Captivating

This a wonderful collection of short stories. Laugh out loud at times but also poignant. The author reading it made it a thoroughly enjoyable listen. Thank you Mr Barry

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Another Superb Collection

This is Kevin Barry's third collection of short stories and it does not disappoint. The tales of disparate characters in and from the west of Ireland are complemented by Barry's masterly narration which brings them to life. Outstanding.

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Captivating

Another tremendous collection from Barry. It just flies out of the traps with The Coast of Leitrim, and never lets up. For me, that short story alongside St Catherine’s, Roma Kid and Who’s Dead McCarthy are actually some of the finest short stories set down on paper (or digital bytes). Always Barry is a great reader of his work, particularly the grains of humour.

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great collection of stories

That lad has a mastery of language and never fails to delight, characters are fully formed even in the short story form

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captivating in the ordinary

Emotive with Laugh out loud moments. Wonderful narration. Conveys spirit of the landscapes and people.

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Poetry. Dark, beautiful and often hilarious.

Beautifully crafted and read by Kevin Barry. An actor too, a man of many talents. Numerous memorable lines, among them “She had a face on her like a scorched budgie. She detested herself”. Loved it.

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Superb

Another excellent collection of short stories. There’s a more maudlin edge to this lot though. Less dark, more a general sadness. Lots of longing for a lost love, and previous feelings. I suspect the author will be divorced within the year. That or renewed his vows.

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Excellent

Excellent book, beautifully read by the author. Want to go back to Leitrim and Sligo now.

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Some boy

Kevin Barry is some boy. It's a terrific good sign when you're only a quarter way through a book and you already know "I'm going to read this / listen to this again." Over and over he gives us a phrase or an image which you want to go back and chew over, often mysterious, often dark, sometimes lyrical.

He has opened up a vein (take that in as many senses as it will hold) dealing with characters at the margins of Irish society, some them eejits or recluses or pitiable immigrants and the whole time the landscapes of Leitrim, Roscommon and Galway brood and breathe under the prose. Except for one set in Spain. Small towns are lights in the distance, a 24 hour garage shop visited after midnight. Wind, cloud, the cawing of rooks, yellow gorse, fence wire streaked with sheep's wool, the colour of the sea changing 8000 times every hour at Inishbofin. And it's not just colour. There is genuine emotional weight and consequence in the stories. If that sort of thing sounds interesting to you, go for it.

Barry's reading of his own work is a considerable performance. He confides rather than declaiming and the intimate tone is compelling. The occasional swearing which might have seemed gauche on the printed page has a convincing naturalness in audio.

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