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Out of This World
In 1972 Robert Beech, First World War survivor and present-day armaments maker, is killed by a car bomb. The event breaks the career of his son Harry, a news photographer, and comes close to destroying his granddaughter Sophie. Ten years later, the Falklands War has begun and both Harry, now working as an aerial photographer, and Sophie, visiting an analyst in New York, are haunted by a past that has scarred and divided them. 'It appeals to the emotions, the intellect and the imagination, and its elegance is as durable as Greek art ...a novel fro those who still believe in the importance of fiction, indeed of art' - "Scotsman".
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
About the author
Graham Swift
50 books634 followersGraham Colin Swift FRSL (born May 4, 1949) is an English author. He was born in London, England and educated at Dulwich College, London, Queens' College, Cambridge, and later the University of York. He was a friend of Ted Hughes.
Some of his works have been made into films, including Last Orders, which starred Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins and Waterland which starred Jeremy Irons. Last Orders was a joint winner of the 1996 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction and a mildly controversial winner of the Booker Prize in 1996, owing to the superficial similarities in plot to William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. Waterland was set in The Fens; it is a novel of landscape, history and family, and is often cited as one of the outstanding post-war British novels and has been a set text on the English Literature syllabus in British schools.
Some of his works have been made into films, including Last Orders, which starred Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins and Waterland which starred Jeremy Irons. Last Orders was a joint winner of the 1996 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction and a mildly controversial winner of the Booker Prize in 1996, owing to the superficial similarities in plot to William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. Waterland was set in The Fens; it is a novel of landscape, history and family, and is often cited as one of the outstanding post-war British novels and has been a set text on the English Literature syllabus in British schools.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
July 18, 2021
Graham Swift's 1988 novel is told by alternating narrators. The father, Harry Beech, is in his sixties and his estranged daughter, Sophie, is in her 30's. As each recalls the past, the reasons for their alienation become clearer. Both have suffered heartache, rejection, death of loved ones, but neither seems able to get beyond their own history of loss; they are unable to recognize the similarities in each other.
Harry Beech was an internationally recognized photographer traveling the world to shoot the often horrific scenes that would appear in the media. He needed to stay emotionally distant from his photos, though his constant traveling caused him to be physically and emotionally distant from his wife and daughter. He realizes the problem with photography "is what you don't see"but he never realizes that is true in his personal life as well.
Robert Beech, Harry's father, is a WWI hero and the well-to-do manufacturer of munitions. His country estate becomes the home of Sophie and her mother while Harry pursues his career. Robert who had been an aloof and emotionally cold father to Harry, develops a warm and loving relationship with young Sophie. Father and son, so emotionally similar, yet with such divergent views. One a war hero and producer of guns and the other a recorder of the horror and devastation that result. One feels entitled to a life of wealth and comfort and the other questions that life and never seeks it.
This novel of three generations is set against major events of the 20thC, many relating to war and the
instruments of war. Attitudes change over such a time span and so does life as it was once known. Swift's characterizations are phenomenal. The glimmer of hope for reconciliation is refreshing. This is one of those heartbreaking novels that is also beautiful. How have I missed this author? I will soon be reading more of his deeply moving prose.
Harry Beech was an internationally recognized photographer traveling the world to shoot the often horrific scenes that would appear in the media. He needed to stay emotionally distant from his photos, though his constant traveling caused him to be physically and emotionally distant from his wife and daughter. He realizes the problem with photography "is what you don't see"but he never realizes that is true in his personal life as well.
Robert Beech, Harry's father, is a WWI hero and the well-to-do manufacturer of munitions. His country estate becomes the home of Sophie and her mother while Harry pursues his career. Robert who had been an aloof and emotionally cold father to Harry, develops a warm and loving relationship with young Sophie. Father and son, so emotionally similar, yet with such divergent views. One a war hero and producer of guns and the other a recorder of the horror and devastation that result. One feels entitled to a life of wealth and comfort and the other questions that life and never seeks it.
