Kelman’s coping classes take on a life of their own

SHORT STORIES: That Was A Shiver and Other Stories, By James Kelman, Canongate, €17.25

James Kelman is not an author who makes things easy for his readers. While not entirely subverting the conventions of narrative fiction, the prolific Glaswegian still thrives on his stylistic singularity, through which he gives voice to the thoughts of the Scots underclass – often through fragmented sentences, with much vernacular and little punctuation.

For those outside Glasgow and ...