This short-story collection provides an insight into a rural Ireland (specifically Mayo) that mostly no longer exists. Nobody Knows, in which a girlfriend becoming pregnant stops plans for a marriage, recalls the influence the Catholic Church once wielded. Similarly, Seventeen and a Half Minutes, about brutality in school, reflects another unfortunately once-common experience. The "realistic" stories are of unhappy men, often alone, some of whom are fathers distanced from their children and whose main social outlet is the pub. Interestingly, The Gentlemen is different because the main character is a woman; like many of the other characters, her life has ebbed away because of indecision, but, unlike them, she seizes the day to an extent. There is a touch of what might be called "western gothic" about some of the less realistic stories, such as Argentina, At the Crossroads and My Big Day, though they could also be read as reflecting how setbacks can affect people's mental health.
