This book deserves to be the next A Christmas Carol in the English language. Surely, even Charles Dickens cannot outdo Claire Keegan. In this work, she touches on themes of religious hypocrisy in the Roman Catholic church in Ireland. The message of Christmas and of the Christian Gospel, with their themes of oppressed things becoming great, is juxtaposed against an entrenched church beholden to money, power, and a corrupt socioeconomic system.
This month of March, my Sunday School class is reading and discussing this book together. I started it in anticipation of finishing one or two chapters before our first class. Instead, I became engrossed in the story and read it through to the entire end in one afternoon. At 116 pages, it’s power-packed with action – and more importantly, movements of the heart. In a jeremiad of sorts, Keegan appeals to the true meaning of religious faith, in this story’s case a Christian faith, to speak out against historical abuses and perversions.
Around Christmastime in 1980s Ireland, Bill Furlong, an orphan, merchant, and father, learns about a convent next door to him. It had always been whispered about, but firsthand, he newly sees the abuses. Though tempted to go along with the economic and religious workings of society, his conscience pangs him via a renewed self-understanding. He comes to realize that the only consistent thing to do is to act in a way consistent with the message of the season. He chooses compassion.
Ireland has Roman Catholicism strongly embedded into its culture. Because of historical oppression by the British, the church is deeply intertwined with society’s functioning. As with any culture, that mixing of politics and religion, however, is ripe for abuse by those interested in nefarious power. Keegan argues this viewpoint, present in recent decades, misses the very essence of Christianity.
This novella just got more and more intriguing until the last sentence. The prose is tightly constructed and meaningful. Although the events’ specifics are not historical, they speak to real issues in current events. This political aspect, however, only points to a larger, timeless theme. An attentive reader will be provoked about what Christmas is about and contemplate whether they themselves are offering their best humanity in the season. Well done! Since this is my first work of Keegan’s, I want to read more of her. My class will have a feast discussing this book.
Small Things Like These
By Claire Keegan
Copyright (c) 2021
Faber & Faber
ISBN13 9780571368709
Page Count: 116
Genre: Social Fiction
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