Barcelona

by Mary Costello

In Barcelona, we meet a cast of characters who live turbulent inner lives. In a Spanish hotel room a marriage unravels as a young wife is haunted by a past love. A father travels to Paris to meet his scientist son and is exposed to his son’s true nature. A woman attends a reading by a famous author and comes to some painful realisations about her own marriage.

The stories in Barcelona reveal the underlying disquiet of modern life and the sometimes brutal nature of humanity. Whether on city streets, long car journeys or in suburban rooms, we glimpse characters as they approach those moments of desperation – or revelation – that change or reshape fate.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Contemporary, Ireland, Irish Literature

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 7, 2024

About the author

Mary Costello lives in Dublin. Her collection of short stories, The China Factory, was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award. Academy Street is her first novel.

Reviews

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barcelona is a collection of nine short stories by award-winning Irish author, Mary Costello.
Barcelona: To celebrate their fourth anniversary, David drives Catherine down the motorway to Barcelona. David’s almost reckless driving, his choice of porn as entertainment, the way he always manages to outwit her with words, with logic, and his suggestion to attend a bull fight, when he’s well aware of the strong feelings about animal cruelty that began when an activist boyfriend perished, these all cement for her the disconnect that afflicts their marriage.

Deus Absconditus: Martin takes the Eurostar to Paris to meet up with the son who works in biochemistry research for the US Government’s Chemical Defence. Recalling an incident when John was still a child, he finds himself hoping that he has instilled the right values into his firstborn.

At The Gate: on a last-minute trip to a writer’s festival, mathematically-minded Peter asks his literary wife about the author to whom they will be listening. As she describes him, she is aware of the many little things about herself that are irritations for Peter. She finds herself strongly identifying with one of his characters and her aversion to animal cruelty.

My Little Pyromaniac: a freelance copy editor finds that her new home is next door to that of a former lover and his family. Over the months, what she observes makes her grateful for the fire mishap that ended their relationship, and causes her to take a bold step.

The Choc-Ice Woman: as sixty-four-year-old retired assistant librarian, Frances accompanies the hearse driver taking the last of her older twin brothers to his final resting place, she muses on his life, and her own. Unlike his twin, Patrick, Denis Linnane withdrew early from life, a recluse, cared for by his mother, then his sister, to his final days. Meanwhile, Frances married her former lodger, Frank, believing it to be a satisfactory union until she spotted him sharing a choc-ice with a woman in his van. What a person tolerates, how and why…

Assignation: Mary, now Marion, is three years in America, in service to the once-wealthy Cooke family, performing general duties and looking after seven-year-old Elizabeth. Along comes Michael Lalor, a cousin of her friend Lizzie back in Mayo, and Marion is considering taking a chance on him: he might bring happiness. But then she recalls an awful incident just before she came, and decides that Elizabeth is all the happiness she needs.

Hitchhiker: the last day of an island prompts her to ask about his former lovers, in particular, the woman to whom he gave a lift to Sligo and ended up engaged to. The intensity he describes shows her that something between them has been lost.

Groovejet: a young man-s short-lived affair with an older woman haunts him.

The Killing Line: on his father’s death, Oliver reflects on the uneducated brother whose promising future was sacrificed for his siblings. Patrick takes over the farm, specialising in beef. When he is ten, Oliver is taken to see their animals killed at the abattoir, an experience that turns him into a vegetarian, renders him unable to succeed his father in the farm, and somehow fosters an obsession with instruments of torture.

These are nine small but potent doses of Mary Costello’s dark and meaningful prose. Readers should not expect sweet tales with happy endings; rather, many, especially those that focus on animal cruelty, are quite confronting.

Her descriptive prose is often marvellous, as shown by: “Sometimes she thought she could live on cigarettes alone, silently, deeply inhaling, letting thoughts gather, coalesce, then purge themselves in the exhalation” and “people do this– she did this, she kept secrets– so that they can re-imagine their lives when lived life is not enough” and “Travel heightens the senses, makes small, easily forgotten details more acute, significant, imperishable. Travel makes of home a wound that accompanies him everywhere”. Unsettling and thought-provoking.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Canongate

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

With this I've read the complete works (to date) of Mary Costello, all of which are at a high standard. If you've read everything by Claire Keegan and Mary Lawson and you're looking for more that's of a piece, she is an excellent author to try. There are nine stories here, four in the first person and five in the third person; three were less memorable for me, but the rest are all very good. Not cheerful, mind: the family and marital relationships depicted are strained or doomed, and there are terrible moments from the past that will never be gotten over. Sex is also depicted in quite a negative light, via pornography, an STD, and infertility/baby loss.

