Particularize Books In Favor Of Swimming Home
| Original Title: | Swimming Home |
| ISBN: | 1908276029 (ISBN13: 9781908276025) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | France Côte d'Azur(France) |
| Literary Awards: | Booker Prize Nominee (2012), Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize Nominee (2013) |
Deborah Levy
Paperback | Pages: 165 pages Rating: 3.32 | 9467 Users | 1201 Reviews
Specify Of Books Swimming Home
| Title | : | Swimming Home |
| Author | : | Deborah Levy |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 165 pages |
| Published | : | October 6th 2011 by And Other Stories |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Literary Fiction. Contemporary. Novels |
Narrative During Books Swimming Home
I’m really at a loss to understand why this novella shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2012 did not win it. This is a perfect book. The prose is magnificent and a tour de force by an author with an exquisite handling particularly of the mental state in human beings. The setting is July 1994, in a villa up in the hills from Nice in the Alpes-Maritime, one of my favourite places in southern France. A famous poet, Jozef Jacobs, known as Joe, and his wife Isabel, a former war correspondent, are on holiday with their teenage daughter Nina. Other household guests are Laura and Mitchell, who own a shop in Euston, London. Isabel has known Laura for many years but they are certainly not close friends, if anything they are used to one another, and are comfortable together. A mix-up in the letting of the villa sees the arrival of Kitty Finch, who is friendly with the Austrian caretaker Jurgen. He was rather taken with Kitty and called her Kitty Ket whilst thinking of any conceivable manoeuvre to get closer to her in more ways than one. Isabel, decides that the villa is more than large enough for them and Kitty is invited to stay by her. The reason for this is apparent later on. Pubescent Nina has become interested in Claude, a friend of Jurgen, who owns the only café in the village and looks like Mick Jagger. Not a very exciting story you may think but think again. Slowly, the problems in Joe’s and Isabel’s marriage and its fragility become apparent, the worries that Nina has, the eighty year old retired Doctor Madeleine Sheridan who views from the balcony next door the development of the family’s encounter with Kitty and who knows the latter’s extraordinary background, and Mitchell and Laura. Talk about bated breath with every single page I read, this book sizzled with secrets, sensuality, depression, depravity, deception, fear, insecurity and I cannot list all the other factors that came into the equation. Every single comment, be it regarding an insect or whatever, is enhanced. The descriptions are vivid. What to any individual would appear as trivia become of vital importance. Every utterance is an impact on life. The theme centres around water and especially the swimming pool and the fact that Kitty had written a poem that she wished Joe to read. Kitty is a botanist and she is following a specific agenda in life. It was rather disturbing to find out what it was. The poem of Sir Walter Scott springs to mind: “Oh! What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive"… The intensity of the writing and the attention to detail, never mind the style, are absolutely breathtaking. The novella surges relentlessly towards its rather unexpected conclusion. The ending was not at all what I had envisaged. Spectacular – that’s the only word I can possibly use.Rating Of Books Swimming Home
Ratings: 3.32 From 9467 Users | 1201 ReviewsJudge Of Books Swimming Home
"Life is only worth living because we hope it will get better and we'll all get home safely." This is the basic tenet of the eerie, dark and expertly written story, 'Swimming Home'. And the book is only worth reading because we hope it will get better and we'll all get to the end quickly. Two middle-class, middle-aged couples find a naked girl in their swimming pool (novel awash with water symbolism) while staying in a rental villa on holiday on the Riviera. One of the guests invites Kitty FinchIm really at a loss to understand why this novella shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2012 did not win it. This is a perfect book. The prose is magnificent and a tour de force by an author with an exquisite handling particularly of the mental state in human beings.The setting is July 1994, in a villa up in the hills from Nice in the Alpes-Maritime, one of my favourite places in southern France. A famous poet, Jozef Jacobs, known as Joe, and his wife Isabel, a former war correspondent, are on
The antiquarian bookstore I most often frequent has two sections: "Fiction and Literature," where you'd find Michael Ondaatje and Grace Paley and Lorrie Moore, and "General Fiction," where you'd find Nicholas Sparks and Jodi Picoult and Candace Bushnell. I found Swimming Home in the latter section. Don't blame the staff. Blame the covers of the most recent editions, with their benevolent blues and suburban lawn greens. Blame the title (which serves in the novel as the title of a poem-cum-suicide
I listened to this short, dark tale during one long drive. Dislikes: none of the characters are particularly likeable and I didn't understand the ending. Likes: it kept me guessing and some of the dialogue was excellent. Summary: it was ok but it won't have me scouring the bookshelves for more offerings from this writer.
A group of tourists holidaying in the French Riviera arrive at their summer villa only to find something floating in the swimming pool. One of them thinks its a bear, but it turns out to be a very naked stranger. The woman Kitty, having nowhere else to go, joins the group and ends up being a big disruption to the group in this deeply psychology dark novel.Ok, Ill admit that the main reason I decided to read this book was because it was short listed for the Man Booker award but lets face it,
How to begin talking about this novel?I am reminded, seeing how much attention this book didn't get (though it was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize), and how unenthusiastic the response by GR reviewers, that I shouldn't trust GR star ratings or at least I shouldn't be following them like breadcrumbs that will necessarily lead me to a compelling book. Of course, I know this, but I must often be reminded. It is so easy to dismiss something "unpopular" (not sure if that is the best word) in this
3.5 Not quite sure what to make of this little gem of a book. A holiday, characters that are on course for a terrific crash of some sort, the insidious nature of depression all meet in this tightly structured, brilliantly worded novel. Every word, every scene means something, nothing is wasted. Strange but rather brilliant at the same time. Didn't quite manage to like it, but did admire it and the ending was not at all was I thought it was going to be. The tension in the novel is palpable and at
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