 When
Ireland Was Young
Thicker
Than Water: Coming-Of-Age Stories
by Irish and Irish American Writers
by Gordon Snell (Editor)
Delacorte Press; ISBN: 0385325711
When a heavy-hitter
like Maeve Binchy contributes a short story to a collection, you can be
sure it's a book worth looking into. And so it is with Thicker Than
Water: Coming of Age Stories by Irish and Irish-American Writers. A
group of 13 stories by some better-known Irish writers-only one is apparently
written by an American-the collection takes a look at the many facets
of Irish adolescence and young adulthood: past and present, Catholic and
Protestant, male and female, at home and abroad.
Though written from
an Irish point of view, and with primarily Irish characters and settings,
these stories will resonate with young readers from many backgrounds,
giving them the opportunity to bridge national and cultural boundaries.
Moreover, the stories that are narrated by an adult reflecting on childhood
may help children understand that the parents that seem so utterly incapable
of understanding them have already gone through similar experiences.
The collection also
explores, to some extent, Ireland's own coming of age. In the introduction
Gordon Snell offers the stories as a celebration of the "Celtic Tiger,"
with its new-economy prosperity and young, eager population of under-25's.
But a number of the tales seem more to mourn the death of the old Ireland,
as warmly remembered family homes are demolished in favor of new development
and native species become extinct.
The quality of the
writing is quite fine overall; the best will leave the reader longing
to reach out and comfort the anxious, self-doubting teenager she or he
once was. Among the stand outs are Chris Lynch's "Off Ya Go, So"
and Emma Donaghue's title story "Thicker Than Water," which
should be required reading for any young person plagued by a younger sibling.
In fact, it is perhaps the only major flaw of the book that the overall
quality of the writing makes the weaker stories--few though they are--seem
all the more pale and obvious.
(A word of caution
for the parents of younger readers: The stories in this collection take
on some pretty tough issues, such as mental illness, bulimia, abortion,
and suicide.)
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Copyright © 2001 The
Irish Side LLC. All rights reserved.
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