Other tales in this book have similar shortcomings. In some you are even forced to depend on an awareness that Toibin usually writes on homosexual themes to construct a meaning. One such tale is A Journey in which a troubled 20-year-old son returns from the hospital where he's been for seven months suffering from depression. The father is also ill, following two strokes. The mother brings the son home, and the father calls down from his bedroom, asking if he's arrived. This is the end of the story.
All we can do is infer from Toibin's usual concerns as a writer that the boy is struggling to come to terms with being gay, and that this is related to the relationship between his parents. But there's scarcely a word to confirm this. As in A Long Winter, we are left to come to our own conclusions, in this case on extremely scanty evidence.
There is much brilliant writing in this book. Other strong narratives concern a robber with a background in an abusive Catholic boys' school (The Use of Reason) and an all-night beach party where large amounts of ecstasy and cocaine are consumed in a kind of modern wake following the funeral of the main character's mother (Three Friends). Both these stories have prominent homosexual elements, but disappoint readers' legitimate expectations with regard to plot development.
The best argument that can be made here is that the collection's title supplies all we need in order to understand these stories. Apart from that, a precedent could be seen in Joyce's Dubliners, where atmosphere and implication have priority over any specific plot resolution. But Joyce didn't go out of his way to build up the reader's expectations in the way Toibin does, especially in A Long Winter. This deficiency makes the collection, intensely readable, but annoying and disappointing.
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