Foster: by the Booker-shortlisted author of Small Things Like These

This wonderful book may be short but it is flawless. The writing is sublime no unnecessary words and the story flows seamlessly along. Few books can make you so familiar with the setting that you can smell and feel everything the author describes. I am making a poor job of reviewing this book. I love it so much I want everyone to read it!

This book - a lengthy short story - is beautifully written by an author so adept at her craft. Highly recommended. The characters are all vividly brought to life, as is the rural landscape. The only downside is that the first-person central character - a young child - is using words and prose that would realistically be beyond her, but the writing is so delightful it didn't jar too much when reading.

This novella is deceptive in its seeming simplicity and succinctness, and packs an emotional punch. It’s told in the first person by an unnamed young girl who is sent to live with relatives because her mother is pregnant yet again and the impoverished family is struggling to cope. The girl has known nothing but hardship, has no idea what to expect in her new home but is observant and quick to pick up on nuances.John and Edna Kinsella have no living child of their own and life with them couldn’t be more different than at home. The girl finds she enjoys being fussed over, getting new clothes and learning things. There’s kindness and affection, things that were seemingly non-existent in her life previously.'When Mrs Kinsella comes out, she pays no heed to the men. She is even taller than my mother with the same black hair but hers is cut tight like a helmet. She’s wearing a printed blouse and brown, flared trousers. The car door is opened and I am taken out, and kissed. My face, being kissed, turns hot against hers.'Small details of everyday life speak volumes without being put into words as relationships are forged, and the girl starts to blossom under the Kinsellas’ warmth and caring natures. She begins to realise what it feels like to be loved and know there are no punishments. Much is hinted at, left to the imagination and to be read between the lines.Foster is beautifully and confidently written, the prose is evocative, poignant and moving, with wonderfully atmospheric imagery. The conclusion is open ended but no less affecting for that, perhaps even more so. Claire Keegan is an incredible storyteller to be able to say so much in such a short book. I loved Small Things Like These too, and look forward to Claire Keegan’s next book.I listened to the audiobook which was superbly narrated by Aoife McMahon, who gave each of the characters their own distinct voices and brought them to vivid life.'As soon as he takes it, I realise my father has never once held my hand, and some part of me wants Kinsella to let me go so I won’t have to feel this. It’s a hard feeling but as we walk along I begin to settle and let the difference between my life at home and the one I have here be.'

I really enjoyed this short novel. As in her previous books, Claire Keegan doesn't waste any words or time to tell you her story. It's succinct and to the point, very well and vividly written.I loved the developing relationship between the Kinsellas and the young (unnamed) girl.

A must read

I liked the relaxed language, the sense if place and the fact that it didn't turn into a misery memoir.

I must admit I hadn't realised this was a short story rather than a novel (must have missed that in the description) so that just as I was drawn in and looking forward to finding out how the story would progress - it finished! That said, it was an enjoyable read. It is seen from a child's viewpoint and understanding, and rang true in that respect. Much is left unsaid, as a child has limited understanding of things, but there is enough there for an adult to pick up on things that go over the child's head. A moving story of a young girl sent to stay with strangers for the summer.

Brilliant short novel that hints at the underlying tragedy of these lives convincingly.

The story is so heart wrenching and sweet, that I plan to re-read it soon. The writing is word perfect.

Beautifully written with a gentleness to it.In many ways an ode to kindness.

Claire Keegan writes with a sense of ease, that a reader can make out from the first sentence. There is no sense of urgency or hurry to her craft. She gives it time, gives time to words, and to the sentences to breathe. Her characters linger, even loiter with their thoughts – consequential or not, doesn’t matter – they ponder nonetheless. Their emotions are not spelled out every single time.At one point, Mr. Kinsella tells the child in the book, ‘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.’ And this to me made so much sense. Keegan writes with a self-confidence that is unassuming and rare, just like two of my other favourite writers, Anita Desai and Ann Patchett.What is Foster about?Well, it is about what the title says, a young girl comes to live with the Kinsellas, during a hot Irish summer, and how her life changes, as she begins to understand and learn a new way of living, filled with emotions, the daily routine, and small acts of kindness. It is a book about family, and what we perhaps do not understand, till we do. In this short novelette of 90 pages, Keegan gives us the world of a child, and two adults trying to cope with living, till they find comfort in each other.Foster is a book I will not stop recommending. Read it for its beauty, its slowness, its tenderness, and above all its eye for empathy and kindness in the world. Read it for its grace in the prose, and for all the silences it holds.

