Life Affirming Stories from MacLaverty

Matters of Life and Death
By Bernard MacLaverty
W.W. Norton
192 Pages

By April Drew

MATTERS of Life and Death, by Bernard MacLaverty, is a collection of stand alone short stories, with the exception of the two title stories. In it, MacLaverty marries great storytelling with remarkable characters.

MacLaverty, best known for books such as Cal and Grace Notes, was born in Belfast in 1942. He attended Queens University in 1974. Following his graduation from Queen’s, MacLaverty moved to Scotland where he started his literary career. He has been awarded several prizes, including having his novel Grace Notes short-listed for the Booker Prize.

The 11 stories in MacLaverty’s new book are set in Northern Ireland, Scotland and as far away as Iowa. His collection concentrates on human experiences of diverse characters form elderly women to young boys. He creates these characters with such depth.

In “The Clinic,” the main subject is having difficulty coping with getting older and all it brings. Right through the story the reader can sense the anxiety and worry that the character is going through.

“Recently in a newspaper he’d read that grumpy old men were more liable to have heart attacks than old men who were not grumpy. He tried to calm down. To degrump,” MacLaverty writes.

In “Up the Coast” the central character is an artist seeking inspiration, so she goes to a remote part of Scotland to find it. MacLaverty attends to such detail with precision.

“The sea is mirror flat reflecting the sky. Black and yellow bladder breaks the surface between the dark rocks which cover with tiny white pin limpets,” he writes.

In the “Trojan Sofa” a young boy is mixed up with his father and uncle in a scheme of robberies. It’s a witty narrative with a theme of sectarian strife in Northern Ireland. This is one of the many undercurrent themes throughout Matters of Life and Death.

In “A Trusted Neighbor” a Catholic and Protestant neighbor develop a friendship despite their differences. However, misunderstandings happen and political beliefs cause the friendship to end.

Other themes that present themselves throughout the stories are life and death, hence the name. In “The Assessment” a woman in a nursing home reflects back on her life. In the course of the story we catch a glimpse of how old age is apprehending the mind of Mrs. Quinn.

“Christopher said I was becoming forgetful. Forgetting to eat. Forgetting to get up in the mornings. Forgetting to turn off a ring on the cooker.”

MacLaverty skillfully writes from inside the mind of the old lady. Anyone with an elderly parent can undoubtedly see the type of character he has created.

Overall, the stories in Matters of Life and Death are entertaining and leave the reader wanting more. There is no traditional beginning, middle or ending to each story.

It seems like each anecdote was taken from a chapter of diverse novels and all put together to create the final product. It is a fast read, and there is a story in there for everyone to relate to.