“So Late in the Day”
by Claire Keegan
from the February 28, 2022 issue of The New Yorker
Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These was one of my favorite books of last year, and “Foster” is one of my favorite New Yorker stories. I’m so glad to see more of her work in the magazine!
This week we get “So Late in the Day,” a lovely title that would likely have also worked for Small Things Like These. I’m okay if we get something similar here. This is the beginning.
On Friday, July 29th, Dublin got the weather that had been forecast. All morning, a brazen sun shone down on Merrion Square, reaching onto Cathal’s desk, where he was stationed, by the open window. A taste of cut grass blew in, and every now and then a warm breeze played with the ivy on the ledge. When a shadow crossed, he looked out: a gulp of swallows skirmishing, high up, in camaraderie. Down on the lawns, some people were out sunbathing and there were children, and beds plump with flowers; so much of life carrying smoothly on, despite the tangle of human conflicts and the knowledge of how everything must end.
I can’t wait! Please feel free to leave your comments below.
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We men sure are bastards. And too dense and insensitive to realize it. Thanks for pointing it out.
Did anyone else feel like the joke played on the mother went too far?
It did not border or funny and disturbing, it WAS disturbing.
A very skillful writer, but the story does seem rather heavy-handed (“Girls rule, boys drool!”). I get that there are distasteful men in the world, but when an author has disdain for their own character, that shows through, and I think it does in this case. She’s clearly grappling with misogyny, but “do so in an essay, then, not a short story,” is a reaction I had, and one that surely many other readers will as well.
I have to agree with Sean H. When I saw that Claire Keegan had published another story in the New Yorker, I had such fond remembrances of Foster, with its depth of feeling and light touch. Unfortunately, So Late in the Day feels heavy and one-dimensional. I get that it is Cathal’s perspective on the breakdown of his engagement, but one glaring hole in this story is the ultimate scene between Sabine and Cathal in which they finally broke it off. As such, the omission of this scene makes it an unsatisfying read and it emphasizes the one-dimensionality of the story and the superficiality of Keegan’s ‘thesis’ on misogyny. She really didn’t add anything to my understanding and the story feels empty.
I found the style flowing and engaging and quickly breezed through this but I agree about the basic heavy-handedness of her depiction of misogyny. I also agree that the joke of pulling the chair out from under the mother is unrealistic within the context of the story and does just seem like laying her point on with a trowel.
I re-read this story in light of the comments above. I remember liking it during my initial read. My second read was also enjoyable. I personally didn’t find it heavy-handed or one-dimensional. I could relate to the notion of Cathal’s distant past with his father and brother informing his views of his present (or recent past) with Sabine. In my own marriage, I often find that I am unconsciously re-fighting (re-creating) with my wife the conflicts I observed my parents have when I was a child. The same issues. Sometimes the very same language recognized only in retrospect. I think Claire Keegan is alluding to that psychological insight in this story. If we don’t acknowledge and process the assumptions of our complicated past, they take over our present. I didn’t feel that Sabine’s speech about misogyny was the author’s attempt to implicate all men. I read it as Sabine’s attempt to wound Cathal in retaliation for her own wounding after being told that her possessions were ‘too much’ by Cathal during the move-in. Also, it was interesting that Sabine didn’t say the opinions were her own, she attributes them to Cynthia. Although it is clear that she agrees with them, she doesn’t (at first) own them herself. What’s that about? Maybe she feels the views can’t be as easily dismissed by Cathal if Sabine is merely reporting what she heard from Cynthia rather than expressing them herself. She perhaps needed an ‘ally’ even if one absent from the room before ‘taking on’ Cathal. I also appreciated how, as the story progresses, earlier episodes (the interaction with Cynthia in the breakroom, the interaction with the boss, the cleaning lady in the stairway) are revealed with new significance and depth. I am interested in reading more by this author.
I enjoyed the mystery of what the day was really about but also found the character rather one dimensional. Didn’t find anything fresh or revelatory in terms of theme/character etc although the writing is excellent. Makes me miss Alice Munro’s stories when they used to appear in TNY.
I found the story excellent and in spite of his insensitivity Cathal has for his girlfriend; he was a sympathetic character. He simply didn’t know any better and he didn’t really understand what he had done that was hurtful and dismissive. It’s where he came from; it’s what he knew.
I read an interview with Claire Keegan ( I believe it accompanied the story?) who said the incident of the chair being pulled out was a memory from her own childhood.
I had agreed with other readers who found the incident too much…until I read that.