Praise for Young Skins

“Justly acclaimed for his lyrical, deadpan style by some of the giants of contemporary Irish literature, including Anne Enright and Colm Tóibín, Barrett offers an extraordinary debut that ­heralds a brutal yet alluring new voice in contemporary ­fiction.”

—Library Journal (starred review)

“Many fiction writers are attracted to nonexistent but identifiable settings. Thomas Hardy created Wessex, Robert Musil transformed Austria-Hungary into Kakania, and in Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner literally mapped his Yoknapatawpha County. At once Lafayette, Mississippi, and not Lafayette, Mississippi, Yoknapatawpha offered readers a familiar setting without the danger of their imaginations snagging on the join between reality and fiction. Colin Barrett confidently secures this same blend of familiarity and freedom with the first line of his debut short-story collection . . . his stories invite second readings that . . . seem to uncover sentences that weren’t there the first time around. Chekhov once told his publisher that it isn’t the business of a writer to answer questions, only to formulate them correctly. Throughout this extraordinary debut, but particularly in the excellent stories that bookend it, Colin Barrett is asking the right questions.”

—Guardian (UK)

“A stunning debut . . . all seven tales converge towards one singular theme: the failure constantly lurking in the shadows of the human condition. The timeless nature of each story means this collection can—and will—be read many years from now.”

—Sunday Times (UK)

“Barrett simply outwrites many of his peers with a chilling confidence that suggests there is far more beneath the surface than merely the viciously effective black humor.”

—Irish Times, Fiction of the Year

“A sustained and brilliant performance by a young writer of remarkable talent, and confirmation that Colin is a writer of significance with something important to say.”

—Short Story Ireland

“Raw and affecting . . . Barrett’s use of language is powerful and surprising . . . These stories are moving and memorable.”

—Irish Independent

“It isn’t necessarily the job of fiction writers to explain our social landscape, but sometimes the best of them do. Colin Barrett’s short, brutal collection of stories presents clearly and without sentimentality a picture of the young Irish small-town male, in his current crisis of hopelessness and alienation.”

—Irish Times

“Superbly observed . . . Every sentence counts in these mesmerizing stories from an exciting literary author.”

—Irish Examiner

“Sharp, edgy, heartrendingly provocative. Colin Barrett is a distinctive, exciting new voice out of Ireland.”

—David Means

“Young Skins knocked me on my ass. It’s moody, funny, vibrant, and vivid. It’s beautifully compressed and unafraid to take a bruising or lyrical leap. Colin Barrett has, as they say, talent to burn, but I really hope he doesn’t waste a drop.”

—Sam Lipsyte

“Colin Barrett, like all great storytellers, has the ability to weave a broader chronicle of Ireland out of stories that remain intimate, powerful, and regional. Out of the local, the universal appears.  He defines the many shades of the present time and suggests a compelling future.  He is a writer to savor and look out for.”

—Colum McCann

“Colin Barrett’s sentences are lyrical and tough and smart, but there is something more here that makes him a really good writer. His stories are set in a familiar emotional landscape, but they give us endings that are new. What seems to be about sorrow and foreboding turns into an adventure instead in the tender art of the unexpected.”

—Anne Enright

“A writer of extraordinary gifts. I loved this compelling and utterly persuasive collection, the strongest debut I’ve read in some years.”

—Joseph O’Connor

“How dare a debut writer be this good? Young Skins has all the hallmarks of an instant classic. Barrett’s prose is exquisite but never rarefied. His characters—the damaged, the tenderhearted and the reckless—are driven by utterly human experiences of longing. His stories are a thump to the heart, a mainline surge to the core. His vision is sharp, his wit is sly, and the stories in this collection come alive with that ineffable thing: soul.”

—Alison MacLeod

“Incredible. Human violence, beauty, brilliance of language—this book reminds you of the massive things you can do in short fiction.”

—Evie Wyld

“A new fabulous and forensic voice to sing out Ireland’s woes.”

—Bernard MacLaverty

“Colin Barrett is a young man in the town of the short story, but it’s fair to say he has the run of the place. This is a joyously fine collection, crackling with energy and verve, fit for the back pocket of anyone who loves a good story well told.”

—Jon McGregor

“Should you be surprised that yet another superbly articulate and word-drunk writer has come out of Ireland? Perhaps not, but when that writer’s work is as moving, as funny, as spectacularly evocative as Young Skins, you should be astonished, and amazed, and grateful. Some of the stories in this debut collection are amongst the best in the language. That a young writer possesses a talent this great is a cause for celebration, matched only by his ability to control and harness it. A minute after finishing this book I was itching to read Colin Barrett’s next.”

—Niall Griffiths