Irish Girl: Stories

Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction

by Tim Johnston

Inside Tim Johnston's Irish Girl readers will find spellbinding stories of loss, absence, and the devastating effects of chance—of what happens when the unthinkable bad luck of other people, of other towns, becomes our bad luck, our town. Taut, lucid, and engrossing, provocative and dark—and often darkly funny—these stories have much to offer the lover of literary fiction as well as the reader who just loves a great story.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Audiobook

137 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2009

About the author

Tim Johnston is the author of the novels THE CURRENT and DESCENT, the story collection IRISH GIRL, and the YA novel NEVER SO GREEN. A New York Times, USA Today, and Indie national bestseller, Descent has been published internationally and optioned for film. The stories of Irish Girl won an O. Henry Prize, the New Letters Award for Writers, and the Gival Press Short Story Award, while the collection itself won the 2009 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction. In 2005 the title story, “Irish Girl,” was included in the David Sedaris anthology of favorites, Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules. Tim’s stories have also appeared in New England Review, New Letters, The Iowa Review, The Missouri Review, Double Take, Best Life Magazine, and Narrative Magazine, among others. Tim holds degrees from the University of Iowa and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. A carpenter for most of his adult life, he has also taught creative writing at The George Washington University and the University of Memphis. He is the recipient of the 2015 Iowa Author Award, and currently lives in Iowa City, Iowa.

Reviews

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've heard it said that a short-story collection starts off with one of the author's strongest stories. If that's invariably true, I don't agree that it's the case here; these stories seem to get stronger as they go on.

Before starting this, after reading the author's bio, I was reminded of Barb Johnson because she too is a carpenter. While reading the first story, I thought of Pollock's Knockemstiff because of the world the characters live in. Glancing at my review of Knockemstiff, I see that I mention Johnson's More of This World or Maybe Another in it, surprising myself.

These are the kind of stories I gobble up: the characters are alive, the world they live in is real, the writing is deft. I was impressed with Johnston's use of different tenses, even the future tense, in the space of a single story or even a paragraph. Violence and tragedy enter everyday lives, sometimes obliquely, and the personal 'everyday' nearness of it is subtle and chilling. In particular I loved the endings of "Lucky Gorseman" and the title story.

[The Awdude · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection, in a word, is dark. By that I don't mean the stories are about extravagant evil, at least in a gratuitous or provocative sense, but rather that Johnston's characters are average people in whom average good necessarily exists alongside average evil. They react to life's stressors by making decisions that we all make every day; to us they appear, more than anything, like you and me and everyone we know. The difference between us and them, between our consciousness and theirs, is a result of the psychological depth with which Johnston's stark, honest, and brutal storytelling strips away their egos to reveal the dark side of their (our) choices. This is a dark side that must exist, and that our egos must repress if we are to live with ourselves. It's also a side that only a gifted writer can render, which Johnston does through striking, colorful, and evocative prose. Not every story worked for me, but in my opinion the entire collection is worth reading because of "Jumping Man," one of the truest and most haunting stories about human nature that I've read in a while.

[Kate Gallagher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This guy can do, in 10-20 pages, what most writers cannot in 400.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories are dark but I liked most of them better than I usually like short stories. There’s one story based on the shootings in the physics department at the University of Iowa (Johnston grew up in Iowa City) and a story that was later expanded into the book Descent.

[Josephine (Jo) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, don't read this book whilst feeling depressed because you will feel considerably worse when you finish it.
I finished it because I wanted to see if any of the stories were less dark and violent (either physically or emotionally) but they weren't and also for the one redeeming feature that some of the writing was beautiful. When it came to descriptions of the landscape the author had a real talent for observing the small things but otherwise, I would not have bothered.
It seemed to me that all of the characters were unpleasant, mean and spiteful. Even the victims seemed to be in some way deserving of their fate. The only story that seemed to me to be complete and to have some sort of proper ending.
I would expect some violence in crime novels and bad language but these seem to be somehow more personal in this book because the victims all seem to know their assailant, I hate bullying and putting people down. I think this is just not for me.

[Laurie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Challenged to read a book of short stories; I picked this one since I'd just finished Johnston's Descent and really enjoyed it. While I found the stories interesting and compelling it reinforced why I prefer novels: I want more. Even most novels I read I find myself wanting more, including Descent. Interestingly the short story Up There in the book grew up to become Descent.

[Karen Germain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last year, I was lucky enough to score tickets to see David Sedaris speak at UCLA. I learned that every year when he goes on tour, he promotes a different writer that he admires. Last year he was promoting Tim Johnston and his short story collection, “Irish Girl Stories.” I immediately put it on my Amazon wishlist and have finally gotten around to reading it.

I really admire Sedaris and respect his opinion, so I read this collection with very high expectations. Johnston is solid writer with this collection of dark, unsettling stories. I felt zero personal connection to any of the characters or stories, yet they still grabbed me. I did feel, that the stories might appeal more to men, as a lot of them have to do with the bonds between brothers and male friendship. I could be off on that, but as a female, I felt like I might be missing a vital piece of understanding.

Johnston is strong in the short story format, but I felt like every single story in the collection could have held it’s own in a longer format. I hope that he decides to write a novel.

[Nick Kives · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been on my list of books to read for awhile. I showed up at Maple Street (I think) and he was doing a signing and it sounded interesting, but I didn't pick up the book. Then a week later, David Sedaris was in town, and talked about the book. Finally, I recently came across it again.

