In two of his acclaimed novels, 鈥淭he Master鈥� and 鈥�Brooklyn,鈥� Irish writer Colm T贸ib铆n, who lives in both Dublin and New York, established his mastery of the historical novel. Except for the opening tale, his new short story collection, The Empty Family, sticks largely to present day Ireland, America, and Spain. The longer pieces tend to be the strongest, since they give readers a chance to care about the characters, but overall, I prefer T贸ib铆n's novels.
Many of the stories, including the title one, feature unnamed gay narrators, who are living remote existences. In 鈥淥ne Minus One,鈥� which was previously published in The New Yorker, the narrator returns home from New York to Ireland to say goodbye to his dying mother. In 鈥淭he Pearl Fishers,鈥� the narrator meets a married couple for dinner and recalls the affair he had with the husband when both were still in high school. (For fans of 鈥淏rooklyn,鈥� T贸ib铆n is far more sexually explicit in his short stories than he was in the 1950s-set novel.)
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There are a couple of nods to 鈥淭he Master,鈥� T贸ib铆n's novel about the repressed life of Henry James. The 鈥淧ortrait of a Lady鈥� author guest stars in the opening story, 鈥淪ilence,鈥� in which a 19th-century woman remembers an affair, and another character reads James's work further on.
Reflecting on lost love is a prominent theme in many of the stories, such as 鈥淭wo Women,鈥� in which a set designer takes a job in her home country of Ireland after the death of a former lover. Most of T贸ib铆n's characters are well-to-do, involved in writing or film, and living chilly, expatriate lives. The exception is one of the strongest entries, 鈥淭he Street,鈥� a 68-page novella in which a Pakistani immigrant tries to adjust to his life as an indentured servant in Spain.