My favourite individual story, complex enough that it could have been expanded into a full novella, is "The Choc-Ice Woman," about Frances, a retired librarian with an unhappy marriage with a man who started off as her lodger. As she accompanies her brother's body back to their hometown in a hearse, she recalls the moments when she realized her husband led a secret life. Other favourites included "My Little Pyromaniac" and "Assignation," which is reminiscent of Colm Tóibín's Brooklyn.

There's a strange agenda here in that fully six of the stories have an animal rights message, or at least reference animal suffering or cruelty to animals. This ranges from hitting a dog to a graphic discussion of what happens in slaughterhouses ("The Killing Line"). The first and last stories both feature a character whose father was a cattle farmer. I wondered if this could have been an autobiographical detail for Costello; "At the Gate" also reads like autofiction, in which the narrator attends a talk by J.M. Coetzee with her husband, who's dismissive of Coetzee's vocal support for animal rights. The other writer who features most prominently is Kafka, who was vegetarian. This must be something Costello is passionate about, but I think it's worth making it clearer in the marketing of the book.

Also by Mary Costello:
The China Factory
Academy Street
The River Capture

[Wendy Greenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Costello has a great eye for circling the nub of her story/characters and drilling down into the interior. I love the grasping of small parts of a life which, through choice words, captures a much bigger life and personality. As ever, with short stories it is the author's gift to offer oblique ways into the dynamics of the ordinary.

I am very drawn to Irish short stories. They seem to have an inherent quality marker. I wonder if it is rural upbringings that encourages many authors to look deeply inwards, assess characters who have grown up in isolated, wild landscapes.

I did not love all the stories in the collection but they all made me pause, reflect. Surely that it a sign of a well crafted book?

Thank you to NetGalley and Canongate for allowing me to read and review this book

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of short stories, often featuring a protagonist who is deeply disturbed by the suffering of animals.

I’m going to admit something so embarrassing for someone who had been a vegetarian for seven years, and then a pescatarian for three - I have eaten meat this year! But after reading this, I don’t know if I can ever again!! The pain, the suffering, the guilt!!! How can it be worth it!!!!!

I love when a book gets you back on track, reinvigorates your principles in some way. It’s a buy!

[Matthew Carey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply brilliant. Costello's short stories are so sharp.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Mike Futcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

An underwhelming, non-descript collection of short stories. Author Mary Costello's prose is good but nothing remarkable, and the main problem is that the stories are, without exception, dull. Nothing much happens, and after finishing the book I am struggling to recall a single interesting thing. Even the 'Choc-Ice Woman' story others have marked out for praise seemed to me pretty redundant. This is writing as an exercise; journeyman craft without the art. When I think back to the first positive review I read of Barcelona, not to mention the book's cover, blurb and design, I had expected a collection of crisp, curated stories leisurely exampling the writer's craft. To feel nothing at all at book's end is a poor show.

On top of the banal chronicles, Costello has a weird, unannounced obsession with animal cruelty in Barcelona; each of the short stories here go off into tangents depicting or referencing acts of abuse, torture or slaughter of animals. I try to maintain a strong stomach for writers choosing to go wherever they want to go, but it's an odd decision considering the acts depicted bear little if any relevance to the point of the stories themselves (where, indeed, you can find a point). Towards the end of the book, one begins to sense that Costello has worked through whatever fetish she had here, only for the final story to have a literal tour of an abattoir. While I try never to regret taking a chance on a new book, talk about taking a wrong turning...

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting a novel set in Barcelona but it is actually a book of short stories set in different places. They are well written and cover some interesting themes such as animal rights and relationships but I found them a bit bleak and it reaffirmed that I am not a fan of short stories.

[Camille · Rating 5 out of 5]

it said “unsettling and brilliant” on the back and it truly delivered

[Robert Tansey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quietly unsettling, beautifully written.

[Hilâl · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Discomforting and serene. Costello manages to make the reader feel like they've embodied the whole soul of the character deeply feeling every quiet detail of their inner world and being burned by their angers and fears.

There were a few stories in the collection I enjoyed more than others. My favourites were:
Barcelona
Deus Absconditus
At the Gate
The Killing Line

She writes with such an awareness of the human soul, paying close attention to the everyday subtleties that make up human connection.

