I always marvel over the ability of Claire Keegan to express so much in a short story or novel. This book contains three short stories that were previously published separately and deal with interactions between men and women.

1) SO LATE IN THE DAY: We meet Cathal on what should have been the happiest day of his life but instead he gets to spend the day in introspection, thinking about where things went wrong.

2) THE LONG AND PAINFUL DEATH: A female writer arrives at the Böll House writer's retreat on Achill Island, Ireland, for two weeks of gloriously peaceful writing, only to be pestered by a German scholar.

3) ANTARCTICA: A middle-aged married woman decides she wants a taste of sexual freedom before she gets too old. She tells her husband she is going to do some Christmas shopping in the city over the weekend and there she meets a man with darker plans than she could have wished for.

A great taste of Claire Keegan's writing. This would make a great little gift for your literary-minded friends.

Many thanks to the publisher and author for providing me with an arc through NetGalley.

So Late in the Day consists of three short stories by Claire Keegan. These are quite different from the hopeful novellas I’ve previously read by this author. These stories are haunting, with dark themes and women who face adverse situations. As always, Keegan’s detailed, descriptive writing is thought-provoking.

So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan is a short story collection exploring topics such as love, lust, betrayal, misogyny, and the ever-intriguing interchanges between women and men. In “So Late in the Day,” Cathal faces a long weekend as his mind agitates over a woman with whom he could have spent his life, had he behaved differently. In “The Long and Painful Death,” a writer’s arrival at the seaside home of Heinrich Böll for a residency is disrupted by an academic who imposes his presence and opinions. And in “Antarctica,” a married woman travels out of town to see what it’s like to sleep with another man and ends up in the grip of a possessive stranger.

I always love Claire Keegan's works and this one was no different. I thoroughly enjoyed each of the short story collections and found all of them haunting and thought provoking. I highly recommend this one!

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

These three dark stories are exquisitely formed, with understated drama centering around unsavory people and their choices.

The first story, So Late in the Day, is about a parsimonious man whose fiance’ dumps him just before their wedding. In the second story a writer has been granted a retreat in Heinrich Boll’s cottage where she is confronted by a man who accuses her of misusing and underappreciated the privilege. And in the third story, a woman uses her time away to conduct an affair but finds herself in deep trouble.

These character’s choices and personality flaws reap inevitable consequences, and I was not sad for them as much as satisfied by the justice of their fate.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.

Claire Keegan is the queen of keeping the words short but packing in a punch. I loved the way this book draws you into the personal feeling of the two characters and makes us look at ourselves whilst doing so. The two characters are flawed but none more than than the controlling boyfriend. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to look in the window of a real relationship and feel the outcome. Thanks NetGalley for advance copy.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishing house for sending me this e-arc to read and review. This was a great book, I read it here a few months ago and loved it. The cover art is beautiful and the writing style is beautiful. I cant wait to see what else this author comes out with in the future.

Having read this, I can confirm I will not survive in a world if men are really like this. After a second read, it dawned upon me that, the presented behaviors, which I thought to be miscommunication at first, might be fragments of something much worrying. The casual condescension, mansplaining, stereotyping, reluctance, etc.—all that could be taken for human nature turned out to be patterns of a more serious societal problem. The level of aggressiveness only escalated as readers moved from the first story to the next. Cathal in So Late In The Day might be over-frugal, impulsive, and cowardly, but at least his upbringing somewhat justified his viewpoint (not necessarily a redeemable quality). The German literature professor from A Long And Painful Death is straight-up rude, presumptuous, and non-consensually invasive toward the (Heinrich) Boll’s house resident. Then there’s this Antarctica motherfucker, taking away someone’s autonomy, stalking them, coercing them into activities they weren’t interested in doing, and worst yet. holding them captive. As all the victims in these stories are women, and all the aggressors are men, it’s clear Claire Keegan, while putting together this collection, had wanted to display some prime examples of modern-day misogyny—easy to overlook at first glance, but still very inherent if one pays enough attention.

Keegan’s penmanship is worth taking notes too. She’s precise and subtle, observant without pinpointing while controlling metaphors in various forms: a weather forecast foreseeing a failed engagement, a fictional character to project resentment, and a stranded explorer to portray hopelessness. This is just to say her writing methods are super effective as she recounts real-life experiences with imagery. Highly recommended.

