"Dark lies the island" by Kevin Barry (Vintage, 2013)

Stories from New Yorker, etc.

• "Across the rooftops" - can't see much in it
• "Wifey Redux" - Father of cute 17 year old angry about her boyfriend, and even angrier when he ditches her. He confronts the boyfriend. He's had mental problems before
• "Fjord of Killary" - A fourtysomething poet who's not had a collection out for 5 years has bought a West Ireland hotel. He makes notes about the bar clientelle and their language. He's hoped to be known as a convivial host. When there's a flood, the hotel's isolated and he gives out free drinks. He feels he's becoming accepted
• "A Cruelty" - A man on a train is anxious when it doesn't keep to the routine. He's anxious later when his park bench is occupied and when a hobo(?) confronts him
• "Beer Trip to Llandudno" - A Camra branch from Liverpool have a daytrip, discussing their ale grading system and issues regarding the newsletter. They realise how pathetic they are
• "Ernestine and Kit" - 2 60+ women drive around Eire trying to abduct toddlers.
• "The Mainland Campaign" - A young bomber in London has to change plans
• "Wistful England" - Daniel, a 25 y.o. house-sharing with some heavy drinkers, thinks he sees his ex in various places. At a nightclub he talks to her. He asks the bar staff afterwards if it really happened.
• "Doctor Sot" - Sot (Dr Carl O'Connor), happily married, is an alcoholic. 30 years a GP, he asks to do some OutReach with local travellers (he'd seen that one of them was very pretty). While he spends a night in their camp his long-suffering wife "flowed through the house. For fear that he would get back early, she would lay cloths now over all the mirrors in the house"
• "The Girls and the Dogs" - 8 months away from his wife and 8 month old daughter in Cork, the narrator's in hiding in a rotting caravan by a house where 2 sisters (one a gangster's wife) and their kids live. He's locked in the caravan for days, manages to escape. Inconsequential.
• "White Hitachi" - Patrick, 36, frees his van from a pound and picks up his young brother from a juvenile detention unit. They pick up some drugs to distribute. Inconsequential. The dialogue, as usual, is lively though - He put a hand inside his togs and tigged at himself briefly ... 'When you get a bit of heat at all like the heat we're after getting today,' he said, 'the man below do be swimmin' in his own melt.
• "Dark Lies the Island" - She's a cutter. She passed her exams and could go on to study medicine. She takes a year out to stay at the family's posh holiday home, maybe do some art. When she can, she logs into a chatroom of people interested in self-harm. She thinks that she might start cutting again tonight. Then she goes into the garden with the 9 kitchen knives, looks at the sea, and throws the knives far away.
• "Berlin Arkonaplatez - My Lesbian Summer" - His summer with Silvija. My favourite.

Some stories share imagery - kids with shaven heads, etc. Perhaps consecutive stories share imagery?

Other reviews

• Chris Power (In "Fjord of Killary", the highlight of this excellent collection. ... Not every story is so successful. "The Mainland Campaign"... compares unfavourably with a story by ... William Trevor. ... there is action and plot, but Steven's motives remain unexplored. ... "Beer Trip to Llandudno", conversely, has scant plot but carries plenty of meaning.)
• goodreads