Tricia Currans-Sheehan

Briar Cliff Review, from its namesake university in Sioux City, IA, is a relatively well-known literary journal, founded in 1989 - a good historical run for such a concern. This issue was workmanlike entry with passable, if forgettable, offerings. The best of the lot were probably the creative non-fiction entries, curated apparently to focus on how personal struggles inform the larger political and social issues of the day. One, on ethics from Jacob Appel, tells of his observation of a mother helping her child cheat in a community contest, and the internal debate it engenders over whether to report the pair. Another, from Allison Macy-Steines, recounts the author's pain over a younger sibling's dire health condition. Again, all the entries were readable, but none in particular stayed with me.… (meer)

4541. the River road, by Tricia Currans-Sheehan (read 24 Feb 2009) This book is a coming-of-age book concerning Brigid, who lives with her father, her mother having left the home, amid disdain by her husband. The trials of a young girl without a mother are vividly told, with a frankness discomforting to an old man like me. I was not as enamored of this book as of the author's The Egg Lady, since this spent lots of time on concerns of a teenage girl and thus seems kind of 'womens-fictiony. ' But it is not boring, and while the end is not overly explicit one feels Brigid will do well. But I could see no good thing in her half-sister's future, and could not blame Brigid's father in not wanting to have anything to do with his wife's misbegotten child… (meer)

4540. the Egg Lady and Other Neighbors, by Tricia Currans-Sheehan (read 23 Feb 2009) This book consists of eleven short stories and is a most remarkable book. The stories are vivid, some very stark, and all memorable. I cannot say there is a failure in the book--11 stories, many farm-related or small-town Iowa related, most with a Catholic relationship. The characters in the stories are often most non-reluctant to say the most indiscreet or blunt things. "The Balers" and "Margaret" are bitter vignettes of cramped farm life, but there are stories such as "The Man with the Leopard Wallpaper" and "Called for Action" and "The Secrets that Men Have" which are heart-warming and extremely memorable. This book is a delight and I recommend it to anyone--not only to those who have a connection to Iowa rural Catholic life.… (meer)