I read and loved Foster by Claire Keegan. I’m finding I love writers who can do quiet and understated works that pack a big punch — Keegan is one of these writers. When I saw her upcoming book So Late in the Day, I immediately requested the arc on NetGalley.

Split into three short stories about men and women with a highlight on misogyny, it totals 128 pages, I finished it quickly but needed a minute to digest. On the surface it reads fairly simplistic but the themes probe deeper into societal expectations within relationships between genders while the threat of physical violence that men hold over women always hovers nearby.

It wasn’t a joyous book or gripping but the sense of place was unmatched as was the feeling of foreboding.

Loved this addition to her other books even if it wasn’t my favorite! Don’t miss this piece of literary fiction!

This is a small collection of three bleak, carefully-chiseled stories--Keegan displays her usual skill at observing people while paring the story down to its necessities. Her sentences are as always pointy and precise. This collection focuses on disastrous interactions between women and men (a man trying to figure out why his wedding was canceled at the last moment, a woman writer on a fellowship dealing with an increasingly alarming visitor who wants to see the writer's house the residency is based in, and a woman who takes a weekend break from her family and becomes entangled with a possessive man), and the stories seethe with misogyny; each story builds to an increasingly uncomfortable and ominous conclusion.

Readers who enjoyed her novellas Foster and Small Things like These will enjoy these stories as well. This collection would also make a good entry into her work (although I think Keegan is at her very best at the slightly longer novella length).

Thanks to the publisher, author, and Netgalley for my free earc. My opinions are all my own.

Keegan’s writing is beyond compare and in this collection she depicts man's capacity for tenderness, cruelty, dismissiveness, and violence towards women. Beginning quietly and ending with a bang, these virtuosic stories serve as stand-ins for toxic relationships at large. I featured this title in my fall reading guide (link below)

claire keegan only writes short, perfect books, and much of this is no exception. i loved the first two stories, which were subtle and lovely and excruciating in their depiction of how men and women feel, and make each other feel. the last one i loved moments of but i felt lost much of the nuance and quietness that made the first two so powerful for me. still, claire keegan is among my favorite authors writing today.

Claire Keegan's short fiction continues to completely entrance me. A quiet novel that packs a punch with its small observations. Highly recommended.

I will read anything Claire Keegan writes, and this collection of three short stories demonstrates why: she's a master of the form whose seemingly simple and plain writing packs a serious punch. I felt unsettled throughout these pieces, which are expertly constructed and delivered those stinging, gasp-inducing moments of revelation that I've come to expect in a Keegan story but never quite predict.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Grove Press for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review. Highly recommended.

This is not a happy book. It's subtitled "Stories of Women and Men", but they are all stories of women being faced with men who are not their for the women's benefit. There are three stories - the first is sad (but kind of made me laugh, because Irish men) the second is whimsical and though provoking and the third is full of fear and foreboding ( although it had been written by a man I would have called it misogynistic, because women who take what they want must always, always be punished).
Claire Keegan can put as much emotion and story into ten pages as other authors put in 1000. Her prose is controlled, concise and measured.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a collection of three short stories, by the queen of short stories herself, Claire Keegan.
I'd already heard of Antarctica and So Late in the Day, but I'd never heard of The Long and Painful Death, the second short story. This one turned out to be my favourite, and I wish it was a bit bigger, as I did not have enough of this story.

Keegan's writing is sharp, melancholic and so full of heart-felt digs at some of society's major issues, such as misogyny and violence towards women.

I feel like reading these short stories in a row, rather than reading them individually makes them better, as they compliment each other, despite having been written years apart.

So Late in the Day is brilliantly wrought, not a wasted word or description.
Although the subject matter is somewhat dark-ugly behavior from the male characters, it is a very manageable anger one feels upon reading and the entire book is such an intermezzo for any reader looking for a break from all the daunting and massive tomes being published these days. She can write!