[Seaside Sparkles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was chosen simply because I like to read fiction based in a place I’m going to visit to give a vibe of the place. Only one story was set in Barcelona with links to Ireland being the other setting. Everyone seemed unhappy or frustrated and there were some weird themes running throughout, including animal cruelty. A generous 2.5 stars

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is a stunning show of rarely written aspects of normal life, however, sometimes the short stories feel unfinished and jumpy from one aspect to another. I definitely preferred some of them more than others, and would recommend to certain people who might enjoy the style of writing.

[KLK]

Read the excerpt published as a short story, "The Choc-Ice Woman" in the October 9, 2023 New Yorker.

[Danilo DiPietro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Proxy for ‘The Choc-Ice Woman’ - short story in The New Yorker. Death of a brother and death of love.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring

[Aisling · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed some of the stories but others were just not for me - particularly those about animals but perhaps that was the point.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this quite dull despite enjoying the writing style. I also think the graphic descriptions of animal slaughter were unnecessary.

[Christy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only story I actually liked was “The Hitchhiker”. It took me 2 months to get through because I didn’t really care enough to pick it up.

[JacquiWine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The award-winning Irish writer Mary Costello seems equally at home with novels and short stories. Her deeply affecting novella, Academy Street, was one of my favourite reads in 2015, while her first collection of short fiction, The China Factory, has also been highly praised. Barcelona – Costello’s second story collection – comprises nine pieces exploring the distances between people, how fault lines can develop in the closest relationships, and our capacity for cruelty towards loved ones and animals. Here we have stories of husbands and wives, fathers and sons, and former lovers – quietly devastating snapshots of life, beautifully conveyed with insight and precision.

As is often the case with such collections, some stories will resonate more strongly than others, but the very best of these are outstanding, very much in the style of Claire Keegan’s and William Trevor’s short fiction. Interestingly, several of these stories feature people in transit – on a city break in Barcelona, taking the Eurostar to Paris or accompanying a deceased relative home for the funeral. Nevertheless, it’s the emotional journeys or realisations Costello’s characters experience that give these stories their depth.

In the titular piece, David and Catherine have travelled to Barcelona to celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary, but we soon learn that the trip was David’s idea – if anything, Catherine would have preferred Granada. Sadly, pretty much everything about the holiday serves to emphasise the disconnection Catherine feels in her marriage, from David’s reckless driving en route to the city to his choice of porn movies as ‘entertainment’ to his suggestion of catching a bullfight during their stay. It’s as if David is taunting Catherine, knowing full well her abhorrence of animal cruelty.

She looked at David’s waiting face. He was no longer mysterious to her. She watched him talking sometimes, eating and drinking with gusto, bouncing through life on the solid ground beneath him, and she was struck by the distance that exists between people. How everything, the details of everyone’s hidden life, far exceeds anything we can possibly imagine. (p. 6)

At the Gate explores a similar theme, highlighting the fault lines in a strained, stagnating marriage. In this piece, a literary teacher – whose surname is ‘Costello’ – travels with her husband, Peter, to see the South African writer J. M. Coetzee at a book festival. As Coetzee takes questions from the audience, Peter – who has little interest in books himself – becomes increasingly irritated by the speaker’s behaviour, triggering a series of disturbing visions for his wife. There are echoes of Coetzee’s novel Elizabeth Costello here, which seems to be a touchstone for Mary Costello’s advocacy of animal rights.

In My Little Pyromaniac, a single woman realises she has moved next door to her former boyfriend, Kevin, and his new family. The woman, who also narrates the story, went out with Kevin while she was at university – but now, twenty years on, she has cause to recall her relationship with this man almost twenty years her senior.

There was something about Kevin – an arrogance, an authority, a furtiveness too. He was a man used to getting his own way, a man who might send out secret signs and demands to women, and expect them to acquiesce. (p. 56)

To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2024...

[Chloe Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

"Sometimes she thought she could live on cigarettes alone, silently, deeply inhaling, letting thoughts gather, coalesce, then purge themselves in the exhalation".

Barcelona is a collection of nine short stories by Irish author Mary Costello, known for her award-winning prose.

This book offers readers a glimpse into the complex lives of ordinary people grappling with moments of change, loss, and self-reflection.