This novel of three generations is set against major events of the 20thC, many relating to war and the
instruments of war. Attitudes change over such a time span and so does life as it was once known. Swift's characterizations are phenomenal. The glimmer of hope for reconciliation is refreshing. This is one of those heartbreaking novels that is also beautiful. How have I missed this author? I will soon be reading more of his deeply moving prose.
June 17, 2024
Tu és apenas os teus olhos, tudo o que existe está nos teus olhos, tu és aquilo que é a tua visão. E isto levava a um corolário que eu conseguia, se não formular, pelo menos sentir. Se tu existes na tua visão das coisas, então nada te pode magoar, não precisas de ter medo de nada.
Depois de me encantar com a luminosidade de “Domingo das Mães”, senti-me a chafurdar neste lodaçal de maus sentimentos e personagens detestáveis sem redenção possível. “Fora deste mundo” é uma obra em que o trauma da guerra e da perda justifica os comportamentos mais ignóbeis dos seus intervenientes: pais ausentes e mulheres infiéis.
Robert Beecher, herói da Primeira Guerra Mundial, é um fabricante de armas que, ao perder a mulher no parto, nunca consegue ligar-se ao filho. O filho, por seu lado, recusa herdar o negócio, sobretudo depois da Segunda Guerra Mundial e de se tornar fotojornalista, cobrindo conflitos como o Vietname. Quando também ele fica viúvo, porque a mulher refugiada da guerra civil na Grécia tem um acidente ao voltar à terra natal, desliga-se da filha e deixa-a entregue ao avô que, já idoso, é vítima de um atentado terrorista por ser quem é.
Nesta meditação sobre a destruturação afectiva de uma família devido ao narcisismo e ao confronto armado, é por de mais evidente que as armas matam pessoas e as pessoas matam pessoas, mas os que sobrevivem ficam emocionalmente estropiados.
Para falar francamente, achei a ideia da “invasão da privacidade” curiosamente despropositada, já que o sofrimento patenteado nas minhas fotografias era com frequência o resultado de invasões bem literais e traumáticas. (…) De qual privacidade estávamos afinal a falar? Da privacidade das pessoas retratadas nas minhas fotografias ou da privacidade dos leitores dos jornais de domingo, que queriam tomar em paz o seu pequeno-almoço?
Depois de me encantar com a luminosidade de “Domingo das Mães”, senti-me a chafurdar neste lodaçal de maus sentimentos e personagens detestáveis sem redenção possível. “Fora deste mundo” é uma obra em que o trauma da guerra e da perda justifica os comportamentos mais ignóbeis dos seus intervenientes: pais ausentes e mulheres infiéis.
Robert Beecher, herói da Primeira Guerra Mundial, é um fabricante de armas que, ao perder a mulher no parto, nunca consegue ligar-se ao filho. O filho, por seu lado, recusa herdar o negócio, sobretudo depois da Segunda Guerra Mundial e de se tornar fotojornalista, cobrindo conflitos como o Vietname. Quando também ele fica viúvo, porque a mulher refugiada da guerra civil na Grécia tem um acidente ao voltar à terra natal, desliga-se da filha e deixa-a entregue ao avô que, já idoso, é vítima de um atentado terrorista por ser quem é.
Nesta meditação sobre a destruturação afectiva de uma família devido ao narcisismo e ao confronto armado, é por de mais evidente que as armas matam pessoas e as pessoas matam pessoas, mas os que sobrevivem ficam emocionalmente estropiados.
Para falar francamente, achei a ideia da “invasão da privacidade” curiosamente despropositada, já que o sofrimento patenteado nas minhas fotografias era com frequência o resultado de invasões bem literais e traumáticas. (…) De qual privacidade estávamos afinal a falar? Da privacidade das pessoas retratadas nas minhas fotografias ou da privacidade dos leitores dos jornais de domingo, que queriam tomar em paz o seu pequeno-almoço?