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As we can read in most reviews, Claire Keegan's story 'Foster' touches many people very deeply. How is this possible with this actually very simple story, which superficially can be summarized in one sentence ('A girl spends a summer with an older couple, where she has a better life than with her actual family?) Could this be because it operates powerfully on a much deeper level?Much has already been written about the impressively high literary quality and the extraordinary art of storytelling - here I would like to shed light on the spiritual aspect of the little book:In my opinion, the secret of the tale lies in the fact that it subtly describes a spiritual and mystical experience or, in Christian terminology, the return home to God the FATHER. And the reader is imperceptibly taken on this excursion into another dimension - and at the end dropped back into their usual reality; but enriched and stimulated by the experience.The child, a child of the FATHER (God) like all of us, lives in a world of suffering, lack, effort, lovelessness and lies. Now it gets to know a completely different way of BEING; it makes the experience of love, abundance, lightness and truthfulness - of Heaven.To clarify, here is a selection of incidents in the story that have a deeper meaning:• At the beginning we read that the biological father lost a heifer in a game - a young animal that actually belongs to a herd. The father is a bad shepherd.Later in the book, a stray heifer appears again and “panics and finally races past us.” Kinsella’s cattle are different: “On a strip of land, tall Frisian cows stand all around us, grazing. Some of them look up as we pass, but not one of them moves away. They have huge bags of milk and long teats.” Mr Kinsella is a good shepherd.• When she arrives, the girl sees herself ‘wild like a gypsy child’: homeless, neglected, poor. But now she is entering a new, completely different home: “Here there is room, and time to think. There may even be money to spare.”• Mrs Kinsella invites her in with the words: “Come on in, leanbh…” Leanbh is used in Gaelic for baby: a (new) birth.Later, Mr Kinsella's nickname for the girl is "petal": symbolism for spiritual blossoming.• As the biological/worldly father forgets to unload the girl's suitcase, she has to take off her old clothes (her old self). The girl takes a hot bath and is washed: (ritual) cleansing and a new beginning.• “… There is a big double bed there… I know that’s where they sleep, and for some reason I’m happy that they sleep in the same bed.”: The foster parents are ONE made up of the male and female principles. It is a realm of nonduality.• The first excursion goes across the meadows to the fountain. (Psalm 23: “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.”) The foster parents drink from the spring; fresh pure water - symbols of the origin and preservation of life, blessing. “This water is cool and clean as anything I have ever tasted...” And there is always plenty of this water in this well, even if dryness and drought prevail in the other reality.• Some words about the symbolism of the father: Mr Kinsella represents the FATHER. This becomes particularly clear when the take the walk on the beach:He takes the child by the hand, carries her, hugs her, lights the way, tells her: "Don't be afraid." He tells the story of the colt that, exhausted and almost dead, was fished out of the sea by a fisherman and came back to life. In my opinion, there is an analogy here to the biblical term 'fisher of men': we too can be saved from our confusion, awakened from our exhaustion and lethargy.The book is full of metaphors of this kind; a list of all the examples and their interpretation would go beyond the scope of this review. And I would also like to follow Kinsella's advice to say only what is necessary - an art that the girl also learns ("...I have learned enough, grown enough, to know that what happened is not something I need ever mention. ») and which Claire Keegan herself, of course, masters excellently.But perhaps this selection of examples can encourage you to pick up the book again and read it slowly and carefully, sentence by sentence, word by word, with this point of view of a spiritual experience and thus discover subtle detail by detail and answer for yourself what the fall into the well symbolizes, who or what the third light is about and what the deceased son could be about.I wish you a lot of joy with it. May we all find ourselves back in the arms of the FATHER in the end. Run!A personal note: I myself am not on the Christian-mystical path - so I don't want to represent this path in any proselytizing way - but I am familiar with its symbolism. And spiritual experiences, mystical experiences - a dwelling in ONENESS - are ultimately identical in all traditions.I struggled for some time with the question of whether it would be somewhat counterproductive to reveal the secret of this little book. But it seems to me more urgent than ever that we children of men must clearly recognize what we actually long for in all our -ultimately futile- efforts for happiness.