Big Girl, Small Town
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- 5,49 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
SHORTLISTED FOR THE COMEDY WOMEN IN PRINT PRIZE
LONGLISTED FOR THE ONDAATJE PRIZE
'Milkman meets Derry Girls. A cracking read' Sinead Moriarty
'A thrillingly fresh, provocative and touching voice' Marian Keyes
'Bawdy yet beautiful, full of everyday tragedy, absurdity and truth. I grew extraordinarily attached to Majella' Sara Baume
Routine makes Majella's world small but change is about to make it a whole lot bigger.
*Stuff Majella knows*
-God doesn't punish men with baldness for wearing ladies' knickers
-Banana-flavoured condoms taste the same as nutrition shakes
-Not everyone gets a volley of gunshots over their grave as they are being lowered into the ground
*Stuff Majella doesn't know*
-That she is autistic
-Why her ma drinks
-Where her da is
Other people find Majella odd. She keeps herself to herself, she doesn't like gossip and she isn't interested in knowing her neighbours' business. But suddenly everyone in the small town in Northern Ireland where she grew up wants to know all about hers.
Since her da disappeared during the Troubles, Majella has tried to live a quiet life with her alcoholic mother. She works in the local chip shop (Monday-Saturday, Sunday off), wears the same clothes every day (overalls, too small), has the same dinner each night (fish and chips, nuked in the microwave) and binge watches Dallas (the best show ever aired on TV) from the safety of her single bed. She has no friends and no boyfriend and Majella thinks things are better that way.
But Majella's safe and predictable existence is shattered when her grandmother dies and as much as she wants things to go back to normal, Majella comes to realise that maybe there is more to life. And it might just be that from tragedy comes Majella's one chance at escape.
'It's a smasher' Kathy Burke
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gallen's sensational debut concerns Majella O'Neill, a 27-year-old on the autism spectrum who's learned how to mimic social cues. Majella lives with her irresponsible mother, Nuala, in the tiny fictional town of Aghybogey in Northern Ireland. Situated near the border, Aghybogey was once the site of clashes between the IRA and British soldiers, and the violence continues to haunt Majella's family in the present. Following the death of her IRA-affiliated uncle Bobby, Majella's once-doting dad, Gerard, starts to spend more time away from home. When the book opens, he's been missing for years, and everyone in town is talking about Majella's grandmother Maggie, who died after being beaten in her own home during a break-in. Majella's no stranger to having her family be the subject of gossip, as Nuala's destructive behavior and craving for attention are often exacerbated by her drinking and Majella often ends up playing the mom. Gallen does a great job of teasing out the details surrounding Maggie's death through Majella's conversations with family members and her customers at the fish and chips shop where she works. Gallen's also an expert at mixing moments of emotional intensity with mundane episodes. The plot unfolds in a series of vignettes that expand on a list of Majella's likes (eating, Dallas DVDs, sex) and dislikes (noise, jokes, fashion), which make her outlook irresistible. Gallen's effortless immersion into a gritty, endlessly bittersweet world packs a dizzying punch.