July 3, 2018
Swift paints a set of complex characters who battle their fears and flaws. He strips his characters and presents them naked and vulnerable.
I don't particularly enjoy first person narration, but in this novel it's on point, almost necessary to show how the characters think and why they act in a way or another.
The novel goes on and a climax grows stronger with every chapter thanks to a handful plot twists that will force you to continue reading.
This is a story of a difficult relationship between a father and a daughter, that really is the story of a Whole family, with its secrets and lies and painful past.
I loved it.
I don't particularly enjoy first person narration, but in this novel it's on point, almost necessary to show how the characters think and why they act in a way or another.
The novel goes on and a climax grows stronger with every chapter thanks to a handful plot twists that will force you to continue reading.
This is a story of a difficult relationship between a father and a daughter, that really is the story of a Whole family, with its secrets and lies and painful past.
I loved it.
June 15, 2014
Tricky giving this a rating. I decided on a harsh three stars rather than a generous four. The writing itself is sublime but I struggled at times with making sense of the way the narrative unfolds. This may be mostly my fault. Like in life I am a lazy reader.
October 13, 2023
2.5/5⭐️
”A hero’s death. A martyr’s death. A hero chooses. A martyr chooses.”
🗞️Je dois avouer être très très très mitigée quant à ce livre. J’y ai trouvé de très belles citations, l’écriture est plutôt jolie.
En revanche, l’intrigue en elle-même est carrément bizarre. À vrai dire, il n’y a même pas vraiment d’intrigue.
🗞️On suit à tour de rôle Harry, un photographe d’un peu plus de 60 ans, et Sophie, sa fille, mère de famille d’une quarantaine d’années. Bien que les deux personnages ne me soient pas apparus comme très sympathiques, je dois pourtant bien avouer avoir eu une nette préférence pour Harry. Ce n’est pas un bon père, mais ce n’est pas un mauvais père non plus. Il a fait ce qu’il a pu pour être présent, avec les moyens dont il disposait. Sa vie ne fut pas facile, et sa femme avait l’air de le faire passer pour le méchant. C’est cette image que Sophie a retenu.
”What makes a man take a picture like this ?”
Sophie est une femme au foyer d’une quarantaine d’années qui voue une haine profonde envers son père, on ne sait même pas pourquoi. En réalité, cette haine paraît surtout venir d’un profond dégoût de soi-même. Sophie est un personnage que j’ai trouvé détestable. Elle a un super mari, mais décide de le tromper. Elle n’aime pas sa vie de mère au foyer, mais n’en parle pas à son époux. Elle se sent piégée dans son rôle de mère et de femme, mais se complaît dans son silence.
”Here I was, in the land of gods and heroes.”
🗞️Même si Harry est un personnage assez ambigu vis-à-vis de sa relation avec Sophie, il m’a fait une assez bonne impression lors de ses chapitres. Alors ok, il va épouser une femme de 40 ans sa cadette — super bizarre —, mais il a l’air d’avoir un bon fond, et j’ai l’impression que Jenny saura lui rendre le sourire. Elle l’a déjà fait, d’ailleurs !
🗞️Au contraire, Sophie n’a que deux sujets de conversation auprès du Dr. Klein, son psy : son père et le cul. Lorsqu’elle ne lui parle pas de son père, elle lui parle de ses aventures extra-conjugales. C’est un personnage que j’ai trouvé profondément antipathique, surtout qu’elle explique elle-même tromper son mari parce qu’elle en a l’occasion🤷🏻♀️
”Dear Doctor Klein. The things I haven’t told you. The things I never told you.”
🗞️Si le dernier chapitre de Sophie nous laisse présager un peu d’espoir quant à sa réconciliation avec son père, le tout dernier chapitre est du point de vue de Harry. Et celui-ci, est quelque peu décevant, et ne nous avance à rien quant à d’éventuelles retrouvailles.
”Small worlds. Big worlds. The one can eclipse the other. When the moon blots out the sun and makes the world go dark, it isn’t because the moon is bigger than the sun.”
