Comments on: Swimming Home, by Deborah Levy

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:32:13 +0000

Kim: I do think the publisher deserves credit for making this book available, even though my impression would be that it has limited audience appeal. Having said that, you would be one of the people whom I would say might well find it worth the effort — you read a lot and you will find that your writing and editing knowledge comes into play as it goes along.

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:29:48 +0000

I think anyone who writes — or reads a lot — will have some appreciation for this book. And I suspect someone who writes fiction would have even more. That said, it did very much have the flavor of exercise to me; those who are more into appreciating the nuances of modernist fiction might well find more to like.

I too kept thinking other examples of ex-pats or holiday-makers (Martin Amis’ The Pregnant Widow came most immediately to mind) but they were all much more story or character-driven. I’ll confess that that strikes closer to my interest, as much as I salute Levy for what she has done with this book.

By: kimbofo

kimbofo — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 17:56:54 +0000

This review is very useful, Kevin. I like the ethos of the publishing company and was somewhat surprised that one of its titles made the Booker list — not because I thought the books lacked quality but because it seemed so unusual for a teeny weeny indie company to get one of its books noticed in such prominent fashion. I read Down The Rabbit Hole, another of its titles, late last year and thought it was extraordinarily good. That said, having read your review of Swimming Home, I’m not sure this one really appeals…

By: David

David — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 16:07:27 +0000

I think I responded to this novel in a very similar way, Kevin. I wanted to say something about the themes and the symbols you refer to, but a mere fortnight or so after reading it I find that I’m struggling to recall it in enough detail to do so.

I love your comparison to artist’s sketches. Sketches can have a freshness that a finished work lacks, but they can feel incomplete and provisional too. But the most important thing about sketches is that they are an exercise, not an end in themselves. As my old life drawing tutor used to say “you draw to draw again”. ‘Swimming Home’ definitely has that feeling to it – a freshness and immediacy and a sense of ideas being worked through yes, but also the feeling that it is a writerly exercise and could still be redrafted and fleshed out. I like that about it in a way and can appreciate it, but it doesn’t make for a book that sticks in the mind.

As I mentioned over on Trevor’s Booker forum, whilst I was reading this I kept being reminded of Susan Wicks’ ‘A Place to Stop’ which I read earlier in the year – another book set in France amongst British ex-pats and holidaymakers, and which is also fairly ‘modernist’ and idea-driven but which I found much more engaging and memorable, and would have preferred over this as an example of its type for the longlist.