Lazy City: A Novel

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The only portions I wasn’t super keen on was the religious stuff. Erin finds solace in empty churches to kinda work through her emotions & I found those portions a bit dull. As a terrible heathen I could not relate but I think they’d hit home a bit more if you had a Catholic upbringing. One person (I’m sorry to say this was again a man) who works in the vague publishing ecosystem declared: “Oh Michael Magee’s book. That was a great book! I loved his book. I’m sure you’ll like it.” I told him I’d heard as much, and I was excited to read it. Then: “And you have a book out too set in Belfast. Well, you might even get to interview him about his book.” I smiled and told him that would be fantastic. Then off he went on a long rant about the sorry state of a publishing industry in which women are overhyped and praised constantly while men are ignored, or worse, condescended. In a recent essay for The Guardian, Connolly describes releasing a debut in the same year as fellow Belfast author Michael Magee.

If I have a criticism, it’s that there are some repetitive conversations. I enjoyed Erin’s frequent trips to the Church (Catholic of course) where she went to contemplate. Her descriptions of the icons, such as baby Jesus, and all the crosses…the different depictions of Jesus were interesting. Her contemplations on God and the Church were intriguing. This is where Connolly shines, in Erin’s scenes in the different churches. I hear something said sometimes about Belfast that I have a little bit of a question mark over, which is […] oh, it’s not changed at all since the Troubles. I don’t think that’s true […] My mum grew up in the Bogside in Derry. The level of access I have to things versus the level of access [she had] is not comparable.”

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KG: Beyond the central theme of grief, you also create space for lighter themes – partying and gossip, for example. Why was it important to have this balance? In this sense, Lazy City is both a ‘Belfast’ novel and a state-of-the-world novel, as it examines not only how we see ourselves, but how we interact with universal concerns, from climate change to grief.

Somehow both tightly controlled and highly spontaneous, Rachel Connolly’s Lazy City is refreshingly open to the world. Frank, attentive, free of artifice or emotional contrivances, Connolly brings something new to any subject she shines her singular intelligence on” Few writers capture the human condition and what drives social behaviour with the elegance, clarity and restraint that Rachel Connolly does. Funny, intelligent and dynamic, Lazy City paints a beautiful modern portrait of Belfast and the complex, self-imploding characters who navigate it. It shows how individuals attempt to find meaning and direction in the world, small cities and each other’s lives’ I know it can feel, especially when starting out as a writer, that the scarcity of opportunities should have us all furiously elbowing each other out of the way in a race to the bottom. But I think it’s an attitude you grow out of, as a focus on your work takes precedence. KG: There are several doubles of male characters in the book. Two sets of brothers, two Matts. Why did you want to emphasise masculinity in this way? It’s really books about a specific way of being a young woman. And there’s still a lot of misogyny, and not taking your work very seriously, or thinking that your book is a fun project.”In its best moments, of which there are many, Lazy City transcends these issues by its clear-eyed chronicling of human impulses. Connolly digs deep into the mess, Gaitskill’s viscera, and resurfaces with questions and reflections that are probing, sincere and keenly felt. “Post-conflict is when everyone is just trying to get on with their lives,” Erin notes of her homeland. The same can be said of the character’s circumstances: Lazy City is a novel about a woman nobly trying to just get by. Sarah Gilmartin RC: Women are policed in all manner of ways, including in how we communicate. I knew if I added in a big breakdown scene Erin would be more of a sympathetic character to a lot of people . She’s quite vulnerable in a lot of ways but she doesn’t perform it. Because who would she do it to? She isn’t someone with a good support network. What I have noticed is that people who perform vulnerability are usually the most supported people, who have people around that are receptive to it. If you don’t, you just have to live it out. I really wanted to do that for a female character. The only constant in Erin’s life is her faith. She visits several churches, and reveals her grief and disconnection in prayer. Erin betrays, and is deceived by, the two men she sleeps with, and yet it is some measure of Connolly’s skill that we retain sympathy for her flawed, messy heroine.