Overview

What can we learn from an ordinary life observed with extraordinary skill? In The Irish Goodbye, Beth Ann Fennelly writes of the small moments that shape a life, whether moving or perplexing or troubling or gladdening, in the process dignifying the diminutive through the act of attention. Fennelly explores her roles as a friend, wife, mother, and daughter, documenting a brush with an old flame or the devastating death of her sister in crystalline, precise sentences. The longer essays concern Fennelly's relationships-with a beloved mother-in-law, a decades-long friendship between five former college roommates, an artist who paints a series of nude portraits in Fennelly's town, for which she poses. Interspersed between these longer memoirs are sections of flash nonfiction, a form Fennelly innovated in the genre-defying Heating & Cooling. With dazzling verve and wit, they capture the interstitial interactions-encounters with strangers, quirky observations, unexpected flights of fancy-that make up a richly lived life. The Irish Goodbye offers a rare pleasure: intimacy. With emotional clarity and nimble prose, Fennelly invites readers to share her affirming worldview-one in which even our smallest interactions are rife with possibility.

Full Product Details

9781324117407

Table of Contents

Reviews

""What a terrific writer! In language as much poetry as prose, and spectacular poetry at that, Fennelly captures the usually-overlooked moments of our lives."" -- Tim O'Brien, author of The Things They Carried ""Every word in these essays—whether open-armed and loving, broken-hearted and howling, or winking with wit—is perfectly chosen and perfectly placed, and each one shimmers with life. This book faces what it means to say goodbye, but it is also absolutely alight with life."" -- Margaret Renkl, author of The Comfort of Crows ""The Irish Goodbye is a marvelous, masterful book of micro-memoirs that add up to a life full of humor, friendship, motherhood, joy, grief, and love. Lots and lots of love. Beth Ann Fennelly dazzles us with her observations and brevity, her beautiful prose, her enormous heart."" -- Ann Hood, author of The Stolen Child ""In these glittering little memoirs, Beth Ann Fennelly removes one protective garment after another until she exposes the poetry beneath life’s troubles and pleasures. Fennelly shares with us her recipe for living an enchanted life: Love your family and friends, keenly observe everything around you, work hard, and have a sense of humor about the whole shebang. If The Irish Goodbye is a naked self-portrait, then let us all be naked. As Fennelly says, 'When vulnerability is a burden shared by all, it ceases to be a burden.'"" -- Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of The Waters ""This book knocked me sideways. I tore through it in a day and I’m still trying to catch my breath. I loved Heating & Cooling and didn’t think Beth Ann Fennelly could do it again, but let me tell you: she’s done it again and then some. I’ve long been a fan of Fennelly’s work, but The Irish Goodbye is her best book yet."" -- Jamie Quatro, author of Two-Step Devil ""Beth Ann Fennelly’s writing flickers and shimmers like minnows just below the water’s surface—quick, sharp, and radiantly alive. Each of these pieces is a marvel of compression and care, where humor sidles up next to heartbreak, and ordinary moments are cast in an enticing, golden light that makes you want to lean in closer, listen harder. Whether writing about slugs, travels around the world, heartbreaking losses, or the glee of people wearing nothing but a smile, this book is such a great catch, such a bounty!"" -- Aimee Nezhukumatahil, author of Bite by Bite

Beth Ann Fennelly's writing flickers and shimmers like minnows just below the water's surface--quick, sharp, and radiantly alive. Each of these pieces is a marvel of compression and care, where humor sidles up next to heartbreak, and ordinary moments are cast in an enticing, golden light. . . . This book is such a great catch, such a bounty!--Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of Bite by Bite Every word in these essays--whether open-armed and loving, brokenhearted and howling, or winking with wit--is perfectly chosen and perfectly placed. . . . This book faces what it means to say goodbye, but it is also absolutely alight with life.--Margaret Renkl, author of The Comfort of Crows What a terrific writer! In language as much poetry as prose, and spectacular poetry at that, Beth Ann Fennelly captures the usually overlooked moments of our lives.--Tim O'Brien, author of The Things They Carried In these glittering little memoirs, Beth Ann Fennelly removes one protective garment after another until she exposes the poetry beneath life's troubles and pleasures. . . . If The Irish Goodbye is a naked self-portrait, then let us all be naked.--Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of The Waters The Irish Goodbye is a marvelous, masterful book of micro-memoirs that add up to a life full of humor, friendship, motherhood, joy, grief, and love. . . . Beth Ann Fennelly dazzles us with her observations and brevity, her beautiful prose, her enormous heart.--Ann Hood, author of The Stolen Child This book knocked me sideways. I tore through it in a day and I'm still trying to catch my breath. . . . I've long been a fan of Beth Ann Fennelly's work, but The Irish Goodbye is her best book yet.--Jamie Quatro, author of Two-Step Devil

Beth Ann Fennelly's writing flickers and shimmers like minnows just below the water's surface--quick, sharp, and radiantly alive. Each of these pieces is a marvel of compression and care, where humor sidles up next to heartbreak, and ordinary moments are cast in an enticing, golden light that makes you want to lean in closer, listen harder. Whether writing about slugs, travels around the world, heartbreaking losses, or the glee of people wearing nothing but a smile, this book is such a great catch, such a bounty!--Aimee Nezhukumatahil, author of Bite by Bite The Irish Goodbye is a marvelous, masterful book of micro-memoirs that add up to a life full of humor, friendship, motherhood, joy, grief, and love. Lots and lots of love. Beth Ann Fennelly dazzles us with her observations and brevity, her beautiful prose, her enormous heart.--Ann Hood, author of The Stolen Child In these glittering little memoirs, Beth Ann Fennelly removes one protective garment after another until she exposes the poetry beneath life's troubles and pleasures. Fennelly shares with us her recipe for living an enchanted life: Love your family and friends, keenly observe everything around you, work hard, and have a sense of humor about the whole shebang. If The Irish Goodbye is a naked self-portrait, then let us all be naked. As Fennelly says, 'When vulnerability is a burden shared by all, it ceases to be a burden.'--Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of The Waters This book knocked me sideways. I tore through it in a day and I'm still trying to catch my breath. I loved Heating & Cooling and didn't think Beth Ann Fennelly could do it again, but let me tell you: she's done it again and then some. I've long been a fan of Fennelly's work, but The Irish Goodbye is her best book yet.--Jamie Quatro, author of Two-Step Devil

Author Information

Beth Ann Fennelly, poet laureate of Mississippi from 2016 to 2021, is the author of six books, most recently, Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs. She lives with her husband and their three children in Oxford, Mississippi.

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