+ Boston Transcript p6 Ag 7 ’20 520w
“The minor characters are admirably drawn; the chief ones are less vivid and convincing. The weaknesses of the story are glaring: it is poor both in structure and in motivation. Keeran, in the final chapters, is drawn on the lines of Dickens at his worst, and the tragic conclusion brings the reader up with the jolt of an express train coming to a violent halt.”
− + Cath World 112:547 Ja ’21 220w
“The chief and tragic emphasis falls upon youth, in spite of which the best of the story lies in the penetrating, vivid, and thoroughly human presentation of the old people.” E. P.
+ Dial 70:107 Ja ’21 50w
“Much of the power of the story lies in the intermingling of quite Russian realism, with an idealism which bursts flamelike through the recital of brutal details. ‘Decent’ is the salutation of the people of Dungarrow for the strangers they meet, and decent is the epithet uppermost in the mind of the reader, in spite of Mr MacGill’s frank exposure of the vices of his own people.” E. L.
+ Grinnell R 15:283 N ’20 240w
“‘Maureen’ is the story of a peasant girl in Donegal, a terrible story in many ways and a curiously fascinating one. Mr MacGill knows how to flash a scene so vividly before your mind that it haunts your visual memory for days afterward.”
+ Ind 104:242 N 13 ’20 120w
“In ‘Maureen’ there is considerable alloy, yet much good metal and some precious. But the whole thing needs fusing.” J. C. L.