Chestnut Street- By Maeve Binchy Miranda Russell

Background Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, columnist, and speaker. Chestnut Street is a collection of 36 short stories she had built up before her death. All centered on characters coming and going from the fictional Chestnut Street in Dublin, Ireland.

Common themes Chestnut Street itself ◦ Street for the “inbetweens,” not rich, but not poor enough to live in Irish slums. Bad marriages Ungrateful children Outside appearances Personally speaking, the stories that had few to none of these were the most well written.

Stories “Dolly’s Mother” ◦ First story in the collection. ◦ Most memorable descriptions. “A Problem of my Own” ◦ If you are not this person, you will know someone like this. “Joyce and the Blind Date” ◦ Outward appearances and confidence “The Women who Righted Wrongs” ◦ By far the most entertaining ◦ Weaves two story lines together

“Dolly’s Mother” A mother who constantly outshines her 16 year old daughter. Told from a third person narrator who focuses on Dolly’s feelings of inadequacy and feels guilty for resenting her “perfect” mother. The character I could most relate to. ◦ Best descriptions ◦ “Mary’s mother looked like a medieval painting of a mourning Madonna; she seemed stooped under the weight of her responsibility for a teenage girl” (137). ◦ “Mother wore long lilac silk scarves so elegantly the seemed to flow with her when she walked. If Dolly tried to wear a scarf, either it looked like a bandage or else she got mistaken for a football fan” (81).

“A Problem of my Own” Told in first person Woman who is constantly giving advice to her friends, and her own problems go unnoticed by others. Uses one sided phone conversations to give the character most of her depth. ◦ “When would I have a problem of my own? Not amongst my friends out of school either; they had too many that had to be dealt with first” (718).

Joyce and the Blind Date A model is set up on a blind date with a fat man named Norman Focuses on perception of appearances. ◦ Joyce-“she could be very kind to old ladies who wanted to cross the road, and she was sentimental about animals or crying children.” ◦ Norman- “Never mention size, shape, weight, once. Let the other guy tell you that you can’t have the part because you’re too fat…ask people to dance, don’t apologize” (1228). Well written situational descriptions ◦ “When somebody asks you to name any night, it’s like a declaration of war not to go” (1085)

“The Women who Righted Wrongs” More focused on plot, less description. Reminiscent of The Count of Monte Cristo The story of Rita and Wendy, both using the other to help them fix problems in their lives. Wendy- Has a child with politics lecturer Mac, who subsequently leaves. Uses Rita to reveal this secret to the press during a political convention. Rita- Works in a dress shop and has never received higher pay or credit for keeping the business afloat and her designs becoming famous. Uses Wendy to have Rita’s involvement in the newspapers and her boss fired. “The wounding was not going to be physical. This way there would be no blood but a great deal of satisfaction” (4080)

Good Points Overall Easy to read Diverse and interesting characters. ◦ No matter who you are, you will relate to one of the characters. Different takes on appearances, wisdom, and family. ◦ “She would go back to saying nothing-people seemed to regard it as wisdom” Descriptions

Bad Points The ungrateful children and bad relationship themes became very repetitive. The most interesting stories included only a smattering of husbands leaving, ungrateful children, and death, just enough for it not to seem preachy. The time line was scattered ◦ Must keep track of what is happening when in order to keep characters that have the same names straight.

Recommendation Coming from someone who usually reads fantasy, it is interesting despite being in a mundane setting. No real “heroes” or “villains” Everyone can find at least one story or character to relate to.