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Wish You Were Here
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'[A] dark, restrained family drama . . . Swift circles around themes, characters and events, each circuit revealing a little more as the past explodes like a bomb' --Guardian
`Swift...is back on top form. Part ghost story, part whodunit, part tour d'horizon of a nation that seems to have lost faith in tradition and history, it is also a deeply human tale about a man driven to the edge. Praise be for a serious novel that dares to look current affairs in the face.' --Daily Telegraph Saturday Review
`A quiet, unhurried novel, with the melancholic taste of a damp winter's day.' --Metro
`A profound journey from the Somme to the Isle of Wight'
--Independent on Sunday
`Swift...is back on top form. Part ghost story, part whodunit, part tour d'horizon of a nation that seems to have lost faith in tradition and history, it is also a deeply human tale about a man driven to the edge. Praise be for a serious novel that dares to look current affairs in the face.' --Daily Telegraph Saturday Review
`A quiet, unhurried novel, with the melancholic taste of a damp winter's day.' --Metro
`A profound journey from the Somme to the Isle of Wight'
--Independent on Sunday
Book Description
Time Out Novel of the Year ‘Astonishingly moving’ Sunday Express On an autumn day in 2006, on the Isle of Wight, Jack Luxton – former Devon farmer, now proprietor of a seaside caravan park – receives the news that his brother Tom, not seen for years, has been killed in Iraq. For Jack and his wife Ellie this will have a potentially catastrophic impact and compel Jack to make a crucial journey: to receive his brother’s remains, but also to return to the land of his past and confront his most secret, troubling memories. Building to a fiercely suspenseful climax, Wish You Were Here is a hauntingly compassionate story that allows us to feel the stuff of headlines as heart-wrenching personal truth. ‘Profound and powerful . . . an unputdownable read’ Scotland on Sunday ‘A wonderful writer’ Daily Telegraph
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By Ripple
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
Combining the problems faced in the farming community in recent years and the Iraq war, I found this to be a stunning piece of writing. Often heart-wrenching, but also gripping, I found it a moving tale. Sure, it's not the cheeriest of reads this summer, but I was genuinely moved.
When we first meet former Devon farmer, Jack Luxton, on a caravan park on the Isle of Wight it's pretty clear that he and his wife, Ellie have had a pretty big problem. Subtle things like, he's sitting on his bed with a loaded shotgun behind him and she's cowering in the car in a lay-by sheltering from the torrential rain, kind of give you that impression. But what exactly has transpired you'll have to wait until near the end to find out and what happens next is only revealed in the final gripping pages. In the meantime, we get their past stories, their families' stories and how they came to the Isle of Wight.
Jack is a sort of Heathcliff type of character. He's the strong, silent type and to be fair, if only he and Ellie had talked a bit more about stuff along the way, things might have been a bit different for them both. Both have been through a fair bit, and Jack in particular has had an eventful few years to put it mildly. Then again, we wouldn't have had this book otherwise, would we?
It's not a cheery read by any stretch of the imagination. Swift makes frequent hinted suggestions to things (for example cows were killed as a preventative measure in the mad-cow outbreak, not because they were sick, while one of the arguments for the Iraq war was effectively a preventative measure) but these are never rammed home - they just float around the reader's mind. It's so much more satisfying when the reader has to so some work!... Read more ›
When we first meet former Devon farmer, Jack Luxton, on a caravan park on the Isle of Wight it's pretty clear that he and his wife, Ellie have had a pretty big problem. Subtle things like, he's sitting on his bed with a loaded shotgun behind him and she's cowering in the car in a lay-by sheltering from the torrential rain, kind of give you that impression. But what exactly has transpired you'll have to wait until near the end to find out and what happens next is only revealed in the final gripping pages. In the meantime, we get their past stories, their families' stories and how they came to the Isle of Wight.
Jack is a sort of Heathcliff type of character. He's the strong, silent type and to be fair, if only he and Ellie had talked a bit more about stuff along the way, things might have been a bit different for them both. Both have been through a fair bit, and Jack in particular has had an eventful few years to put it mildly. Then again, we wouldn't have had this book otherwise, would we?
