The prose is magnificent and a tour de force by an author with an exquisite handling particularly of the mental state in human beings.This book is rather wonderful - cryptic, elusive, allusive and dreamlike, and very difficult to encapsulate or describe in a meaningful review.
Description is given like stage direction: ”His daughter, Nina Jacobs, fourteen years old, standing at the edge of the pool in her new cherry-print bikini, glanced anxiously at her mother.” The poetry comes through in the spare and precise languaShortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize, this slim book reads like a play, the action centered on a small group of people gathered at a tourist villa in seaside France. Set in a summer villa, the story is tautly structured, taking place over a week in which a group of beautiful, flawed tourists in the French Riviera come loose at the seams.Shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize. Set in a holiday home in the hills above Nice in 1994, this enthralling story is a great example of well crafted language. One of them thinks it’s a bear, but it turns out to be a very naked stranger. It’s a weird read. But there is so much going on between the chapters, between the lines, that it feels much longer. So, so glad my holidays are not at all like this one.A group of tourists holidaying in the French Riviera arrive at their summer villa only to find something floating in the swimming pool. [I assumed it was one of Mitchell's guns that Joe uses at the end of the book... I’m really at a loss to understand why this novella shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2012 did not win it. Levy does not feel the need to tell us everything, but leaves us to discover some things as the story progresses and to imagine other things for ourselves.
The thing was, she must have actually cut the tails off the rabbits herself. But there is no voice over, hardly any backstory, and no linking of scenes. With a knife. Are we reading or watching? The entire book is quite lean -- a week of time, briefly, surgically told -- and yet there are 9 distinct, well drawn characters, each with backstory, plot and motivation. I loved Levy's latest novel, 'Hot Milk', so that impelled me to start her backlist. The thing was, she must have actually cut the tails off the rabbits herself. !Shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize, this slim book reads like a play, the action centered on a small group of people gathered at a tourist villa in seaside France. Two families on holiday in a villa in Nice are surprised when a naked woman is found swimming in the pool one morning. Isabel is a Meanwhile, Kitty's mental problems become more and more obvious, yet Nina is the only one who dares to address the issue.
Description is given like stage direction: ”His daughter, Nina Jacobs, fourteen years old, standing at the edge of the pool in her new cherry-print bikini, glanced anxiously at her mother.” The poetry comes through in the spare and precise language. We soon learn that she is not there by accident but that she is there to meet Joe, a famous poet, to have him read one of her poems. 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.Swimming Home was kindly provided to me by Netgalley for Bloomsbury USA.Swimming Home was kindly provided to me by Netgalley for Bloomsbury USA.Note: this review is not very original, since it uses a deal of quotation. Set in a summer villa, the story is tautly structured, taking place over a week in which a group of beautiful, flawed tourists in the French Riviera come loose at the seams.Shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize. Swimming Home is a novel by British writer Deborah Levy, published in 2011. Is it realer than reality? She must have sawed through the rabbits with a carving knife." I found 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. In the end, however, it is actually Joe who kills himself. Levy's craftsmanship is rich.I really wanted to love this book, and I did love Levy's writing, her prose is masterful - conveying character, setting, and insight in small spare beautifully crafted paragraphs. [the novel is in fact if anything a warning against doing this, a caveat lector, but one with that is rendered very beautifully and ultimately with some shot at redemption]. And the book is only worth reading because we hope it will get better and we'll all get to the end quickly. As it turns out, Kitty's mental issues were just a reflection of his much more deep-founded depression. We become immobile in front of the screen of her set pieces, watching passively as the events happen before our eyes, as if in a documentary or a piece of reality TV. With a knife. Is it reality? Every sentence being concise and well crafted and creates a narrative that is devastating in its effects.This is a short book, a novella.
The plot unfolds through the eyes of several different chaI've been putting off this review because Swimming Home has me a little stymied. I am so done with this book.3.5 Not quite sure what to make of this little gem of a book.
I found Stunning. Every word, every scene means something, nothing is wasted. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account.
The tension in the novel is palpable and at3.5 Not quite sure what to make of this little gem of a book. There is a visual quality to her work that makes the reader blink. Please feel free to flag it.What a peculiar little book? Critical reception for the novel was generally favourable. Strange but rather brilliant at the same time. Swimming Home is a steal: with just 157 pages, this little book packs an incredible punch. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of 99Relationships between family, friends and a mysterious stranger are explored in uneasy detail in this compact and memorable read. Is it a knock-off of a movie called Stunning.