Swimming Home [Paperback]

I know that I am swimming against the tide here but reviews are personal - and personally, I didn't like this book (actually, more of a novella) one bit.

The writing is pretentious, riddled with symbolism, and the characters are impossible to warm to. Fortunately, the reader doesn't have to spend too much time in their company. I disagree with other reviewers about the book being light on plot. If anything, I found it plot-heavy for the ephemeral style of writing. But I do agree with J. M. Gardner who found echoes of Martin Amis's The Pregnant Widow. If you like middle-aged, middle-class people sitting round a swimming pool discussing - or actually, not discussing but thinking about their varying degrees of angst, then maybe this is a book that will appeal to you. And talking of swimming pools, here was a point about the book that jarred for me from the outset. The pool at the South of France villa where two couples and the teenage daughter of one of the couples is spending the summer is green. It is described on page 5 as being "more like a pond". For me, this was a complete deal-breaker in terms of credibility right there. There is NO WAY anybody is going to put up with a dirty pool on a long-term summer holiday villa let. It may sound a trivial point but I just knew from that point that I was never going to believe in these people. Here is the cast list:

Joe, devoted father of the teenager, famous poet, serial philanderer and guilty Holocaust survivor.
Wife, Isabel, successful war correspondent who has put her career before her daughter.
Mitchell, unsuccessful seller of bric-a-brac, foodie and gun-collector.
His wife, Laura, a giant of a woman and potentially the most interesting character of the lot, but woefully underwritten.
Nina, the beautiful teenage daughter, who may be in love with her daddy but gets a crush on the interloper.
Kitty Finch, the inevitable interloper who is going to change everything. She is irritating in the extreme and, frankly, nuts.
Supporting cast:
Madeleine Sheridan, observant old next-door neighbour, ex-pat and shrink (incredibly convenient).
Jurgen, utterly unbelievable caretaker (see swimming pool).
Claude, Mick Jagger look-alike who owns the local café and fancies Nina.

Essentially, this is a book about two dislikeable people each of them with a damaged psyche and a death-wish. How it got onto the Booker list, I will never know. Oh, wait a minute, I do. It's just the sort of thing the Booker panel always seems to go for.

`Swimming Home' by Deborah Levy is a story of love and depression. It is one of many books by Deborah Levy and follows the same layout as some of her other books with the chapters being days of the week and following on with subheadings throughout the book. Set in a French villa over one week, the novel tells the story of a family on holiday that discover a mysterious naked lady in their pool, Kitty Finch, and the complications that she causes for the family, in particular Joe. Although this may seem intriguing, unfortunately the plot fails to thrill and captivate throughout the rest of the book making it a struggle to read.

The characters in the book are briefly introduced and little is revealed about them, which makes it hard for the reader to connect with each of them. Joe, a famous poet, and Isabel, a war correspondent who chooses work frequently over her daughter, are married with Nina, their 14-year-old daughter. They are on holiday with their friends Mitchell, an unsuccessful businessman, and his wife, Laura. Kitty Finch, the naked lady who was found in the pool, is a peculiar lady and a character that you wish to unravel and uncover her story, however, the reader is left irritated by her personality and with little information about her past. There is also an `inadequate caretaker', Jurgen, and an old lady who lives next door to the villa, Madeleine Sheridan, who used to be a shrink.

During the week, the chemistry between Kitty and Joe becomes apparent as she fights for his attention and they bond over their poetry. However, it becomes unclear what is done out of love and what is done as the product of a depressed state of mind. This tale of love is not as straight forward as a usual romantic novel; it covers all the shades in-between.

The book depicts the characters' thoughts with little speech that could confuse the reader. The pages must be deciphered as Deborah Levy writes in tangents as her creative mind prevails causing her to cut from scene to scene leading the reader to potentially find it hard to engage with the story line and the characters. However, the writing style reflects the mood of the book and could be said to illustrate the complexity and jaggedness of a depressed mind.

`Swimming Home', shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2012, is a profoundly confusing novel that, I, personally, found a struggle to engage with and it did not retain my attention. A positive of the book is that there are many well-written sentences that are extremely descriptive, thought provoking and intriguing; `A battered yellow lilo knocked against the mossy sides, scattering the bees that were in various stages of dying in the water.' Although the illustrative sentences add depth and understanding, they become tedious, as they are a frequent occurrence on each page.

The theme of the story is dark and mysterious yet the sections of the book that you wish to go into more detail leave you frustrated, as they are limited in information. You are left with scenarios that leave you feeling in dismay and disheartened. This book was a struggle to read for these reasons and therefore hard to recommend.

I found Swimming Home difficult to put down and read it very quickly (its only 150-odd pages). The descriptions of Nice and the Alpes Maritimes where the two couple are renting a villa are beautiful and evocative.

Yet there are irritations; the omniscient point of view means the reader does not get close to many of the characters, and the dialogue can be difficult to follow as you don't always know who is speaking. The problem with the plot where it concerns people who have mental problems is that it is difficult to know whether the actions of the characters are unconvincing or whether they are acting strangely because they are strange! The opening scene is also hard to follow, which is rather off-putting on pages 1-2 - why would anyone think a naked woman looked like a bear, especially in a rented villa swimming pool in France?

The characters of Kitty Finch and Nina Jacobs most convincing despite the fact that the former is very disturbed. Mitchell is truly horrible and a great portrait. The poet's wife (Isobel) however, seems a bit remote and wooden and there is little access to her thoughts or feelings though it's implied she's tired of Joe's infidelities and about to walk out. Poet Joe seems stable at first but gets more flaky as his fascination with Kitty grows - the denouement is surprising but not entirely satisfactory.

Yet the writing is very assured and well executed and book has a good pace and level of suspense - it should be read! Please look out for my other reviews of the Booker prize shortlisted books.