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Contemporary Fiction Views: Finding where one belongs [1]
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Date: 2023-01-17
Liscannor, Ireland
In this era of loud, unsettling and downright madness, it is a relief to find quiet, affirmative stories. Such is Claire Keegan's Foster.
In the mid-20th century, a young Irish girl is sent to spend the summer with country relatives. Her Ma is due to have yet another baby in an already crowded house, while her Da continues his drinking and gambling ways.
She is not certain what awaits her. Will she be set to working on the farm? Her father talks about that possibility, and how she must follow whatever orders she is given.
Instead, her life becomes the opposite of what it was, starting with being clean and well-fed. Her mother's sister is quiet and kind, and lets her know right away there are no secrets in their home. They do household chores together in a calm, measured way. Her uncle works his farm all day but still has the time and patience to to show her how to do things. He times how fast she can run down to the mailbox and back as a game that shows how strong and healthy she is becoming under their care, without making a fuss about it.
He also gives her advice that comes in handy at a critical juncture:
‘You don’t ever have to say anything,’ he says. ‘Always remember that as a thing you need never do. Many’s the man lost much just because he missed a perfect opportunity to say nothing.’
In a country where people are wont to draw their own conclusions regardless of what someone says, that's sage advice.
By summer's end, she is both coming into her own as herself, and has changed into someone who loves her days. She learns some sad things and some good things, and they work together to bind her to her uncle and aunt. Especially her uncle with his ability to take people as they are without backing down or being any less than himself.
But her mother's latest baby has been born, and she is summoned back home. Once there, she is regarded as a stranger. She knows she has changed, and views her sisters as nearly feral creatures. The girl has learned that:
Everything changes into something else, turns into some version of what it was before.
And then the ending proves the truth of what she has learned. It is one of dearest moments I've ever read.
Keegan has a quiet way of making her characters and their surroundings vivid, much like Alice Munro. In less than 150 pages, Foster makes the young girl, her family and her world come to life in a way that won't soon be forgotten.
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