culture, these stories still have value.

At its best, in stories such as 'Heavy Petting', After a Dance foreshadows the work of Camilla Grudova, with the pleasing juxtaposition of the mundane and the surprising - sometimes the outright bizarre - and a whimsical, offhand way of describing true grotesqueries.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

Wired quirky strange short stories so well written an author whose writing is very engaging very different..An author I will be following.#netgalley #picador

I read this over the weekend, a quick entertaining if at times perplexing short story collection from Irish writer, Bridget O.'Connor. I really liked the preface to the collection peened by O'Connor's daughter Constance. It gives a lovely insight into the author's life and sets this collection up beautifully.
There were some wonderfully weird tales in these pages but they were almost all entertaining and while not always relatable they were captured in vivid detail. I really loved After The Dance and Godfrey the goldfish will stay with me. I did find the book lost some of its spark as it continued. Perhaps I got to used to the writing style and the stories got a little too similar. I thought the first half/ first four stories were the strongest.

Overall though a worthwhlle read and lovely to see one of Ireland's female voices from the last century back in the spotlight.

3.5 stars.

An acclaimed short story writer and playwright, Bridget O’Connor died in 2010, aged only 49. After the Dance is a collection of fifteen of her stories all but one first published in the 1990s. Most are hardly more than a few pages, some quite striking in their originality, ranging from the titular story in which a young girl agrees to spend the night with a boy she meets at a dance but finds it an unsettling experience, tossing and turning all night while he snores beside her, echoed by his uncle downstairs, to the final darkly comic piece in which a clifftop cafe owner shares what she plans to be her last supper with a criminal, inadvertently rescuing him from impending trouble.

O’ Connor’s collection is introduced by her daughter, Constance Straughan, beginning with a colourful anecdote of the author's grandmother having her copy of her granddaughter’s book exorcised. Conveniently, the priest called every Friday but until then she sat on the book, a story which would have sat quite comfortably alongside the ones in this collection which explores human nature with sharp observation and a black humour, sometimes with a dash of the surreal. Straughan tells us that all four of O’Connor’s siblings were convinced their sister had written her stories about them, not a claim I’d particularly have wanted to make, entertaining as they are.

The introduction, written by O'Connor's daughter, made me really want to read these stories. All in all, the collection of short tales is eclectic and certainly quite different to other prose I have read. One distinctive feature for me are the voices in the stories. Clearly, O'Connor chooses the first-person, often with marked features in their speech, and even though I do appreciate this, in many ways such decisions grate. Sometimes, the prose feels contrived - and too disjointed - almost stream-of-consciousness-like. Personally, I didn't particularly enjoy the stories, although I can see their merits, specifically O'Connor's inventive use of language.

The tales are about relationships - family, friends, lovers. They're also about quite bizarre things, or ordinary things but dealt with in a bizarre way. Sometimes, it feels as if they are not coherent enough - perhaps deliberate, I don't know - but not something I can really appreciate as a reader.

I requested this as I’d not heard of Bridget O’Connor before and I’m a fan of short stories. These were a lot different to anything I’d read before in terms of format and at times I found myself getting a bit bored of the same writing style. The Goldfish was my favourite, if you can call it that, story. Poor Godfrey, but I could visualise the scenes and the chaos of this disfunctional family. Like I said, the writing style was new to me and too ‘choppy’ but I was entertained enough to finish.

Thanks to NetGalley for this arc.

There's a compelling weirdness about O'Connor's writing - and I mean that in the best possible way. This is a collection that is brilliant in its construction of character and its use of language to hypnotise the reader. Moving, too. Reading these stories was more than simply a reading experience, it was a sensation of something similar to the writing process itself. Excellent and highly recommended. What a privilege to have read this ahead of publication. My grateful thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley for my copy 3.5/5

Interesting and quirky collection of short stories about complex, messy people. I found the story about the goldfish and the one night stand particularly emotive and felt a really Irish sensibility throughout.

Some of the stories were opaque to the point where they really didn’t make much sense and they became a bit samey in the end.

Overall a good collection and a lovely little preface as well. Would recommend.

I had the opportunity to review a taster of this book. These are really well written short stories of dysfunctional and often strange characters. Parts of some of the stories were awkward, and made for some uncomfortable reading at times, which is a positive. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

These are some good, weird, Irish short stories, in a year of excellent, weird, Irish short story collections in America. This one is definitely more gonzo than some of the other literary efforts, but in a very relatable way. Family dysfunction and female ennui at its best, with a 90s beat for those who remember…

Quirky and unusual short stories. I'm still thinking about Godfrey the goldfish...Interesting preface about the author.

A complex and idiomatic collection of short stories from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy screenwriter Bridget O'Connor. O'Connor has a remarkable ear and the working class voices of her stories sparkle off the page with life and truth. There's cruelty edged with compassion here and a slanting edge to each world that keeps the narrative continually shifting underfoot. Each story is precise and encapsulates a world that already feels lost to us now. It's an interesting collection of stories and O'Connor is well deserved in being republished again though it does leave you wondering why these particular stories were chosen and compilated together. There's not a strong enough sense of what the collection is so that this feels more like a broad retrospective than a definitive statement of how these stories can speak to us now. Ultimately this is a collection of stories that serves as a wonderful reintroduction to a writer but isn't quite complete in itself.

A gripping and surprising collection, that was entertaining and moving. Godfrey the goldfish was a particularly noteworthy story but all of the collection brought a certain something. The introduction was moving too.

This is a sampler of 3 short stories. I enjoyed them and they are well written but I think the collection as a whole isn't one that I would be interested in reading. I preferred the 2 shorter ones to the first one, Heavy Petting, as I felt I understood what they were saying a little more.

I don’t think I've ever read a short story as surreal and compelling as Heavy Petting by Bridget O'connor. A goldfish is hooped at a fairground, brought home to join a menagerie of other pets, and named Godfrey. Godfrey watches and swims for his life as a family disintegrates. Majella, a promising student, turns to drugs. Mum is on medication and becomes obsessive about making soup, even using Godfrey's bowl as a receptacle. Dad is a shadow of his former self, on painkillers.

O' Connor was an author and playwright who shone humour into dark corners. She died in 2010 aged 49.

This taster of 3 short stories is an exquisite tasting of a talent that was extinguished too soon.