LE PORTRAIT MAGAZINE MARCH-SEPTEMBER ISSUE | Page 12

pastures of the satellite parishes the Zen bovines lift their heads to
contemplate the V8 howls of the boy racers tearing through the back
lanes.
So begins Colin Barrett’s mesmerizing debut collection of stories, Young
Skins, released to near-universal critical acclaim and, in the months
between its Irish and US publication, a raft of major literary awards. His
brutal, linguistically stylish tales of Sisyphean young men, voluntarily
trapped within the confines of the fictional west of Ireland town of
Glanbeigh, have elicited high praise from Colum McCann, Anne
Enright, Colm Toibin, Sam Lipsyte, and The New York Times.

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