{"product_id":"homesickness","title":"Homesickness","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eColin Barrett \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Best Book of the Year from the\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eand\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eOprah Daily\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eEditors' Choice\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA deeply satisfying and soulful collection of eight new stories, rich with humour, melancholy, and the ever-present threat of violence and tragedy, from one of our most adored modern writers of short fiction.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e“That’s the thing about Mayo County. I find it’s very presentable from a distance. It’s only up close it lets you down.”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA man calls the police to report he’s shot an attempted oil thief on his property, and a stupid one at that: who’s going to have a full tank in the middle of summer? A group of brutish brothers play the unlikely heroes to a troubled young sword-wielding man who winds up in their local pub—but only after facing off with him themselves. An aspiring poet and moderately successful cartoon pornographer ambles through a daily druggy fugue, smitten with the idea of suicide but gradually coming to terms with the sad fact that he’s not particularly interested in actually killing himself.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eHomesickness\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, Colin Barrett returns to the Ireland of his widely acclaimed debut book of short stories, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eYoung Skins\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e: a land populated by people in a perpetual struggle to determine what, if anything, they’re ultimately worth to a nation, a society, and even families defined by dynamics somewhere between hostility and indifference. In these stories, rough men disposed to rage nonetheless speak with unique poetry, and clever youths navigate and negotiate a land and life left to them in lamentable condition by their forebears.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut even at their lowest, making their worst and most desperate decisions, Barrett never stands in judgment of his characters: this is writing defined by extraordinary empathy and bottomless compassion, heart-wrenching one moment and laugh-out-loud funny the next. Together, these stories form a portrait of a place and a people at once familiar and frustrating, enchanting and enraging. In other words: they feel like home.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PRH","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":49821620142366,"sku":"9780771000393","price":23.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0669\/3584\/9246\/files\/9780771000393.jpg?v=1747927086","url":"https:\/\/www.cedarcanoebooks.com\/products\/homesickness","provider":"Cedar Canoe Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}