Impotent Scottish HR employee David leaves his family and begins a relationship with an American woman named Alice. With David teetering on the brink of unemployment, Alice decides they need help, and a remedy that starts out with sexy bedtime stories ends up right in the thick of Glasgow's swinging scene. And there, in the 'Black Room' along with nine other couples, where you can feel everything but see nothing, each of them finally finds what they are looking for...
Swung
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"Glasgow writer Ewan Morrison takes on the mantle of responsibility of writing a serious book about sex and carries it off with great success. It's difficult to believe that Swung is his first novel. It boasts a narrative control and sureness of touch... that would induce envy in many more experienced novelists... Swung is a beautifully crafted, completely realised and often inspirational book. It announces Morrison as one of the most interesting and exciting voices to emerge in Scottish fiction in recent years" (Irvine Welsh Guardian )
"Genuinely groundbreaking... Morrison is one of the most gifted and accomplished writers to have emerged in recent years" (Irvine Welsh )
"The best book on sex since John Updike's Couples. Ewan Morrison's brave, dirty, utterly honest account of the psychological side of swinging is a complete delight" (Matt Thorne )
"Though sex is its language, this is a novel about ageing and settling and messing things up again, with heart enough to make it hurt" (Hepzibah Anderson Observer )
"Swung is a book of real ambition, a wide ranging exploration of human needs that starts from the most unexpected of websites" (Herald )
"Genuinely groundbreaking... Morrison is one of the most gifted and accomplished writers to have emerged in recent years" (Irvine Welsh )
"The best book on sex since John Updike's Couples. Ewan Morrison's brave, dirty, utterly honest account of the psychological side of swinging is a complete delight" (Matt Thorne )
"Though sex is its language, this is a novel about ageing and settling and messing things up again, with heart enough to make it hurt" (Hepzibah Anderson Observer )
"Swung is a book of real ambition, a wide ranging exploration of human needs that starts from the most unexpected of websites" (Herald )
Book Description
The first novel by the now critically-acclaimed Scottish writer who takes the reader places they've never been before.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great book about dysfunctional people, which just happens to feature swinging
20 Jun 2007
By Lukens
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
As another reviewer mentioned, this isn't really a book about swinging, and it is really more just a book about two people who don't know where their lives are headed, and who are not really all that sure if they're going about fixing them in the right way.
That said, it does still feature a fair amount of sex and swinging, and it does get quite graphic in places (I almost felt it was a little too graphic at times); however, it is graphic in quite a casual, offhand, manner which manages to keep the book at a more serious level, and it seems the sex scenes are not really written with the intention of arousing the reader (although, that's not to say they are bland or boring).
I do think some people might find it a bit much, and for that reason it's not a book I'd recommend to everyone. I found it a really great and gripping read though, which stays fast paced and punchy throughout; it was one of those books that I found very hard to put down, with a great writing style, and well developed characters.
That said, it does still feature a fair amount of sex and swinging, and it does get quite graphic in places (I almost felt it was a little too graphic at times); however, it is graphic in quite a casual, offhand, manner which manages to keep the book at a more serious level, and it seems the sex scenes are not really written with the intention of arousing the reader (although, that's not to say they are bland or boring).
I do think some people might find it a bit much, and for that reason it's not a book I'd recommend to everyone. I found it a really great and gripping read though, which stays fast paced and punchy throughout; it was one of those books that I found very hard to put down, with a great writing style, and well developed characters.
12 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After writing a bad review of Ewan Morrison's Distance, I felt I ought to check his other novels to see whether they were any better. Unfortunately they're not.
Swung reads like a first novel (alas, so do Distance and Menage). The characters are cliches; they have no depth and nothing to make you believe in them as people; believe in their thoughts; or believe in their actions. Instead, we just have implausible and wooden scenes that seem to serve little purpose other than to join together various explicit scenes. And the explicit scenes are written with all the glee and finesse one might expect of a 14 year old. It tries to shock, but results in schlock.
Seriously, if you are considering buying this, don't. Spend your money on something a little bit more grown up.
Swung reads like a first novel (alas, so do Distance and Menage). The characters are cliches; they have no depth and nothing to make you believe in them as people; believe in their thoughts; or believe in their actions. Instead, we just have implausible and wooden scenes that seem to serve little purpose other than to join together various explicit scenes. And the explicit scenes are written with all the glee and finesse one might expect of a 14 year old. It tries to shock, but results in schlock.
Seriously, if you are considering buying this, don't. Spend your money on something a little bit more grown up.
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By NB
Format:Paperback
On the surface, this is a complex tale of two complex people, Alice and David, who, fuelled by boredom, cockiness and sexual dysfunction become part of Glasgow's swinging scene.
This could have ended up being a bawdy romp with lots of knowing asides in the wrong hand, but Morrison has created a touching and interesting story that looks at what people get up to behind closed doors with their neighbours, strangers and strange people off the internet.
Although this is called `Swung' and it is filthy In parts, the sex is only one element of the book - it also explores David and Alice's attitudes to the ennui of working in a job you don't love, being unemployed, being a parent, how Alice's Mum affected her adult life, psychology and pop culture and the mundanity of living the dream of a nice house in a nice area of town with nice wine and being sarcastic about the prole culture you think you're above.
I bought this thinking it would be good, but on finishing, I can say it is actually great.
This could have ended up being a bawdy romp with lots of knowing asides in the wrong hand, but Morrison has created a touching and interesting story that looks at what people get up to behind closed doors with their neighbours, strangers and strange people off the internet.
Although this is called `Swung' and it is filthy In parts, the sex is only one element of the book - it also explores David and Alice's attitudes to the ennui of working in a job you don't love, being unemployed, being a parent, how Alice's Mum affected her adult life, psychology and pop culture and the mundanity of living the dream of a nice house in a nice area of town with nice wine and being sarcastic about the prole culture you think you're above.
I bought this thinking it would be good, but on finishing, I can say it is actually great.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Diatribe about male impotence
I thought this would be an erotic novel - and yes it does have its moments. But mainly its about our hero's impotence as he wanders round metaphorically beating his head against... Read more
Published on 25 April 2008 by Duncan Howorth
4.0 out of 5 stars
a welcome voice
Something is going on north of the border literature wise. This author's voice reminded me very much of A. Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2008 by Tito K
5.0 out of 5 stars
a seriously funny novel
I've heard some people describe this book as some kind of serious critique of generation X and modern culture etc. Read more
Published on 16 Dec 2007 by charlie d
4.0 out of 5 stars
An impressive book
Swung is a fantastic book. I must admit my heart sank when I discovered it was about swinging and pleasantly surprised when I started reading a marvellous book. Read more
Published on 21 Jun 2007 by S. J. Colquitt
5.0 out of 5 stars
24 hours
Swung
Lots of sexual activity described in this excellent book without it being in any way pornographic. Read more
Lots of sexual activity described in this excellent book without it being in any way pornographic. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2007 by Mr. Donald D. Jack
5.0 out of 5 stars
The illegitimate son of Michel Houllebeqc and Douglas Coupland.
OK, this is not a book about swinging. Well, yes, there is swinging in it and the couple (Alice and David) get obsessed with and deeply involved with the swinging scene. Read more
Published on 25 May 2007 by Chaz Bo
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