Notes from a Turkish Whorehouse

More short stories, yay!

By James Meredith

The title of the book is deceptive as the majority of the stories take place in Romania where O’Ceallaigh now resides, however his Irish roots have also clearly influenced his writings. He writes with a flagrant sense of pessimism about relationships and in particular the failings of males; it would be easy to assume that his own experiences are portrayed through some of the eccentric characters we meet along the way.

In his debut novel O’Ceallaigh writes with a real air of confidence about people’s struggles for emancipation from decaying neighbourhoods, depressing lives and relationships, juxtaposing this in places with empathy and sincere humour.

The opening story Taxi brings together a brash and chauvinistic taxi driver and his heartbroken passenger whose partner fails to meet him at a train station.

The longest of the stories, In the Neighbourhood depicts life in a run down block of apartments in “a world of burst pipes, rising bills, falling standards and children with foul mouths”. There is a real sense that society has let these people down and that O’Ceallaigh wants the reader to empathise with the characters as they struggle and finally “triumph over substantial obstacles.”

There are perhaps echoes of O’Ceallaigh himself in this collection as the characters themselves only appear to have found some mild form of happiness and content when they are travelling or writing.

Indeed in the title story we meet a Greek waiter writing his own “comic story… notes from a Turkish whorehouse… I thought good title… worth making a story just for a title like that. Might use it myself.”

This is an original book for its time. Comparisons have been made by others to Hemmingway and Dostoevsky but it seems that there are many personal touches in these short stories that make this novel both compelling and at times pretty damn funny.