New Yorker Fiction Review #274: "So Late in the Day" by Claire Keegan

What we have here is a fairly interesting character study -- I wouldn't really call it a "story" -- dealing with inherited misogyny, loneliness, and the politics of late-in-life courtship and marriage. 

The story starts slow and, to be frank, was not particularly a joy to read. However, it does paint an interesting -- if extremely oversimplified -- view of a relationship gone wrong and how our own baggage can mess things up without our even realizing it. 

My problem with this story is it's too much like a fable. It compresses a very complex and nuanced subject -- the birth and dissolution of a relationship -- into just a very few scenes and ends up laying kind of flat and 2-D. The characters in the story just seem like characters in the story, if that makes sense; they have no depth. 

Also, what is the point of this story? That Irish men suck as marital partners? That French women are fussy? I don't see where either of the characters learns anything or even remotely has the possibility to change. 

Lastly...if your story is 4,000 words or whatever (i.e. short) don't waste 2,000 of them describing the main character looking at his computer, opening a spreadsheet, talking a walk at lunch, getting on the bus. This isn't a novel. Let's get to the point.