Homesickness is a short story collection from Colin Barrett, a young award-winning Irish writer. It is a small volume - just 213 pages - with ten short stories set mostly in Ireland, but also with some Canadian connections.

The stories are set among everyday, working class people and are a bit grim, as Irish subject matter is apt to be. (Don't come at me - my ancestry is all Irish and I know of what I speak!) However, there is an acerbic wit at work in these stories which made me occasionally give a bark of laughter. My hands-down favourite was The Alps, in which a trio of brothers take on a sword-wielding adolescent with mental health issues. "The Alp family tree was a stump mutilated by cancer and coronaries. Few of their male forebears made it into their sixties, which meant The Alps' days were probably almost over."

However, most of the stories simply tapered off into nothingness, leading me to turn the page and wonder where the rest of it was. I am a fan of the well-constructed short story, and I do like an ambiguous ending or an ironic one, but something about some of these was unsatisfying. I would like to go back and read the author's debut book for comparison, and would be interested in reading more from this writer as it is almost certain that there are great books to come.

If you love the short story form and appreciate Irish humour, then you likely enjoy this collection. I will summarize by saying that I did enjoy the collection, but didn't always love the manner in which the endings wandered off inconclusively, like walking into a room and forgetting why you went there. Three stars and looking forward to more from Colin Barrett.