In a quintessential, yet also satirical small Irish town, a woman walks into a gun shop, takes the first gun she sees, throws money at the appropriately dazed man, grabs some wrong ammo and gets in a cab. What follows is an often circumnavigated story about, again, a quintessential and satirized crime family that involves numerous murders both past and present, incest, intense trauma, bad coping mechanisms, and the creation and ending of multiple narratives that allows those involved to go about their day to day. The authenticity is evident, with no preaching or sermonizing, making it a remarkable treatment of the subjects. Narrated from an anonymous person within the town, clearly more integrated in the rumour mill, as they're able to elucidate on much more than all that, but conveys it all the same, implicating everyone in one way or another.
Genres:
Tropes/Plot Devices:
Topics:
Notes:
Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
The book features high content warnings for trauma, violence, incest, and psychological distress.
From The Publisher:
The darkly comic second novel from the author of the Man Booker Prize winner Milkman, now available in the United States
In the small town of Tiptoe Floorboard, the Doe clan, a close-knit family of criminals and victims, has the run of the place. Yet there are signs that patriarch John Doe's reign may be coming to an end. When Jetty Doe breaks into a gun store and makes off with a Kalashnikov, the stage is set for a violent confrontation. But while Jetty is making her way across town in a taxi, an elusive, chatty narrator takes us on a wild journey, zooming in and out on various members of the Doe clan with long, digressive riffs that chase down the causes and repercussions of Jetty's act.
Before Milkman took the world by storm after winning the Man Booker Prize, Anna Burns had already honed her distinctive voice. In her second novel, Little Constructions, she exhibits the same linguistic brio, coruscating wit, and scintillating insight into men, women, and the roots of violence. A wickedly funny novel that swoops and spirals as it examines the long shadow of abuse and violent crime, Little Constructions explores what transpires when unspeakable realities, long hidden from view, can no longer be denied.
What can you read after
Little Constructions?
When you click the Amazon link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commision, at no cost to you.
