Somewhere Author: Jessamine O’Connor ISBN-13: 978-1-84351-979-9Publisher: Lilliput PressGuideline Price: €16.95Somewhere opens with Clodagh in sunny St Stephen’s Green. But the landscape soon turns sinister; the pond is “reptilian ... a scaly skin reaching nearly to her feet” while people “drift about like paper bags”. Clodagh, an addict, has split up with her boyfriend but, although unemployed, she’s young, educated and lives with her mother. She belongs to the not-quite hopeless, and while her ex Seamus sleeps outside, she has pints with a friend who is at university. The world in Somewhere is urban but intimate. Clodagh lives next door to the family of Seamus’s homeless pal; the father flirts with Clodagh’s mother on her lunch break. Its characters know where to score and spend the night, and they are never far from family. (Seamus’s sister, newly returned to Ireland, finds him although his phone is turned off.) A familiarity with Dublin might be needed to understand how the author subverts it, colouring its leafy, Georgian parks and idyllic beaches with cravings and claustrophobia. Some references feel intentionally cryptic, which only an insider would know. Consider how O’Connor describes Seamus queuing at the GPO for a meal with the Muslim Sisters of Eire: “He’ll catch some hot food at the post office ... Lovely women, with their headscarves and long coats and dainty fingers.” [ Irish fiction debuts to look forward this year from Neil Tully, Ana Kinsella to Colin MorganOpens in new window ]In conveying her characters’ agony of having too much time, O’Connor dwells on minutiae. Shooting up (“he tips out some, so it’s not too much to fit into the 2ml, watches the bubbles of steam sparkle and pop”) becomes as painstaking as brewing coffee (“The slow separation of grains from liquid, the gathering of the ground beans”) and riding the Dart. Descriptions of personal hygiene abound, like one character who “scratches a thumbnail of rose-scented oil that looks like earwax” under her armpit. Sometimes the dedication to detail, while lyrical, is overlong. Furthermore, although events such as overdose, assault and death occur, they’re dulled by lethargy. Although O’Connor’s commitment to evoking authentic people and experiences is honourable, there’s a risk. Clodagh is 20: how interesting can she be? She’s dyeing her hair, texting and finding a vein. Real people, regardless of status, are tedious; the purpose of literature is – via artifice – to animate them. There are many readers for whom Somewhere will resonate as an honest portrayal of a city and how it feels to be unseen. For others, the novel – ornately and elliptically told – may prove challenging without a compelling character to guide them. Mei Chin is a writer from New York living in Dublin