Comments on: Wish You Were Here, by Graham Swift

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 19:52:06 +0000

Kevin: I like the phrasing of “bearing witness” to the “gloom” that Swift is attempting to describe. It is present in life and a fictional description is entirely appropriate — I’d also observe that while that makes the book difficult to read, it sows seeds that do keep coming back in memory.

By: Kevin J MacLellan

Kevin J MacLellan — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:20:34 +0000

Hello Kevin,
I think I understand your reservations about G. Swift. His is a gloomy perspective, to be sure. The Sweet Shop Owner is the first book of his that I had read, and it convinced me that here was a first rate author–and a dour pessimist. But I came to see it differently over time: I began to see the work itself as a kind of redemption of the vision, as the author’s way – and thus possibly ours, too – of seeing the ‘miseries, as miseries’ (to paraphrase Keats) but rendered with a sympathy and honest insight (=kindness) which amounts to bearing witness, not merely wallowing in gloom.
I say this after recently reading Yates’s The Easter Parade, and thinking alot about why (or whether) this type of vision is necessary or laudable. Gloom, for its own sake is so much nonsense; but an unsentimental realism, like a true (or mature?) sense of the absurd is an occasion for empathy at the truly universal level. It may not be everyone’s “cuppa”, but we ignore it at our own peril. Not to face it is to ignore a significant part of what is true of the human experience generally–even universally.
Of course, even if I am right, it is only worth what the work itself is worth. To pull of this kind of alchemy the writer must be good enough – and honest enough – to produce something so good it makes up for, or ‘redeems’ the anguish of facing it. I believe Swift can do this; and I am leaning toward Yates as another in that class.
In any case, your own honesty in assessing the work is worth a lot because it brings these crucial matters to the fore. For that I am grateful, and it makes me, and others I am sure, trust your judgment. It is amazing to realize how few reviews do that!

By: Guy Savage

Guy Savage — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 20:17:34 +0000

I really liked The Sweet Shop Owner-thought it was marvellous. I probably won’t be able to pass this one up but I’ll probably read it along with something funny.

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:32:35 +0000

Lisa: You are well ahead of me in the Swift stakes. A friend has highly recommended Waterland so I will probably get to it eventually. For me, he seems to be in a group of writers (Anita Brookner and Iris Murdoch are two others who come to mind) whom I have read one or two books — which I enjoyed — but did not feel motivated to further explore their work. And I can’t really say why.,

By: Lisa Hill

Lisa Hill — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:41:39 +0000

Oh dear, I am behind the times, I’ve only just bought Tomorrow, and that came out in 2007!
I was not so keen on The Light of Day, but I enjoyed Waterland and Last Orders, and on the strength of those two have been hunting out his early titles as well. I’ve got The Sweet Shop Owner and Ever After on the TBR as well as Tomorrow, I just need time to read them…

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 03:05:43 +0000

Guy: I only remember reading Last Orders, although even that was a long time ago and I think I may have read one or two others in my youth (they obviously haven’t stayed in memory).

I deliberately avoided saying that I “liked” it because, in fact, I didn’t — but that is because of the unrelenting gloom of the story and its key themes. I was very impressed by it and think it is an excellent novel, if approached with the right frame of mind. On the other hand, I would not fault those who said they wanted no part of it.

By: Guy Savage

Guy Savage — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 01:04:08 +0000

This one is on my radar. Did you like it? How does it compare to other novels by the same author?