🗞️C’est une lecture en demi-teinte pour moi. Si j’ai bien apprécié quelques passages, j’en ai déprécié énormément. Une phrase en particulier m’a fait tiquer, à la limite de la pédocriminalité, et qui n’avait, en plus de cela, aucun intérêt quant à l’histoire.
”A hero’s death. A martyr’s death. A hero chooses. A martyr chooses.”
🗞️Je dois avouer être très très très mitigée quant à ce livre. J’y ai trouvé de très belles citations, l’écriture est plutôt jolie.
En revanche, l’intrigue en elle-même est carrément bizarre. À vrai dire, il n’y a même pas vraiment d’intrigue.
🗞️On suit à tour de rôle Harry, un photographe d’un peu plus de 60 ans, et Sophie, sa fille, mère de famille d’une quarantaine d’années. Bien que les deux personnages ne me soient pas apparus comme très sympathiques, je dois pourtant bien avouer avoir eu une nette préférence pour Harry. Ce n’est pas un bon père, mais ce n’est pas un mauvais père non plus. Il a fait ce qu’il a pu pour être présent, avec les moyens dont il disposait. Sa vie ne fut pas facile, et sa femme avait l’air de le faire passer pour le méchant. C’est cette image que Sophie a retenu.
”What makes a man take a picture like this ?”
Sophie est une femme au foyer d’une quarantaine d’années qui voue une haine profonde envers son père, on ne sait même pas pourquoi. En réalité, cette haine paraît surtout venir d’un profond dégoût de soi-même. Sophie est un personnage que j’ai trouvé détestable. Elle a un super mari, mais décide de le tromper. Elle n’aime pas sa vie de mère au foyer, mais n’en parle pas à son époux. Elle se sent piégée dans son rôle de mère et de femme, mais se complaît dans son silence.
”Here I was, in the land of gods and heroes.”
🗞️Même si Harry est un personnage assez ambigu vis-à-vis de sa relation avec Sophie, il m’a fait une assez bonne impression lors de ses chapitres. Alors ok, il va épouser une femme de 40 ans sa cadette — super bizarre —, mais il a l’air d’avoir un bon fond, et j’ai l’impression que Jenny saura lui rendre le sourire. Elle l’a déjà fait, d’ailleurs !
🗞️Au contraire, Sophie n’a que deux sujets de conversation auprès du Dr. Klein, son psy : son père et le cul. Lorsqu’elle ne lui parle pas de son père, elle lui parle de ses aventures extra-conjugales. C’est un personnage que j’ai trouvé profondément antipathique, surtout qu’elle explique elle-même tromper son mari parce qu’elle en a l’occasion🤷🏻♀️
”Dear Doctor Klein. The things I haven’t told you. The things I never told you.”
🗞️Si le dernier chapitre de Sophie nous laisse présager un peu d’espoir quant à sa réconciliation avec son père, le tout dernier chapitre est du point de vue de Harry. Et celui-ci, est quelque peu décevant, et ne nous avance à rien quant à d’éventuelles retrouvailles.
”Small worlds. Big worlds. The one can eclipse the other. When the moon blots out the sun and makes the world go dark, it isn’t because the moon is bigger than the sun.”
🗞️C’est une lecture en demi-teinte pour moi. Si j’ai bien apprécié quelques passages, j’en ai déprécié énormément. Une phrase en particulier m’a fait tiquer, à la limite de la pédocriminalité, et qui n’avait, en plus de cela, aucun intérêt quant à l’histoire.
January 11, 2022
I found ‘Mothering Sunday’ aesthetically and artistically pleasing, like a breezy painting in novel form (all those images of Jane stretched out naked on Paul’s bed!) but tedious and a bit soporific. In comparison, ‘Out of This World’ was surprisingly pacey and moving, with characters full of defensiveness and neuroses that felt real and compelling. Though I was often confused by the necessity of some of the plot lines (what exactly was being expressed via Harry’s relationship with Jenny?) I found the three-generational conflict fascinating. Perhaps most absorbing was Harry’s ambivalent relationship to his work, and the novel’s interrogation of the ethics and implications of a career in photography; given the novel was written in 1988, there was something very prescient about Harry’s concern that we might be living for the camera rather than allowing the camera to document our lives. I wonder what he might think about Instagram?!
