That Old Country Music

A writer in full command of the possibilities of the form * * Irish Times * * Extremely talented creator, Kevin Barry, has a fine instinct for the sweet spot where the comforting familiarities of genre blend into the surprises and provocations of art * * New York Times Book Review * * Reading him, I am given the feeling that I've achieved something, done something good and am being justly remunerated. The brain lights up and grins -- Niall Griffiths * * Spectator * * One of the most gifted fiction writers to emerge from the English-speaking world in the new century * * Paris Review * * Among the next generation of writers - Zadie Smith, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Safran Foer and so on - the one that stands above the rest for ambition, language and sheer verve is Barry . . . If you haven't heard of him yet, you soon will. I'd wager he'll wind up with the Nobel Prize for Literature before he's done * * Evening Standard * * Barry is a clarvoyant narrator of the male psyche and a consistent lyrical visionary * * Guardian * * Kevin Barry is two kinds, if not three kinds, of a genius -- BBC RADIO 4 Buoyant . . . Barry is such a deft and generous writer * * New York Times * * If prose were gold and diamonds there'd be thousands of hell-bent prospectors heading for the Black Hills of Kevin Barry's glistening, sparkling novel -- SEBASTIAN BARRY One of the most abundantly talented novelists writing today * * Daily Telegraph * * Kevin Barry is one of the most original, daring, and seriously funny writers ever to come out of Ireland. I'd walk a hundred miles for a new Barry book and I would make the happy journey home, laughing -- COLUM McCANN Barry writes with real exuberance * * Sunday Times * * Praise for Kevin Barry: The Barry turn of phrase is a true wonder of this world -- MAX PORTER The most exciting Irish short story writer of his generation * * Sunday Times * * [A] dark take on the romantic impulse * * Financial Times * * Simmering with his trademark impatient energy and flair for dark comedy . . . There's a sense of confidence and control in all of the stories, as Barry has spent years honing his craft for striking dialogue and biting humour . . . Sharp and absorbing * * Irish Examiner * * A selection of stories written over the past eight years on Barry's inimitable weather-drenched canvas, populated by a restless and heartbroken cast made vital through his lightly dazzling sentences -- Keith Duggan * * Irish Times * * Some of my happiest fiction-reading hours have been spent in the company of Kevin Barry . . . This collection, written over eight years, takes him deeper into his homeland, the wild places, the old country, to hear its hidden music * * Spectator * * A flavoursome treat . . . Stirring tales of madness and murder, heartbreak and folly, bubbling with mischievously dark comedy . . . Throughout, the wild beauty of the Irish landscape is an expressive presence, seeping its enchantment into us just as much as into Barry's gloriously idiosyncratic creations * * Daily Mail * * There's a fluent charm in Kevin Barry's writing even when he's dealing with subjects that are far from charming . . . Barry's deceptively laid-back writing has an assured texture. He makes it look easy, but it is unmistakably deft * * Sunday Times * * Imaginative . . . Offers an original, wonderfully off-beat and insightful view into modern Ireland * * Independent * * Handled with such delicacy, economy and depth of feeling without sentimentality, the people of this little masterpiece - people flawed, driven and full of longing - were my companions for days after the last paragraph of the story had been read -- WENDY ERSKINE * * Caught by the River * * Barry is wickedly funny, slyly transgressive and consistently brilliant. He is constantly turning tricks with language before upending us on the thwarted desires of his characters and the dark energy of his landscapes. And underpinning it all, the melancholy of men that is Barry's hallmark -- MARY COSTELLO Full of the damaged characters, menacing rural scenery and darkly comic, slantwise prose that have become his trademark . . . At each turn, Barry makes his fiction a matter of life and death * * New Statesman * * An extraordinary writer . . . In his short stories Barry seems most fully and brilliantly himself . . . Unimprovable masterpieces . . . So rich and so flawlessly crafted - its best stories feel instantly canonical, as if we've already been reading them for years . . . The opening story is letter-perfect from its first line . . . Funny, moving, built with superior economy, this is the real thing . . . Barry remains the great romantic of contemporary Irish fiction. Like all of the most interesting artists, he gets better with every risk he takes. The courage may be his. But the rewards are all ours -- Kevin Power * * Irish Independent * * These playful, serious and beautifully crafted stories allow Barry to experiment as we need great writers to do -- SARAH MOSS * * Irish Times * * Barry often writes with sonorous wisdom . . . but as readers of his grimly hilarious novels will know, his language is just as precise when it is in the service of comedy . . . Exhilaratingly funny and poignant fables -- Jake Kerridge * * Sunday Telegraph * * These are brilliant and vivid and uproarious stories. It's a rare writer who can call a tune like Kevin Barry -- LISA McINERNEY Wild, witty stories . . . The west of Ireland teems with canny characters and vivid language . . . Darkly glimmering . . . Their language is exhilarating, its verve evoking the very best of Barry's compatriots while further carving out a territory that's all his own * * Observer * * The master short story teller turns messy emotions into riveting tales of wounded Irish folk . . . One of the best collections you'll read this year * * Sunday Times * *