I was pleased to receive another advance reading copy from Early Reviewers and I especially looked forward to this collection of Irish short stories. The blurb described it as a collection of short stories about modern Ireland. As any Irish person will tell you, Ireland has changed beyond recognition in the last 10 years, and I hoped that this collection of stories would attempt to encapsulate what currently is Ireland.

I was a little disillusioned to read that the author lives in New York, and this feeling was compounded as I read the book. These are not a collection of stories of modern Ireland. They could belong to any era in any country. They are a set of stories dealing with loss, betrayal, aging and confusion. We have a man who overhears his friends discussing his wife's infidelity in a changing room, a solicitor trying to recapture his youth and a widow dealing with her late husband's hidden life.

I didn't even find them particularly captivating or illuminating. It appears that the author is drawing on his own experience and feelings, but never finds a way to move from these emotions or indeed deal with them.

It's a pity that these aren't a collection of stories more relevant to modern Ireland, and it's a greater pity that they're not particularly good. ( )

Other reviews have given a good overview of this collection of short stories.
What I liked: glimpses of the inner lives of ordinary people. By Irish Nights was my favourite piece.
What I disliked: the same tone throughout the collection, that of emotional disconnection, almost flat... It worked well within each story but in a collection, it was difficult for me anyway to keep reading, I felt almost overwhelmed by the mood. It would put you off getting married, or just trying to get close to another human being!
Advice to potential readers: only read one story at a time, interspersed with some other fiction, so you are not as overwhelmed by the mood. But definitely worth reading. ( )

I had never heard of this author but I liked the sound of the book, short stories by an Irish writer. William Trevor has set the bar very high and Donovan did not quite make it. However, I enjoyed most of the "slice of life" stories. The collection had stong opener in Morning swimmers. I also liked How long until, Country of the grand, Archaeologists, Harry Dietz. Some left me scratching my head, New deal for example. His use of poetic language works well, especially in By Irish nights. I might well read some of his other stuff.

Gerard Donovan’s stories in Country of the Grand highlight both his facility with language and his observation of those subtle moments that can act as a hinge to people’s existence. Donovan’s bleak tales at times leave little faith in human relationships, but are all the more powerful in their capturing of those telling moments around bereavement, infidelity and loss. This is a world where people are struggling. Rather than bring situations to resolution Donovan focuses his sharp eye on moments of that struggle, leaving his characters trapped in their situation as we move on to the next tale without them. The stories are all the more wrenching for that, the sensation heightened by the poetry of the language that makes Donovan’s tales beautifully hewn settings for our flawed lives. I was left saddened but impressed.

I'm not the world's greatest expert on the short story so don't really know how to go about reviewing this collection.

Suffice to say at this stage, that I thoroughly enjoyed the book, finding the stories quite moreish. Some struck me as unfinished (particularly Harry Dietz) but, in the main, I enjoyed the drama of the various situations. The characters came across as quite human and I had vivid pictures of the body language each used.

I'll probably go back and read some of Donovan's novels now.

Full review at: http://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/country-of-the-grand-gerard-donovan/

Notes on Donovan's appearance at this year's Edinburgh Book Festival at: http://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/lizzy-at-the-ebf-2/ ( )