September 5, 2019
Set in 1982 just as a Task Force is sailing to the South Atlantic to repel the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland Islands, Out of this World is a family drama that features most of Britain's major conflicts of the 20th century and centres around two main characters; Harry Beech, a former war photographer, and his estranged daughter, Sophie. Harry served in the RAF during WWII whilst his father won a Victoria Cross in WWI and was the owner of a successful armaments factory until he is killed in a terrorist bomb blast. The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the first moon landing also make an appearance.
Harry was a successful news photographer until packing it all in to live quietly in Dorset and is about to get re-married to a much younger woman. Meanwhile Sophie lies on a psychiatrist's couch in Brooklyn, venting her hostility towards her father and complaining about the short-comings of her own marriage to her analyst.
Snippets of the family's history is revealed by Harry and Sophie alternately in flashbacks showing the power struggles and shifting loyalties within the family . These snippets aren't revealed chronologically but are gradually teased out seemingly at random rather than appearing in any particular order.
This is my fifth book produced by this author but is almost certainly my least favourite. It lacks the evocative portrayal of the landscape, as seen in Waterland, despite Harry now being an aerial photographer working on an archaeological project. Similarly I didn't particularly like the way the story swung between the viewpoints of Harry and Sophie, never feeling that either was a particularly reliable as a narrator. This was certainly true with Sophie who appeared especially erratic. Harry is more credible but never really felt like a fully rounded character. After enjoying the author's other works that I've read I found this one rather disappointing.
Harry was a successful news photographer until packing it all in to live quietly in Dorset and is about to get re-married to a much younger woman. Meanwhile Sophie lies on a psychiatrist's couch in Brooklyn, venting her hostility towards her father and complaining about the short-comings of her own marriage to her analyst.
Snippets of the family's history is revealed by Harry and Sophie alternately in flashbacks showing the power struggles and shifting loyalties within the family . These snippets aren't revealed chronologically but are gradually teased out seemingly at random rather than appearing in any particular order.
This is my fifth book produced by this author but is almost certainly my least favourite. It lacks the evocative portrayal of the landscape, as seen in Waterland, despite Harry now being an aerial photographer working on an archaeological project. Similarly I didn't particularly like the way the story swung between the viewpoints of Harry and Sophie, never feeling that either was a particularly reliable as a narrator. This was certainly true with Sophie who appeared especially erratic. Harry is more credible but never really felt like a fully rounded character. After enjoying the author's other works that I've read I found this one rather disappointing.
February 9, 2018
A horrific tragedy permeates the whole story, somehow even the lives of the main characters prior to this event. Harry and his estranged daughter Sophie take turns in telling their version in alternating short chapters. This works fine. Sophie, in particular, suffers from what we gather is second hand ptsd, but is she using this an excuse? Time will tell.
Late on there is one chapter from Joe, Sophie's husband. This is definitely worth waiting for, like a brilliant short story in itself. In it he describes an event from his youth, when his scout troop put on a Christmas party. He had to go out the front and speak a monologue with corny jokes written by the scout-master. Instead of being the disaster he imagined, the audience actually laugh and Joe is in his element. I include this because I had a similar experience. Playing Major Petcoff in the school play "Arms and the Man", I hadn't realised until the first night that my big speech was so funny. It is extraordinary when you get such a reaction from the audience.
Back to the novel. Thank goodness that Sophie's last chapter has some hope for the future. Just a shame this was let down by Harry's final meditation on the past.
