Fjord Of Killary by Kevin Barry, 2010
The magic trick:
Capturing the feeling of a place while also telling the story of a man’s personal crisis
Very fine story to discuss today.
“Fjord Of Killary” is doing three things at once, blended perfectly.
The story functions as a portrait of our narrator – a 40-year-old man who thinks he’s solved all his life crises by purchasing an old hotel in West Ireland.
The story also functions as a portrait of the unique people living near that hotel in West Ireland.
And because we need a little forward momentum from our plot, the story also builds some suspense around a dire storm battering the hotel.
It’s the narrator’s journey that is the heart of the story, of course. But those other elements – the local color, the plot – that really elevate the entire thing into something richer and more interesting than a simple midlife-crisis tale.
And that’s quite a trick on Barry’s part.
The selection:
Outside, the rain continued to hammer away at our dismal little world, and the sky had shucked the last of its evening gray to take on an intense purplish tone that was ominous, close-in, Biblical.
“Sky is weirdin’ up like I don’t know fucking what,” I said.
John Murphy grabbed my elbow as I passed along the bar—he was aggressive, always, once the third pint was downed—and he said, “I s’pose you know that possessed fuckin’ she-devil above in the house will put me in the ground?”
“John,” I said, “I really don’t want to hear about it.”
“I mean literally, Caoimhin! She’ll fuckin’ do for me!”
“John, your marriage is your own private business.”
“She’s fuckin’ poisoning me! I swear to bleedin’ fuckin’ Jesus! I can taste it off the fuckin’ tea, Caoimh!”
“Would you go again, John?” I indicated his emptied stout glass.
“Oh, please,” he said.
As always, join the conversation in the comments section below, on SSMT Facebook or on Twitter @ShortStoryMT.
Subscribe to the Short Story Magic Tricks Monthly Newsletter to get the latest short story news, contests and fun.
Short Story Magic Tricks 