Graham Swift: Ever After

[Cocko]

Here's something from 1992:

In his fifth novel, Graham Swift again looks at the effects of past on present, a reoccurring theme central to at least two of his other works – the phenomenal Waterland and the disappointing Shuttlecock. In particular I loved Waterland, Swift’s intricate crafting of layers of narrative seamlessly weaves together stories hidden within stories, each intricate detail informing the reader’s understanding of the central characters. In the case of Waterland, spanning over 250 years of family history, that’s an impressive saga in anyone’s book.

Nevertheless, this is not about Waterland. Unfortunately, Ever After is more closely aligned with Shuttlecock, another of Swift’s novels that deals with a son’s dead father, his sense of loss and how answers can be found in the past. Ultimately this book left me flat, and in some ways it felt like a rewriting of Shuttlecock (interestingly, in both cases the father in question was a spy in WWII).

I suppose this can be the danger when clogging a novel with multiple stories, you fracture the readers attention and run the risk of spreading the interest thin. When it works it is powerful, when it doesn’t it feels laboured. I engaged with Bill’s relationship with his wife and parents, but I didn’t engage with the events surrounding his academic work or the story it unfolds. But maybe this is just a reaction to some very dense prose employed to explore the spiritual crisis at the novel’s centre, a type of language that never disrupted the conversational flow of Waterland. I guess this is another book that wanted to like much more than I did.

Still Swift is a great writer when he hits his mark, I particularly loved this short paragraph:

And I didn’t know I loved her till I’d dreamt of her. I didn’t know it was the real thing until an illusion had signalled it. Until she’d stepped out of her real existence into this other existence of which only I knew…

[Mirabell]

hmmm. I always meant to read Swift. I have a novel of his on my shelves but I forget the title. Something with "light".

Thanky for this comment.

[Eric]

Kokko is the Finnish for bonfire.

I have never read a thing by Graham Swift, but just happened to be Googling yesterday to see whether it was indeed him who had written the original novel on which the film "Last Orders" was based, as I keep mixing him up with Julian Barnes (which will no doubt cause hilarity among those better acquainted with contemporary BritLit than I am).

So this thread is welcome. I too shall have to read Swift. He's in the queue, but where I don't know. Mirabell: hmmm, stop posing and make some comments, for a change.

[Mirabell]

Originally Posted by Eric

Mirabell: hmmm, stop posing and make some comments, for a change.

soooo
what pose was this?

my but you are an exasperating individual, aren't you?

Graham Swift is one of the best living English novelists, no doubt about it. Last Orders was superb, and so was Waterland and The Light of Day.

[Eric]

MJReader: I've never read the book, and have noticed the debate as to whether Last Orders was part-plagiarised from Faulkner.

But the film (which I've seen twice on TV) was brilliant. The subject matter sounds boring or schmalzy. But the film was neither; moving instead.

So I am indeed hoping that when I get round to reading Graham Swift, it'll be a treat.

[Cocko]

In my comments regarding Ever After I decided not to draw too many parallels to Last Orders. While they do share some similar themes Last Orders does take a different narrative approach. That said, I should mention that Last Orders is also a book a hold in very high regard. And, from my reading of interviews with Swift he has certainly defended the book well in my mind (although it must be a strange situation to have to defend you book just because it wins a couple of prizes).

I think the one thing that is common through Waterland and Last Orders is there ability to pack a mighty powerful emotional punch. The depths of character development and sense of history in the books is staggering, particularly as they are both around 300 pages... I've read books double the length that have tried and failed to explore the themes of death and loss to the same extent (mind you, the benchmark is probably set by Tolstoy in his Death of Ivan Illych!).

[Eric]

Yes, Cocko, I'll look out for Swift, next time I'm in a bookshop with a reasonable selection of English books (I live in the Netherlands). He sounds to be an interesting writer.

[obooki]

Re: Last Orders, plagiarism of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. Not that I've been through it with a fine tooth-comb, but yes: he seems to have just taken both the plot and the form from AILD and simply translated it into an English context. I think it's well beyond the point of simple authorial borrowing.

If you want a different perspective, I don't think much of his works. I find him unremittingly dull.

[saliotthomas]

I read last order without knowing the reputation of Graham Swift and didn't like it at all.It's interesting to come to an author without apriorie,so you can have a clear judgement of his work.