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That Old Country Music

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That Old Country Music

By: Kevin Barry
Narrated by: Kevin Barry
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'One of the best collections you'll read this year' Sunday Times
'Wild, witty stories . . . Exhilarating' Observer

Since his landmark debut collection, There Are Little Kingdoms, and its award-winning sequel in 2012, Dark Lies the Island, Kevin Barry has been acclaimed as one of the world’s most accomplished and gifted short story writers.

Barry’s lyric intensity, the vitality of his comedy and the darkness of his vision recall the work of masters of the genre like Flannery O’Connor and William Trevor, but he has forged a style which is patently his own.

In this rapturous third collection, we encounter a ragbag of west of Ireland characters, many on the cusp between love and catastrophe, heartbreak and epiphany, resignation and hope. These stories show an Ireland in a condition of great flux but also as a place where older rhythms, and an older magic, somehow persist.

 Anthologies & Short Stories Fiction Short Stories Heartfelt Scary
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Critic reviews

"The master short story teller turns messy emotions into riveting tales of wounded Irish folk . . . One of the best collections you’ll read this year"
"Wild, witty stories . . . The west of Ireland teems with canny characters and vivid language . . . Darkly glimmering . . . Their language is exhilarating, its verve evoking the very best of Barry’s compatriots while further carving out a territory that’s all his own"
"These are brilliant and vivid and uproarious stories. It's a rare writer who can call a tune like Kevin Barry" (LISA McINERNEY)
"Barry often writes with sonorous wisdom . . . but as readers of his grimly hilarious novels will know, his language is just as precise when it is in the service of comedy . . . Exhilaratingly funny and poignant fables" (Jake Kerridge)
"These playful, serious and beautifully crafted stories allow Barry to experiment as we need great writers to do" (SARAH MOSS)
"Beautifully pitched short stories . . . A richly comic collection from an Irish maestro . . . Barry holds myth-making and dull reality in teasing balance, with a kind of comic double vision winking at the operatic and the bathetic by turns"
"An extraordinary writer . . . In his short stories Barry seems most fully and brilliantly himself . . . Unimprovable masterpieces . . . So rich and so flawlessly crafted – its best stories feel instantly canonical, as if we've already been reading them for years . . . The opening story is letter-perfect from its first line . . . Funny, moving, built with superior economy, this is the real thing . . . Barry remains the great romantic of contemporary Irish fiction. Like all of the most interesting artists, he gets better with every risk he takes. The courage may be his. But the rewards are all ours" (Kevin Power)
"Full of the damaged characters, menacing rural scenery and darkly comic, slantwise prose that have become his trademark . . . At each turn, Barry makes his fiction a matter of life and death"
"Optimism and sorrow anchor the stories in this collection, where relationships take unexpected turns and characters befuddle one another and themselves. Barry’s writing sparkles, as ever, moving speedily between pathos and humour to great effect"
"Barry is wickedly funny, slyly transgressive and consistently brilliant. He is constantly turning tricks with language before upending us on the thwarted desires of his characters and the dark energy of his landscapes. And underpinning it all, the melancholy of men that is Barry's hallmark" (MARY COSTELLO)
All stars
Most relevant
Emotive with Laugh out loud moments. Wonderful narration. Conveys spirit of the landscapes and people.

captivating in the ordinary

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

great collection of stories

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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

Captivating

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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.

Superb

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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.

Captivating

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