Review: 'Foster' by Claire Keegan

December 09, 2022

Review: 'Foster' by Claire Keegan

I am always intrigued when novels or novellas are republished, especially as standalones, in new territories. It tells me that there was something valuable about this story before and that the publisher believes the story has something important to say to other readers as well. Foster is a quiet tale that nonetheless has something to say. Thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novella in exchange for an honest review.

Pub. Date: 11/1/2022
Publisher: Grove Atlantic

An international bestseller and one of The Times’ “Top 50 Novels Published in the 21st Century,” Claire Keegan’s piercing contemporary classic Foster is a heartbreaking story of childhood, loss, and love; now released as a standalone book for the first time ever in the US
It is a hot summer in rural Ireland. A child is taken by her father to live with relatives on a farm, not knowing when or if she will be brought home again. In the Kinsellas’ house, she finds an affection and warmth she has not known and slowly, in their care, begins to blossom. But there is something unspoken in this new household—where everything is so well tended to—and this summer must soon come to an end.
Winner of the prestigious Davy Byrnes Award and published in an abridged version in the New Yorker, this internationally bestselling contemporary classic is now available for the first time in the US in a full, standalone edition. A story of astonishing emotional depth, Foster showcases Claire Keegan’s great talent and secures her reputation as one of our most important storytellers.

A girl is dropped off at the Kinsellas' house by her father one Sunday, during a hot summer. Her parents have another child on the way and can hardly feel the numerous ones they have, so she is sent off to the Kinsellas for as long as they'll have her. Once there, the girl moves between fears and new discoveries, gaining a growing awareness of how life could be. One of the most heart-breaking aspects of Foster is the way the girl is drawn to this new, kinder life and yet would almost prefer to run away from it because it is making her realize what she lacked before. It is this double-edged knife of realization, of the pain of yearning, and the potential harm in receiving, which had me enamored with Foster almost immediately. Keegan gives no clear answers in this novella, there is no definitive path, no happy or unhappy resolution. Instead there are questions, countless potential paths, and the awareness that things will always continue shifting. The ending, as I've seen in other reviews, is an unclear one, yet is utterly cinematic and empathic and emotional in tone. You can picture it, can feel the way her two different lives are tearing at the girl. And the last line is a mystery that each reader has to resolve for themselves. This can be frustrating, if you prefer clarity, but it is a masterful feat by Keegan to pull of an ending that is at once so crystal-clear and so opaque.

At one point John Kinsella tells the girl that silence has its value, that being asked does not mean an answer is required, that waiting to see is sometimes the better path. Foster follows this path down to its last word, playing with silence, playing with what is and isn't said. Our protagonist has no name, and she also doesn't really use the names of others. Those aren't relevant pieces of information. What is relevant is the way the light shines in from the windows, how soft Edna Kinsella's hand is, how the girl suddenly has time to be and think, how she goes from tracing and guessing words to knowing them. Keegan's keen eye for detail doesn't show itself in its overabundance but in its precise limitation. She picks out what is truly important and describes that with a warmth that fully envelops the reader. Everything around it is confetti, as The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix says.

Foster won't be the story for everyone, due to Keegan's careful and spare prose. But those who can unlock it and see the richness behind it, Foster has incredibly feeling and insight to offer.

I give this novella...