Touchy Subjects
TOUCHY SUBJECTS (New York: Harcourt, 2006, hardback ISBN 0-15-101386-1, paperback ISBN 0156032612) (London: Virago, 2006, ISBN 1-84408-301-2).
This collection of nineteen contemporary stories about taboos and embarrassment ranges from Ireland to Louisiana, Canada to Tuscany, and includes characters old, young, queer, straight, and simply comfused. From the consequences of a polite social lie to the turmoil caused by a single hair on a woman’s chin, it dramatises the small acts upon which our lives often turn. TOUCHY SUBJECTS was longlisted for the 2006 Frank O’Connor Short Stories Award and was a New York Times Editor’s Choice.
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‘All of Donoghue’s stories are lucid and well paced… TOUCHY SUBJECTS parades a variety of styles, but I’d say Donoghue’s greatest talent is for humor… It’s evident she likes her characters, and you probably will too.’ – NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
‘Feisty… roguish sense of play… Donoghue’s light touch can handle everything from painful bewilderment to ridiculous tiffs to unexpected happiness.’ – SEATTLE TIMES
‘Virtually every tale in TOUCHY SUBJECTS is lucid, concise, clever and poignant. Roaming the globe, from many walks of life, bearing their painful and wonderful aspects alike, Donoghue's characters will remind readers of themselves in the here and now.’ - MIAMI HERALD
‘Donoghue has the born storyteller’s knack for sketching a personality and pulling readers into a plot… Delightful examples of Donoghue’s all-encompassing talent that should be read by… anyone who cherishes thoughtful, warm-hearted fiction.’ – KIRKUS
‘Wonderfully wide-ranging collection… wryly comic… no weak links.’ – LIBRARY JOURNAL
‘Without a hint of pretension but with wisdom extending far beyond the placidness of her prose style … her stories find secure footing where poignancy and humour intersect.’ – BOOKLIST
‘Both truthful and touching. She can dissect a relationship with great precision… Delightful. – TIMES
‘Excellent new collection… Her touch is so light and exuberantly inventive, her insight at once so forensic and intimate, her people so ordinary even in their oddities. … Unnervingly exact.’ – GUARDIAN
‘Donoghue is one of those rare writers who seems to be able to work on any register, any tone, any atmosphere, and make it her own. None of these stories feel as if they were written by the same person : each has a unique voice… It’s hard to outline the cleverness of these stories without giving away the twists… They are as funny as they are moving.’ – OBSERVER
‘Fizzes with affection, fun and fecundity. … there's an intimacy and immediacy about the characters that allows the reader to feel they could lean over and poke them in the arms. … Donoghue's stories demonstrate an understanding of humanity and a mind that can excavate characters and that lives far, far beyond her own front fence.’ – GLOBE AND MAIL