The opening story, Barcelona, features a couple, David and Catherine, as they drive down the motorway to the Spanish city. The tension in their marriage becomes apparent through David's reckless behaviour and disregard for Catherine's feelings. His decision to suggest attending a bullfight despite her strong anti-cruelty stance marks a significant point of division in their relationship. This story sets the tone for many of the others, which examine emotional disconnect and moral dilemmas.

In Deus Absconditus, Martin travels to Paris to visit his son, John, who works for the US Government. The story weaves in reflections on parenting and the hope that he has instilled the right values in his son.

At The Gate explores a similar theme of reflection, as a woman contemplates her marriage while attending a literary festival with her mathematically-minded husband. Her connection with a character in the author's work deepens her sense of dissatisfaction and self-awareness.

My Little Pyromaniac introduces a freelance copy editor who finds herself living next to a former lover. Over time, her observations of his life and the family he has built help her realise the value of her growth, leading her to a bold decision.

In The Choc-Ice Woman, Frances, a retired librarian, reflects on the complexities of her life while accompanying the hearse carrying her late brother to his final resting place. Her musings on her marriage to Frank and her tolerance for certain behaviours reveal the quiet resignation that underpins much of her life.

Assignation tells the story of Marion, who, having spent three years working for the Cooke family in America, is considering a romantic relationship with a man named Michael Lalor. However, a traumatic incident from her past brings her to a realisation about her happiness.

Hitchhiker follows a woman as she confronts the remnants of a past love while exploring the emotional distance between her and her companion.

Groovejet delves into the lingering effects of a brief affair, while The Killing Line reveals the impact of Oliver's experiences on a farm, including his reflections on the death of animals and his growing vegetarianism.

Costello's prose is often haunting and evocative. Her descriptions capture the mood of her characters with precision and depth. However, while Costello's writing is powerful, some stories may feel overly bleak or confrontational, particularly those involving animal cruelty. The collection is a dark exploration of human relationships, self-doubt, and moral conflict.

For readers who appreciate deeply reflective, thought-provoking narratives, Barcelona offers a striking portrayal of life’s complex emotional landscapes. It may not offer comfort, but it provides a compelling look at the unsettling moments that shape human lives.

Read more at https://www.thesecretbookreview.co.uk

[Shari · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read Mary Costello's previous work and loved it, so I did not hesitate to request this book. Unfortunately, it was quite different. The writing was of the same high quality, but I found the continued references to brutality and violence towards non-human animals to be difficult and distressing to read. This is not gratuitous by any means--indeed, it is central to the stories--but it was a lot and it was devastating. I get it--that's the point. In more than one story, the narrator feels empathy and even identifies with the suffering and pain of the animals and also with the lack of awareness of that pain and suffering by those around them. They lack the ability to communicate their distress. The stories are well crafted and well written. The torture and violence towards the animals is not described in gruesome detail. Costello's skill as a writer and the short story format means that in a devastating sentence or two, the images are seared into readers' minds. This may not be something that bothers you and if that's the case and you enjoy short stories, then Costello is a good writer to pick up. If you find such things disturbing, as I do, then by all means check out her other work, but you might want to skip this one. As for the rating, it's tricky. I'd give it four stars for the quality of the writing, but as a reading experience, I'd give it one. Splitting the difference gives me two and a half, but really, it depends on what your tolerance is for scenes of mistreatment of animals.

I received a digital review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Nele · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Barcelona" von Mary Costello
2/5☆

Vielleicht hätte ich ein bisschen in der Buch reinlesen sollen oder mich nicht von Titel und Design fehlleiten lassen, aber das Buch war anders als erwartet. Dass es nur kurz um Barcelona gehen würde, habe ich gewusst, aber ich dachte, eine durchlaufende Handldung wäre erkennbar. Aber "Barcelona" ist eine Sammlung von Kurzgeschichten, von denen ich kein Fan bin, da die Erzählung jedes Mal endet, wenn man mit der Geschichte und den Figuren warm geworden ist.

Costello beschreibt in den unterschiedlichsten Szenarien die Unglücksfälle menschlicher Verbindungen, das Ungesagte und Dramatische im Alltag. Zerbrochene Beziehungen, Missverständnisse, Unausgesprochenes. Auch viele vegane Apelle in Verbindung mit unschönen Schilderungen.

Momentan befinde ich mich vielleicht nicht in der besten Lebenslage, um das Buch zu lesen, einige Themen haben mich echt getriggert, aber das war vermutlich auch Costellos Absicht.