Late on there is one chapter from Joe, Sophie's husband. This is definitely worth waiting for, like a brilliant short story in itself. In it he describes an event from his youth, when his scout troop put on a Christmas party. He had to go out the front and speak a monologue with corny jokes written by the scout-master. Instead of being the disaster he imagined, the audience actually laugh and Joe is in his element. I include this because I had a similar experience. Playing Major Petcoff in the school play "Arms and the Man", I hadn't realised until the first night that my big speech was so funny. It is extraordinary when you get such a reaction from the audience.
Back to the novel. Thank goodness that Sophie's last chapter has some hope for the future. Just a shame this was let down by Harry's final meditation on the past.
December 22, 2021
I so enjoyed reading this novel set in 1982 and published in the late eighties. It raises questions of witnessing and complicity so fundamental that it not only escapes datedness to a great extent but seems prescient now in some of its reflections and observations. I also loved how brilliantly the novel braids its two narrative strands (father/daughter).
October 29, 2022
This book was published in 1988, and the narrators' voices are of those times (the eighties).
The perspectives switch between Sophie (the daughter, mainly reviewing her life and relationships in conversation with a psychiatrist) and Harry (her father, a war photographer, the son of a warfare magnate), and two short perspectives of Joe (Sophie’s husband) and Anna (Harry’s partner). The story is of three generations, each with complicated relationships with their fathers, and how it reverberates on everyone else.
This was not easy, nor a very pleasant read, since the stream-of-consciousness accounts and the fragmentary nature of each snapshot requires that the readers pay attention and always try to find the truth beyond the subjectivity of each perspective.
In the end, I thought that although the characters are looking for redemption and peace of mind, to integrate the past and move on, they remain flawed and vulnerable, still trying to connect and reunite. We do not find out if they will succeed!
I liked the sections about Harry’s work as a photographer, his meditations on the role of photography in capturing history and events, but also on the limitations of this art:
“I used to believe once that ours was the age in which we would say farewell to myths and legends, when they would fall off us like useless plumage and we would see ourselves clearly only as what we are. I thought the camera was the key to this process. But I think the world cannot bear to be only what it is. The world always wants another world, a shadow, an echo, a model of itself.”
Overall, I did not connect with the characters, and I felt I enjoyed many fragments from an intellectual point of view, but nothing captured me with emotion.
The perspectives switch between Sophie (the daughter, mainly reviewing her life and relationships in conversation with a psychiatrist) and Harry (her father, a war photographer, the son of a warfare magnate), and two short perspectives of Joe (Sophie’s husband) and Anna (Harry’s partner). The story is of three generations, each with complicated relationships with their fathers, and how it reverberates on everyone else.
This was not easy, nor a very pleasant read, since the stream-of-consciousness accounts and the fragmentary nature of each snapshot requires that the readers pay attention and always try to find the truth beyond the subjectivity of each perspective.
In the end, I thought that although the characters are looking for redemption and peace of mind, to integrate the past and move on, they remain flawed and vulnerable, still trying to connect and reunite. We do not find out if they will succeed!
I liked the sections about Harry’s work as a photographer, his meditations on the role of photography in capturing history and events, but also on the limitations of this art:
“I used to believe once that ours was the age in which we would say farewell to myths and legends, when they would fall off us like useless plumage and we would see ourselves clearly only as what we are. I thought the camera was the key to this process. But I think the world cannot bear to be only what it is. The world always wants another world, a shadow, an echo, a model of itself.”
Overall, I did not connect with the characters, and I felt I enjoyed many fragments from an intellectual point of view, but nothing captured me with emotion.
April 6, 2021
The various reviews here helped me form my own conclusions on the overall book although I think very few got to the heart of the book, or at least to what Swift was suggesting was the heart. They helped because I think the book was not fully formed and uneven, and didn't deliver on all its suggestions. The best way I can illustrate this point is with two of the secondary characters - Frank and Joe. Frank was introduced clumsily and in a manner that made me pause and wonder what purpose his character was to play. And he was to play a key part or at least I think so. Joe's chapter that another reviewer describes as a short story in its own right is interesting but I think hints at more sinister worldliness below his boyish surface but the reader has to join up the dots of that with the overarching themes (or maybe I joined up dots that simply did not exist).