8 short stories, nothing having to do with each other. The early stories may seem better, but I think it might just be the order you read them, and then starting to recognize a pattern in the stories. He seems to like the end the stories right as you are wanting more. That might be the weakest thing I can think of because even with that I still didn't want to put it down, and was exciting about starting each new story.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

dark, dark, dark. love, love, love

[Christine Granados · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked when wrote about about the white collar world, but when he ventured off into the blue the writing got ify.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this short story collection from my quarterly Trust Fall shipment from Bookpeople. It was awesome!

[Brad Wolgast · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I downloaded this audiobook, it was on a whim and based on a "suggested to you." I haven't had a book of short stories in my reading queue in a long time. This collection was fantastic. I couldn't wait to get back to it every time I put it away. Other reviews will call it "dark", but mainly due to the fact that most of the stories deal with death, murder, missing children, and so on. What you miss if you hear the word dark is that this is a collection of stories that dive into painful experiences and how the characters handle them. Another reviewer mentioned that Johnston accomplishes in twenty pages what other authors can't do in 200 and I completely agree. I thoroughly enjoyed this collection.
When I got to the last few chapters, I realized that one of the stories is the first chapter of a book I had already read by Johnston. I hadn't put it together that he was the same author until I got to that point. I was really pleased to have stumbled into this situation because the novel version of that short story was much less engaging for me than the short story (first chapter). Johnston is a masterful short storyteller. I'm so glad I found this book!

[Brianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tragically dark but yet so real, these stories are easily consumable, the kind that make your eyes widen as the details unfold. The characters stay with you, leaving an impression like you knew them, even though they only inhabit a dozen or so pages.

[Vincent DiGirolamo]

Exquisite stories beautifully read by Di Loretto and Sands, but now I know what genre writers mean when they say they don't like how literary fiction makes them feel. Good in small doses, like whiskey.

[Roger Bjork · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed bag

Interesting stories without much form, a beginning and a end that might be satisfying. Yet kept my attention by wondering where the yarn would go next.

[Stacey Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably more of a 3.5 but I like this author

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nice collection of horribly depressing stories to hold in reserve for those rare days when you just feel too happy and need to dial it back a bit.

[Holly Noel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love his writing so much.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set of short stories that all foreshadow Johnston’s style: tragic, heartfelt, hopeful.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Sandra Delehanty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark and human
I loved Tim Johnston's Descent so I suggested these short stories to my book club, a way to get us started reading this Fall. These stories are beautifully written but not cheerful.
Despite knowing the next story would be no more hopeful, no less dark, I kept reading. The language is mesmerizing. Here's an example of how he easily captures in a few words a kind of disorientation we have all felt at some time: "I could count the number of telephone poles between here and there ...yet I didn't seem to be getting any nearer at all. As if the trees, the traffic light, the white building, all moved as I moved, forever the same distance away, like the horizon itself. Like the sun."
Tasty. This reminded me of a David Foster Wallace story in which an island remains in one place despite the cruise ship moving on. Could have been in "A Supposedly Fun thing I'll Never Do Again" but I'm not sure.

[Allison Wonderland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting collection of short fiction - my boyfriend picked it up when we attended a reading by David Sedaris. Many of the stories deal with male characters and, well, maleness in general, so perhaps that was why I didn't like the book more. I did enjoy some of the stories immensely, however - particularly one about a teenaged kleptomaniac. Worth checking out if you like short fiction from a primarily masculine perspective.

[Kylin Larsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories are so well written that they ought to be assigned in creative writing classes. The prose is tight in the best way, painting swaths of scenes in themselves -- simply.

Though short stories don't speak to one another in a direct way, themes and moods cross the boundaries of the stories. Someone dies in just about every one and infidelity is common, but these aren't mystery stories or crime stories. They are stories about crossroads and the way lives change.

[Ferna R Geer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Irish Girl: Stories

I got pretty involved in some of these stories and was not ready for them to end. I found myself rereading parts of them because I missed a piece of what was happening or what had happened in the past that made the characters act or do the things they did. This gave me even more insight and reflection on Tim Johnston's cast of characters in his stories...well done...

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Irish Girl won the 2009 Katherine Ann Porter Short Fiction Prize, so I knew it would be good, but it's one of the best collections I've read in awhile. Several of the stories are so good, you almost don't want to read them because you know you'll never write one as good. "Dirt Men," "Water," "Antlerless Hunt," and the title story, "Irish Girl" are exceptional.

[Jeff Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very original short stories. There is something supremely dark about a couple of them. I think the stories encapsulate the feeling you get when you are out west...like things are too big to take in so you just don't. Quick read and engrossing. Very masculine point-of-view. A couple stories that tackle the father-son relationship/struggle well.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good collection of short stories. They are all a little dark and about people who are a little messed up, but what do you expect from a book named "Irish Girl"? I'm always impressed by writers who can craft deeply compelling stories and still end them well. Definitely a rarity...

[Zach VandeZande · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few of these stories are too chaotic for their own good, which I'm sure was done deliberately, but when Johnston really makes something click, like in "Irish Girl," "Antlerless Hunt," "Things Go Missing," and "Up There," god damn. Brilliant.

[Lillian · Rating 2 out of 5]

More stories of troubled adolescence that sometimes expands to young adulthood. Not particularly illuminating or emotional, just mildly interesting. I enjoyed the first story most, and the rest seemed a bit strained.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Sedaris read a passage from this book during his appearance at Royce Hall recently - so of course I had to run out and buy it. Dark, creative stories. Sometimes difficult to follow - most I had to read twice. For me, Wells Tower trumps Tim Johnston.