(http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/firstconfession/firstconfession.jpg) | 1. We learn early on about the dynamics in Jackie’s family. Mother sticks up for him, but is that enough? 2. Although the story is relatively short, it appears to have many themes. What do you think are the themes in this story? 3. How would you describe Mrs Ryan and her techniques for preparing the children for their First Communion and Confession? 4. What is a “bad” confession? 5. How do Mrs Ryan, Nora, and the priest differ in their approach to Jackie? |
What a masterful description of guilt feelings in a young child. Children tend to feel guilty, no matter what.
First confession and its terrors. Eighty-four first graders in a classroom ruled by just one nun. The agony and the ecstasy of Lent. The dubious honor of being declared the worst altar server ever. Dinah Shore and the Blessed Virgin haunting your dreams. This is Eddie Ryan’s world as he grows up in the intensely Catholic world of South-Side Chicago’s St. Bastion’s parish in the 1950s. In this classic coming-of-age novel, John Powers draws readers into Eddie Ryan’s world with deep affection and bittersweet humor.
How lucky for Jackie to have a "father figure" like the priest in his life.
“Frank O’Connor, 1957
[The short story] is the nearest thing I know to lyric poetry… A novel actually requires far more logic and far more knowledge of circumstances, whereas a short story can have the sort of detachment from circumstances that lyric poetry has [The greatest essential of a story] is you have to have a theme, a story to tell. You grab somebody and say, “Look, an extraordinary thing happened to me yesterday—I met a man—he said this to me—”and that, to me, is a theme. The moment you grab somebody by the lapels and you've got something to tell, that's a real story.”
Are we the unforgettable characters then?Yes!!!
“Detachment from his own country was not one of FO’C’s aims. Nobody was more aware than he of the mules, crows, and foxes . . . gazelles and doves who populated in human form his island home. His stories perserve in ink like amber his perceptive, amused, and sometimes tender observations of the fabric of Irish customs, pieties, superstitions, loves, and hates.”
“Everything is far more relaxed nowadays, compared to when I was young. Multiple Hail Mary’s and Our Father’s are no longer doled out as penance. Even the austere, wooden confessionals of years gone by have disappeared.”
"The Cork City - Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award is an annual award of €25,000 and is currently the world's richest prize for the short story form. The award is in memory of the late Frank O'Connor, one of the world's most renowned short story writers"
The prize is awarded to the author of the book judged to be the best collection of stories published in English for the first time anywhere in the world in the twelve months between a first publication date of between July 1st of the prior year and June 30th of the current year.
The Shortlist for the 2013 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award consists of six titles.
1) Tea at the Midland and other stories – David Constantine – Comma Press, UK
2) Siege 13 – Tamas Dobozy – Milkweed Editions, USA/ Thomas Allen, Canada
3) Black Vodka – Deborah Levy – & Other Stories, UK
4) Black Dahlia & White Rose – Joyce Carol Oates – Harpercollins, USA
5) We’re Flying - Peter Stamm – Granta, UK/ Other Press LLC
6) Battleborn - Claire Vaye Watkins – Granta UK/Riverhead Books USA
The winning book will be announced in the first week of July
(http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/firstconfession/firstconfession.jpg) | 1. We learn early on about the dynamics in Jackie’s family. Mother sticks up for him, but is that enough? 2. Although the story is relatively short, it appears to have many themes. What do you think are the themes in this story? 3. How would you describe Mrs Ryan and her techniques for preparing the children for their First Communion and Confession? 4. What is a “bad” confession? 5. How do Mrs Ryan, Nora, and the priest differ in their approach to Jackie? |