Small Things Like These

After just finishing Small Things Like These, I most definitely agree with Ron Charles’s opinion that Claire Keegan has “carved out a profoundly moving and universal story.” Each chapter reads so quickly with simplistic prose and lines that flowed from one to the next, blending into a tale very reminiscent of A Christmas Carol. The beginning chapters led me to contemplate one’s consciousness through day-to-day life, as Bill Furlong seemed to drift from one day to the next without much thought of change. I perceive the ending where Furlong saves the young woman from the laundry center and walks her all of the way home in the snow to be the quintessential Christmas ending as one of compassion, kindness, and hope. The historical references to the Magdalene Laundries was very interesting, and I interpreted the ending as a subtle manner in which to criticize Ireland’s attempt to hide such institutions, as well as condemn the Catholic church for facilitating the imprisonment of fallen women.

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