This is a novella that follows a day in the life of N as he plans his wife's funeral and gets distracted. Well written and the translation was good. The story is sad and at times humorous. Overall I enjoyed reading this Irish story.

Unfortunately, this book and I did not work well together. I had a difficult time with the writing style, the darkness hanging over the whole book, and the general tone of the wandering main character. I feel like I’ve read books similar to this before and did not find anything particularly interesting in this title.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is difficult to summarize. It’s an interesting read with a mystifying, somehow both charming and unbelievable narrator who flits from situation to situation, pulling the reader through the day that his wife died. He’s philosophical, judgmental, unreliable. Yet the story itself is a very readable slice of Irish life. Augmented by an informative introduction by the translator, the book is a romp back and forth and back again peppered by character after character assessed and conveyed via N’s distinctive point of view. I liked the story. I liked the culture and the character and the trip through long ago that N enabled. It wasn’t a difficult or particularly long read, either, so it’s a relatively easy volume to pick up if you want to expand your experience of Irish literature.

Irish literature at its best.The story of N the day after his wife’s death.He should be looking for her casket but is to busy with other tasks.Well written engaging #netgalley

Mairtin O’Cadhain is acclaimed as the foremost Irish author writing in Irish in the 20th century and it is good to have another of his books so ably translated. I read The Dirty Dust, or Graveyard Clay, a while back and although I found it an amusing read up to a point, the conceit of a community of dead people talking endlessly in their graves tedious after a while. This novella, here translated into English for the first time, is much more readable. It tells the story of N, whose wife has just died, and who is sent out by her sisters to make arrangements for the funeral. This he is signally ill-equipped to do, and he wanders around town meeting various random people by whom he is engaged for a while, then drifts on, self-absorbed and looking for the next drink. A lone person adrift in a senseless world to whom things happen but who has very little agency. I certainly didn’t love the book, nor was I drawn to the protagonist, but the black comedy amuses at times and the sheer pointlessness of his odyssey is compelling. Firmly rooted in its time and place, the Ireland of the 1960s, it’s an atmospheric and mostly enjoyable account of alienation and ennui.

The Dregs of the Day is the story of N on the day after his wife has passed. It is a Saturday and instead of taking care of her casket and her burial he goes to work. When his government job sends him home to take care of these items he spends the next 24 hours wandering around town completely scared to do what needed to be done.

I really wanted to like this book but I found it hard to follow and figure out what is fantasy or not. There seemed to be a lot of drinking and sleeping that I just could not track when and where things were taking place.

I received an electronic copy of this short novel from Netgalley, the estate of Mairtin O Cadhain, and Yale University Press. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this historical novel of my own volition and this review reflects my personal opinion of this work.

I enjoyed this ramble through the mind of N. and the streets of Ireland. We follow N. as he attempts to bring order to his world immediately following the death of his wife. We have all been there at one time or another - that world where thoughts die in mid-understanding, our reality is not able to catch up with our moment in time, our friends and neighbors are speaking gobbly-gook our mind keeps crying for sleep. Mairtin O Cadhain takes us there very well. Thank you, Alan Titley, for bringing this work to English speaking readers.

Published in Ireland in 1970; Alan Titley translation published by Yale University Press on September 24, 2019

The scholar who translated The Dregs of the Day from the original Irish tells us that Máirtin Ó Cadhain “is recognized as the foremost author in Irish of the twentieth century.” He primarily wrote short stories, but The Dregs of the Day is long enough to qualify as a novella.

The protagonist is identified only as N. He works in the civil service, although he has taken quite a bit of time off because of his wife’s illness. Now his wife has died and N. is flummoxed. Her lifeless body awaits attention. His wife’s sisters expect N. to make arrangements for someone to prepare the body and then transport it to a church for burial, but N. isn’t sure how to go about doing that and doesn’t really want to spend the money. He needs a nurse and an undertaker and a casket and a priest, but he’s not certain of the order in which he should acquire everything he needs. He stops in a pub for advice, and after a few drinks stops in a department store where there seem to be so many items on sale that he should buy. Sadly, a robber makes off with his wallet before he has a chance.