This wasn't an easy read, neither because of the subject matter nor because of the double narrative but because of the loose ends.
However it made me think, and it will stay in my memory. It made me think about the representation of war - from the glorification of classic Greek war that endures for so long and the clawing images of Portsmouth in 1982 to the horrors of Vietnam, Nazi Germany and the trenches of World War One. Perhaps Swift is suggesting that while Harry tries to hide to nurse his scars, physical and emotional, war goes on and in fact our attitude to it worsens and becomes more disconnected from reality. Full cycle - Trojan War back to Falklands.
This wasn't an easy read, neither because of the subject matter nor because of the double narrative but because of the loose ends.
However it made me think, and it will stay in my memory. It made me think about the representation of war - from the glorification of classic Greek war that endures for so long and the clawing images of Portsmouth in 1982 to the horrors of Vietnam, Nazi Germany and the trenches of World War One. Perhaps Swift is suggesting that while Harry tries to hide to nurse his scars, physical and emotional, war goes on and in fact our attitude to it worsens and becomes more disconnected from reality. Full cycle - Trojan War back to Falklands.
January 31, 2016
I enjoyed the depth of characters in this book and insights. All of them damaged and pensive, trying to work out where it all went wrong and how it could have been different. Narrated in the first person by predominantly two characters, Harry and Sophie. The book spans generations of the same family, from the Robert Beech (war hero and ammunitions factory owner) to his son Harry (war photographer) and then Harry's daughter, Sophie, who lives in the USA with her two twin boys aged 10. Each character has had suffered loss due to death of partners and parents and this has lead to dysfunctional relationships throughout the generations.
Graham Swift's writing style is wonderful and immediate, and very matter of fact, the characters are very believable.
All in all an enjoyable book but not one of Graham Swift's best. I feel there were too many recurring themes which seemed pointlessly coincidental ... these included death of a partner for multiple characters and the relationship between an older man and a younger lady, which occurred twice.
Graham Swift's writing style is wonderful and immediate, and very matter of fact, the characters are very believable.
All in all an enjoyable book but not one of Graham Swift's best. I feel there were too many recurring themes which seemed pointlessly coincidental ... these included death of a partner for multiple characters and the relationship between an older man and a younger lady, which occurred twice.
July 2, 2018
Told in alternating voices, a meditation on family relationships, the role of photography in history, and references to an IRA bomb a bit like the death of Mountbatten , something I remember but many younger readers won't.
Harry rejects his fathers arms business to become a celebrated war photographer. His daughter Sophie is estranged, she's not particularly likeable, her voice is the confessional to her shrink in New York.
It shows it's age, the startling images of war now tend to come from phone cameras as much as professionals. The themes though, are as eternal as the Greek stories and tragedies that filter into the tale. Enjoyable, but not a classic
Harry rejects his fathers arms business to become a celebrated war photographer. His daughter Sophie is estranged, she's not particularly likeable, her voice is the confessional to her shrink in New York.
It shows it's age, the startling images of war now tend to come from phone cameras as much as professionals. The themes though, are as eternal as the Greek stories and tragedies that filter into the tale. Enjoyable, but not a classic
January 4, 2018
“I used to believe once that ours was the age in which we would say farewell to myths and legends, when they would fall off as useless plumage and we would see ourselves clearly only as what we are. I thought the camera was the key to this process. But I think the world cannot bear to be only what it is. The world always wants another world, a shadow, an echo, a model of itself.”
February 20, 2017
I normally like Graham Swift. I loved Last Orders and Waterland.
I just didn't like this at all. Sophie was such a dreadful character and I felt I wasn't quite getting the author's point. It won't put me off Swift, but this is far from his best.
I just didn't like this at all. Sophie was such a dreadful character and I felt I wasn't quite getting the author's point. It won't put me off Swift, but this is far from his best.
