Colm Toibin

I've had various exchanges with Goodreads members about whether or not people read with more than the plot and character in mind - do they or do they not think about why the author used a particular word when another might have been chosen, etc? Some only care about the story. Some care about how the book is written as well. One person was concerned that when an author becomes unduly interested in language you can end up with something overwritten, the style becomes an intrusive form of authorly self-aggrandizement.

Now I've just read Colm Toibin's colleciton of short stories, The Empty Family: Stories. As with Brooklyn or The Blackwater Lightship, Toibin writes so sparely that one is hardly aware of 'style' - except insofar as this IS his style.

What I hadn't noticed before is that he uses very little dialogue, and where he does, only occasionally more than a line...if that. Even his characters keep what they say to the minimum. Exemplary.