As N. decides whether to go home and face his wife’s corpse (not to mention his sisters-in-law), he has a number of diverting encounters. He has sex with a woman while pondering his indifference to both the sex and the fact that his dead wife awaits him at home. He chats with a security guard who is charged with beating up clerical students who try to sneak through the windows of a whorehouse. By dawn, he has been kicked out of the department store, kicked out of a charity, kicked out of the property where the security guard finds him snoozing, and kicked out of a church. N. can’t quite bring himself to return home and might not get his act together in time to attend his wife’s funeral, assuming his wife’s sisters arrange it in his absence. He wonders idly whether he might be endangering his civil service position, leading to a funny description of life in the civil service.

As the novel nears its end, N. makes his way to another pub with an American sailor who extolls the virtues of America, where everything is free, particularly for the Irish population of Boston. N. considers whether the life described by the sailor might be better than the one he is living, although it seems clear that N.’s problems do not arise from his country of residence but from his own ineptitude or indifference.

The Dregs of the Day is a dark comedy. The tragedy of death lurks in the background as N. lurches from one preposterous situation to another. N. is a sympathetic character if the reader can forgive him for being appalling. N. doesn’t have an evil heart, but he might not have any heart at all. He seems to have little regard for anyone, including himself, despite being entirely self-absorbed. He could solve his immediate problems rather easily just by going home (where surely his sisters-in-law would tell him how to solve the remaining problems, or simply take over and do it all themselves), but he cannot resist his impulses, none of which lead him in a sensible direction. He is seemingly blown by the winds of chance, unable or unwilling to resist the directions in which he is blown. The reader’s sympathy derives from the sense that N. is entirely lost, not because his wife has died but because he doesn’t know what to make of the world, what to care about, what to do with his purposeless life. We all know people like that (most of them drink too much), and Máirtin Ó Cadhain captured them brilliantly in the character of N.

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Although this is a third book in a series, it can be read as a stand-alone.

This is the story of "N" that takes place over the course of a weekend when he should be making arrangements to bury his just deceased wife. But instead of going home, he spends his time loitering about town, indulging in all sorts of hijinks and mainly worrying about money and his work, among other things.

I haven't had the opportunity to read a lot of Irish literature, and this novella by the renowned Máirtín O’ Cadhain that was published shortly before his death, was a good place to start.

The Dregs of the Day, translated from Irish, is the last published work from Máirtín O’ Cadhain before his death in 1970. This relatively short tale, of novella length, reflects a tortuous weekend in the life of one man, N., as he leaves his house planning to arrange for the funeral of his wife who has just died at home. Her sisters are there, a Greek chorus sending him on his way. And on his way he goes, well, sort of!

As I was reading, I found myself reminded of Joyce’s Ulysses and that amazing ramble around the city of Dublin. Here, O’Cadhain gives us some similar moments in a smaller setting. There are conversations or internal monologues on religion, God or god, police, the state, work, drink and Drinking, and of course women and sex. Some crude drunken moments are balanced by moments of beauty. Irish philosophizing of all kinds abound.

All in all, this was a very interesting and enjoyable read that I recommend to anyone interested in Irish literature. I’m very glad that I have had the opportunity to read this book.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

During this short novella there were moments of brilliance. It is the story of N, a man who should be focused on burying his recently deceased wife, bit instead wanders around town getting into shenanigans, and overcoming adversity, all the while worrying about money. I would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys Irish literature. Thank you to the publisher for providing me with this arc available through netgalley.

This is the third book in a series; however, I got the impression that it would be easily readable as a stand alone and don't think having not read the first two played a big part in my issues with this installment. I had a hard time connecting with the main character "N." His wife has died, he is avoiding going home (where her body is possibly laid out), and instead wanders around town drinking, worrying about money, what will happen at work (that he has missed), and whether he will be arrested. Not sure why he will be arrested but it seems that he was called in as a missing person. I would like to credit a lot of my confusion to cultural differences and time. This book doesn't feel like it translated well to modern times. Or maybe I am not in tune with dark Irish humor?

Literary styling and compelling narrative combine in a translation that works well and engages the reader. I recommend this book for those who enjoy a well-crafted story.

I was approved for this title, but despite help from Net Galley, there were formatting issues that prevented me from downloading it. I will likely end up buying it when it is released as it looks very good.

Really wanted to read this but unable to open with Adobe Reader due to incorrect coding. Had to give it a star rating to send this message.

I couldn't download this book but it looks great. I tried to send a message but it wouldn't let me Sorry for the confusion.