November 8, 2017
I have a feels my I must have missed lots of underlying meaning - supposedly profound novel showing connections between 3 generations but it didn’t really engage in the way Waterlands or Last Orders did
February 20, 2020
Did not come together for me. Too many disparate elements and themes. Disjointed narrative and non-chronological format made this rather a slog to get through, in spite of being "only" 200 pages in length.
June 10, 2020
Beautifully written yet the change in perspective of the various narrators made it a bit confusing at times. Interesting insight into war and photography and how one has changed our view of the other.
December 17, 2014
An interesting novel about strained family relationships presented as a series of voices talking. Not bad but not as good as his previous work 'Waterland'.
Want to read
December 19, 2021*****************************
*Waterland 4 stars
*Mothering Sunday 4 stars
*Here We Are 4 stars
*Last Orders 3 stars
*Ever After TBR
*The Light of Day TBR
*Out of This World TBR
*Shuttlecock TBR
*Wish You Were Here TBR
*The Sweet Shop Owner TBR
*Tomorrow TBR
*Waterland 4 stars
*Mothering Sunday 4 stars
*Here We Are 4 stars
*Last Orders 3 stars
*Ever After TBR
*The Light of Day TBR
*Out of This World TBR
*Shuttlecock TBR
*Wish You Were Here TBR
*The Sweet Shop Owner TBR
*Tomorrow TBR
October 10, 2017
This book is beautifully written, anxious and full of impactful and thought-provoking philosophies on 20th century warfare, particularly concerning the ways that war is recorded and remembered. I love the way Swift approaches the concept of photography. I wonder if he read Walter Benjamin’s philosophies concerning the photograph’s relationship with history and memory, as they seem to follow a similar line of thought.
Here’s a great quote near the end of the novel:
“I used to believe once that ours was the age in which we would say farewell to myths and legends, when they would fall off like plumage and we would see ourselves clearly only as what we are. I thought the camera was key to this process. But I think the world cannot bear to be only what it is.” p. 187
Will definitely read more of Swifts work.
Here’s a great quote near the end of the novel:
“I used to believe once that ours was the age in which we would say farewell to myths and legends, when they would fall off like plumage and we would see ourselves clearly only as what we are. I thought the camera was key to this process. But I think the world cannot bear to be only what it is.” p. 187
Will definitely read more of Swifts work.
August 1, 2022
This is notably well written and the three different narrator voices are well done but, and I know this is highly subjective, the very long build up to the "reveal" felt contrived rather than artistic. I actually wanted to stop reading but felt obliged to carry on for the "punchline" till I finally got fed up with being teased by the author.
September 15, 2020
Such lovely writing but, God, did I hated Sophie! Such a spoilt little madam.
You were kept guessing almost till the end about the secrets each character had kept from others, which almost made this a literary mystery.
Looking forward to reading his next book.
You were kept guessing almost till the end about the secrets each character had kept from others, which almost made this a literary mystery.
Looking forward to reading his next book.
May 31, 2020
Got this at Bookworks in Salt Lake City (in the old trolley station mall)
September 9, 2020
If this novel was a colour it would be grey; a sort of low-level ambient grey, where multiple first-person voices wring out their own respective versions of a sombre war-tainted past.
August 17, 2021
Un roman ou chacun des ingrédients est de qualité - style, personnages, ambition, ambiance - mais où tel un soufflé au fromage retombe en fin de cuisson. Pas mauvais mais décevant.
April 18, 2023
Manages to encompass local and global action through Swift’s typical introspection and focus on protagonists thoughts and feelings
February 3, 2018
Interesante novela de una historia familiar
January 17, 2008
I bought this book for an English class I took that focused on literature about photography. We never got around to reading it for the class, but I recently picked it up to pass some time. It's okay- I've continued reading it not because it's particularly compelling (although it does have a few interesting insights about familial relationships, and the writing isn't bad) but because I need something to do and think about that has nothing to do with my life. I'm basically reading it for the same reason I would watch a movie on TV. It's not bad. Just not a masterpiece.
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