Brutal, sparse and a straight shot to the bone; McCann pulls no punches. In two short stories and one novella, we see how the unrest in Ireland in the 80's and 90's was like any other horrific war; it sunk into the core of its people, where it stayed and turned to concrete. McCann is unflinching when it comes to his descriptions of how it fundamentally changed people, and the undeniable outcomes that are stark, stripped and tragic. Quick read, but not quickly absorbed. This one will take a while...

Two stories and a novella. The novella is an absolute stunner, a thing of beauty, and ranks as one if the very best pieces I have had the fortune to read. Think of McCann as Joyce mixed with Hemingway, although this is a stupid way of putting things. But if you liked Old Man and the Sea, you will love this. All three works have an adolescent protagonist. McCann really captures this age of flux perfectly, and in a serious tone. This is quite unlike what others, say David Mitchell, do with their a...

The title of Colum McCann's collection of two stories and a novella Everything in This Country Must feels unfinished. Everything in this country must what? When McCann does finish the thought, it feels like a gut punch. Everything in this country must die. That it's stated observationally, as an inherent fact, makes it that much more devastating. All three stories take place during the Troubles in Ireland, and uses it dramatically, yet approach the conflict sideways. Life during the Troubles hap...

After thinking about it for a few days I'm changing my rating from 4 to 5 stars. This is a collection of two short stories and a novella, all set in Northern Ireland during "The Troubles" of the late 70's, early 80's and all told from a child's point of view. McCann not only explores the politcal struggles of that time, but the struggles kids face when they feel pulled in two different directions. In the first story "Everything in this Country Must" a young girl struggles with her feelings of gr...

It is beyond my comprehension how Mccann does it time and again, with his sparse prose that touches the very core of my being. So I had to just allow the power of his words in this book of 2 very short stories and a novella, about the enormity of the troubles in Northern Ireland to wash through me. The first story walloped me, divided my sympathies and brought back memories of what seems only yesterday but is almost 40 years ago of the daily news of my teenage years. The people of northern Irela...

I love this author, his style, his lyrics and his voice. He could read the phone book and make it sound like poetry. 3 short stories. Thoroughly enjoyed.

"Everything In This Country Must" is quite simply too short. The title story only lasts 23 minutes. I am listening to the audiobook performance. Yes, it feels like a performance, not the reading of a story! The narration by Clodagh Bowyer, in her young feminine Irish patois, was fantastic. The book’s narrator is a fifteen year old. Her perception of the event is that of a young Catholic Irish girl. She saw the body of the male swimmer. That is what she would see. She saw the agony and frustratio...

Okay, so, see, there's this place called Ireland? And it's really poor? Or, well, anyway, it used to be and stuff. So anyway, this Irish guy comes here, I mean to America, and he writes about these Irish people from when it was all poor and stuff? And so these stories are, like, really really sad and the people are all poor and kinda mean and they don't seem like they ever smile or anything? But they're all, like, really really trying to be good but something Irish just won't let em! Honest!If "...

McCann has that beautiful gift of Irish poetry in his writing, and his stories always having me thinking of them long after I am done with his books. These stories are just heartbreaking and beautifully told.

My father was a fan of all things Irish and it was passed along.I spent a few weeks in Ireland as a young fella visiting my ancestors home cities,in this case Cashel in County Tipperary province of Munster.I stayed with some students and subsequently learned about Bobby Sands and the hunger strike.McCann's book captures the mood and history of the 'Troubles' quite brilliantly.It was easy to visualize the actions and the anger of the boy in "Hunger Strike".Fabulous writing.And good history.

This is my first Colum McCann book. After reading this one, I will definitely read more. His writing, while spare, considered and focused, was almost lyrical in its use of language, and drove me to re-read many sentences I found particularly lovely. As an example, I quote this from the first story in the book (**potential spoiler**):"The ticking was gone from my mind and all was quiet everywhere in the world and I held the curtain like I held the sound of the bullets going into the draft horse,

Unsurprisingly, a complete tour de force - I one hundred percent ached for Ireland while reading these two short stories and novella. McCann is an incredibly disciplined and restrained writer, yet somehow also lyrically soulful and emotionally evocative. I don't know how he's able to put me so completely and fully in his world(s), but he does. Hunger Strike, in particular, is probably one of the best pieces of writing I've read in a while in terms of its vividness and restrained but palpable emo...

It’s the simple phrases that many times convey so much more than I’m ready for and I have to reread these powerful sentences just to savor them . McCann’s stories are wrapped in this beautiful writing which is poetic and sparse at times. His novels and stories are diverse, but what they all have in common is this writing that captures the humanity of his characters because he makes us feel what they feel even though their circumstances are ones that we have not experienced. The common thread in

Everything In This Country Must - written by Colum McCann I thought these were fine, really fine pieces of writing about the Troubles in Northern Ireland. There were 2 stories and a novella in the book. He used a similar format in Thirteen Ways of Looking 15 years later. The style of his writing here was different. The main characters were all preteens. And Colum was great with them. He allowed them to be completely themselves, and thought as they thought, spoke as they did, changed moods, went

By way of two short stories and one novella, author Colum McCann allows us to see the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland through the eyes of his teen protagonists.Short stories are always a bit hit-and-miss for me, and this collection is no different. There’s no doubt McCann’s writing is sparse yet striking, but with short stories I sometimes feel a bit of a letdown at the end. This is the case of the second story, “Wood”. It’s beautifully written but I’m just not sure what I was to take away at the...

Everything in This Country Must is a small collection by Colum McCann which includes two short stories and one novella. The book begins with the title story "Everything in This Country Must" which is the story of a father and daughter whose lives have been ruined by the death of the mother and daughter at the hands of soldiers. However when their best draft horse is about to drown it is soldiers which come to help them pull it out of the water, something the father is unable to make peace with.

Almost everyone I know has read, and said good things, about this author. I decided to start with a book of smaller stories of his and than go from there. I loved them. I loved his writing, simple yet elegant he presents the reader with wonderful and uncluttered visuals. All these stories take place and are said to represent all side of Northern Ireland. The first short story shows us a young girl, not understanding her father's politics. The second story, which was my favorite although the firs...

I was interested in reading this book because of my family's cursory connection to "The Troubles". I have never read anything about them, though, so I expected to be swept up into a story that grabbed my emotions and made me feel what it was really like to be there. This didn't happen. There were interesting bits - I liked the creative touch of the boy and his mother making chess pieces out of bread and about the countdown of his uncle's weight as he sat in prison. I might have been more drawn i...

A few weeks ago my husband and I went to dinner at the home of one of his clients. Among the six of us present were several readers, so we had good book talk. The client's husband lent me this collection of a novella and two stories by Colum McCann. How great is it to have put in your hand a book you have not read yet by an author you love?The first Colum McCann novel I read was Dancer. It blew me away. He is Irish and has the story telling gift. He can take any world event and distill it down t...

Everything in This Country Must consists of two short stories and a novella, which are set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. The first short story, "Everything in This Country Must", is narrated by a farm girl whose mother and sister were killed by British army troops, who struggles vainly alongside her embittered father to rescue his beloved draft horse from a raging river, until British soldiers come to their aid. "Wood", the second short story, describes a poverty stricken boy and his