Ich weiß nicht, ob ich zu plump bin, zu eingeschränkt denke, aber ich fand das Buch nicht herausragend und dem Zeitgeist entprechend. Ich fand es platt, nur provokant und deprimierend. Provokation ist das Hauptmotiv, aber Ästhetik konnte ich "Barcelona" nicht abgewinnen, weder im Inhalt noch in Sprache.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

I was drawn to this collection by the arresting cover, it’s stunning.
My plan for this short story collection by Mary Costello was to read one story between my current reads but when I began reading I couldn't put this down and read it in its entirety in a couple of hours.
I loved these stories. Quiet powerful slices of ordinary life. Marriages flickering and dying. Fathers and Sons. Hope, grief, regret, memory all written with great poignancy and power. Some of the devastation in these stories is gentle, in another its visceral; the author captures emotion with such skill and depth, I was right there with these people on buses and in bedrooms.
Each story in this collection is strong but one in particular , The Choc- Ice Woman" will stay with me for a long time.

A wonderful collection, I am looking forward to buying a copy when its published, it's one I will return to and recommend widely.

** I received an arc thanks to the publishers and NetGalley. Barcelona is publishing on March 7th. As always, this is an honest review.

[Svenja K · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was just not for me and after about one third I decided to put it aside and leave it.

I concede that the language used was somewhat compelling and special but not enough to keep me hooked.

Apart from that maybe I am just not the target audience. I do understand and agree with the stance that the way animals are treated is ghastly. But the sheer amount of focus this topic got in what I read in this book, seemed to be more of a generational trauma than anything else. And if that is the case, maybe I don't get it because I was not socialised with it.

Also, the terribly depressing view of the people in the stories were too much for me. When Anna in chapter 3 suddenly is happy that her child died because she is convinced he would have turned into something bad - well, that sealed the deal for me.

So, to conclude, there is nothing inherently wrong with the book itself but it is just not me cup of tea.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did I fall victim to the aesthetically pleasing, Pinterest-like cover, and did I wrongly assume that all the stories would be set in Barcelona? Yes.
However, I was pleasantly surprised by the short story collection. And surprisingly I am reading a lot of Irish literature this year. Short stories can be quite difficult to master, but the author conveys the emotions and atmosphere of each story really well in a limited number of pages that short stories offer. The beautiful writing of many sentences was also a pleasure to read. I also found it quite interesting how the theme of animal rights connects some of the stories, which I haven't experienced in a short story collection before. The power of these stories lies in their rich depiction of the ordinary life. While the short stories didn't blow me away completely, they are very solid. So I’d give the book a 3.5

[Giovanna Walker · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm glad I borrowed this from the library and didn't buy it.

A disappointment. The Barcelona story could have been anywhere, not sure why Barcelona was chosen, and not much of a sense of place except for traffic.

As another reviewer has said, I don't remember the stories particularly, only the animal cruelty, and I felt that was unnecessary for the story itself, it provided a 'swift resolution' whereas I guess if the man had been cruel to the children/wife it would not have.

I didn't want to finish once I saw one of the reviewers said there was an abattoir in one of the stories. Yeah nah.

It left me feeling upset about the animal cruelty and not particularly caring about any of the short story characters.

[Clara]

Found this book at Charlie’s favorite book shop in Berlin! I love an Irish writer. The scenery is different - cloudy, morose, pensive, with jagged cliffs and mahogany and emerald green woods. I loved all the short stories. They were all very earthy and brooding, and the pain the characters experienced was both terrifying and quiet. None of the stories shouted but revealed dark harsh secrets in a subdued and almost tender way. Maybe Barcelona was my favorite, as well as The Hitchhiker. Costello had many short sentences that packed a strong punch. Her style is both stark and softspoken. She captured the slow, devastating realization that you’re falling out of love very well.

[Suzanne Ho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barcelona is a short story collection on humanity in the modern world. The themes of this book really intrigues me. Didn't love all of the stories, which I think it is not necessary because you might feel more connected to some of them. I find some of the stories ended a bit abruptly, however, each of them carries a deep message that makes you reflect. Overall I did enjoy reading it!

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced e-copy!

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This doesn't really have anything to do with Barcelona, besides the setting of the first story, and had a surprising, PETA-esque, animal rights undertone throughout (which was definitely not in the blurb...). Not a bad book, in all, but from the cover and the blurb I was expecting a juicy love story, not a collection of short stories about Irish couples who are all having relationship troubles, and most of whom are a bit obsessed with the mistreatment of animals. Hmm...