Genre: Literary Short Stories
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Pub. Date: Nov. 14, 2024

“Small Things Like These,” by Irish author Claire Keegan, was a finalist for the 2020 Booker Prize. The novel is centered on the Magdalene Laundries. I very much enjoyed the novella and admired Keegan’s ability to get deep into human thoughts and emotions with concise, pitch-perfect writing. “So Late in the Day” has three slim short stories. Once again, Keegan’s writing is compact, with deep explorations into human vulnerability. In this novel, she examines the power dynamics between men and women. And how those dynamics can shift and deteriorate with little warning.

The title story, “So Late in the Day,” explores unconscious expressions of misogyny. It centers on a man feeling lonely one day and thinks about the woman with whom he could have spent his life had he behaved differently. He purchases his fiancée’s ideal wedding band. However, he declines her request to have it engraved because it would cost more money, and the ring would no longer be returnable. She tells him she did not want to marry him after all. This story is so insightful because without pounding the reader over the head, the author shows us that the man has no idea what he did wrong, although it is glaringly apparent. Still, Keegan lets us see how he could be seen as a sympathetic character as well as an unlikable, noncommittal man.

“The Long and Painful Death” has humorous undertones and is my favorite. It is a story about a female writer staying in Heinrich Böll’s real-life seaside house on Achill Island, Ireland. The house is used as a writer’s retreat. Our protagonist is initially kind to a lonely male scholar who knocks on the door. However, soon, he becomes a daily intrusion, making writing impossible. Her sarcastic remarks made me laugh when he began to be judgmental. Throughout the short, I wanted to hop a plane to Ireland because Keegan describes the island’s beauty so vividly. But the best part of the tale is how she takes the man’s unwanted attention and transforms it into art. I would love to share how she does this with you, but it would be a spoiler. I can tell you that the ending put a smile on my face.

As the title suggests, “Antarctica” is the darkest short in the collection. A happily married but bored woman travels out of town. She tells her husband that she is going Christmas shopping. The actual reason for the trip is to see what it’s like to sleep with a man other than her husband. As the story progresses, we see her slowly let go of her married persona and doing as she pleases, not worrying about consequences. In a bar, she meets a man and has her fling. She soon learns that she is in the grip of a possessive stranger. Instead of gaining freedom, she horrifyingly loses it. The headstrong protagonist that many women could relate to becomes a character you will pity. Keegan transforms the tale into an intelligent psychological thriller rather than interpreting it as a morality tale.

Keegan’s writing is undeniably beautiful. She reminds me of Joyce Carol Oates, who makes her characters feel fully alive and authentic. In this collection, whether they are love partners, acquaintances, or strangers, Keegan skillfully analyzes the subtle interactions between men and women. I recommend this short story collection even if you have never read Claire Keegan or any literary fiction.

4.5/5! IM OBSESSED. i’ve never read a short story collection with stories that compliment each other so well. i also absolutely love the way claire keegan writes & this was super quick read so i high recommend

also thank you netgalley & grove press for the arc !! very excited about this release

I haven't once been let down by Claire Keegan and that continues to be true!

The titular first story was an interesting glimpse into Keegan writing such a contemporary story. I'm so accustomed to her pastoral writing, but this showed just as deft an intuition of hers.

"The Long and Painful Death" ("a writer’s arrival at the seaside home of Heinrich Böll for a residency is disrupted by an academic who imposes his presence and opinions") might be my favorite here. It's a perfect mesh of her usual strength with setting and a modern close-quarters absurd situation type conceit.

I was surprised to see the short story "Antarctica" reprinted here. I had read it before in her earlier collection called Antarctica and it hadn't been my favorite, but recontextualized within this collection I appreciated it much more. Seeing that the French title of this collection is "Misogynie," it made me reflect on the interplay between the three stories in this collection and how they so perfectly tease out larger themes from their subtleties by virtue of being placed next to one another. Antarctica had felt like more of a (reverse for its position?) non sequitur in the other collection, but is strengthened here.

I’ve read or listened to all of these stories before so it was fun to re read the first and third stories in the collection. The Quiet Girl by Keegan was
new to me and I liked it better endings seem predictable in these stories which stand the test of time in an Alice Munro like way. Not sure why the rerelease..maybe another
screenplay in the works.? The lack of good short story writers is telling.