The Scattering: Intense Debate Review

I got another really lovely review for The Scattering recently. And I think it's my first review from the US, from a blog called Intense Debate. In case it drops out of Google circulation fast, I am going to post the review here in its entirety:

"She needed expansion, brewing room for venom" - brilliant line..

Jaki McCarrick is the best short story writer I've encountered in well over 20 years. I am just coming to the end of The Scattering. I do not have words to express how incredibly taken I am with this collection. The Jailbird is a masterpiece. The prose is brilliant and the funny one liners in what is essentially such a tragic tale have blown me away. For example, " Norman Bates is alive and well and living in Castlemoyne". As for the main protagonist's fantasies re modes of slaughtering his cruel, sociopathic and domineering mother - outstanding.1976 and the Congo are for me two other profoundly affecting stories.

I was weaned on Frank O' Connor, first read his short stories when I was a child of 9 or 10, and have revisited them again and again over the last few decades. Frank has always been the pinnacle to me when it comes to the short story. Jaki McCarrick is, to me, now his equal.

Thank you, Jaki. This is a collection that I will treasure.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Tiocfaidhanois

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