It's not a cheery read by any stretch of the imagination. Swift makes frequent hinted suggestions to things (for example cows were killed as a preventative measure in the mad-cow outbreak, not because they were sick, while one of the arguments for the Iraq war was effectively a preventative measure) but these are never rammed home - they just float around the reader's mind. It's so much more satisfying when the reader has to so some work!... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The title echoes the feelings of anti-hero Jack about key persons in his life. He first wrote "Wish you were here" as a 13-year old on a picture postcard to his lifelong girlfriend Ellie from the neighboring farm, when his beloved mother took him and kid brother Tom (5) on a beach-side holiday. It has a thrilling, scary ending and is full of drama.
In the 1990s, two adjoining, struggling Devon dairy-farms were hit by BSE, years later by foot-and-mouth disease. Twice, herds of perfectly healthy cows were destroyed; compensation was scant and came late. Cancer, suicide and desertion (Tom at age 18) reduce ownership of the farms to Ellie and Jack. They sell, pay off debts and move to the Isle of Wight to run a camp site with 32 caravans. Things go well for a decade. In winter they holiday in the Caribbean.
Then a letter arrives from the DoD: Tom has died at age 31, killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. His repatriation to an air force base and funeral and burial in Ellie and Jack's Devon home village cause a rift between them. A rift based on a single remark... This book is to be discovered, so this reader signs off here.
This enthralling novel deals intimately with broad concepts like security, resilience and the essence of love and death. Resilience is the domain of Ellie. Security covers many scenes and aspects in this brilliant novel, ranging from what Tom was doing to the occasional shivers of the wife of the new owner of Jack's former, thoroughly restored and electronically-secured farmhouse. Dealing with death is a private matter: both Ellie and Jack dissemble after Tom's death, and appear to lose it...
Great novel for reading groups.
In the 1990s, two adjoining, struggling Devon dairy-farms were hit by BSE, years later by foot-and-mouth disease. Twice, herds of perfectly healthy cows were destroyed; compensation was scant and came late. Cancer, suicide and desertion (Tom at age 18) reduce ownership of the farms to Ellie and Jack. They sell, pay off debts and move to the Isle of Wight to run a camp site with 32 caravans. Things go well for a decade. In winter they holiday in the Caribbean.
Then a letter arrives from the DoD: Tom has died at age 31, killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. His repatriation to an air force base and funeral and burial in Ellie and Jack's Devon home village cause a rift between them. A rift based on a single remark... This book is to be discovered, so this reader signs off here.
This enthralling novel deals intimately with broad concepts like security, resilience and the essence of love and death. Resilience is the domain of Ellie. Security covers many scenes and aspects in this brilliant novel, ranging from what Tom was doing to the occasional shivers of the wife of the new owner of Jack's former, thoroughly restored and electronically-secured farmhouse. Dealing with death is a private matter: both Ellie and Jack dissemble after Tom's death, and appear to lose it...
Great novel for reading groups.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I've greatly enjoyed the other Graham Swift novels I've read - beginning with the classic Waterland, through the elegaic Last Orders and the (in my opinion) even more remarkable The Light of Day. He's a master craftsman as a writer, weaving a story with great skill from a few simple words that bury feelings under the surface like emotional depth-charges. His plots aren't light-hearted but heartfelt and, whilst some might find them depressing, I've felt a strong resonance in his books.
Like this one. Jack and Tom grow up on a Devon cattle farm that is devastated by disease in the nineties; Tom leaves to be a soldier in Iraq, and Jack stays on with his irascible, disappointed father (and Ellie, daughter of the neighbouring farmer). What happens to the soldier, the farm, the father, and to Jack and Ellie is played out in this delicately-written novel. The author cycles through the characters' viewpoints and chops up the timeline so events get revisited in flashback, and connected with other events at other times. Once again, it's reasonably obvious from the outline that it's not necessarily going to be a happy story, but I found it a richly rewarding and emotional one that was worth staying with right up to the skillfully managed and suspenseful climax.
Like this one. Jack and Tom grow up on a Devon cattle farm that is devastated by disease in the nineties; Tom leaves to be a soldier in Iraq, and Jack stays on with his irascible, disappointed father (and Ellie, daughter of the neighbouring farmer). What happens to the soldier, the farm, the father, and to Jack and Ellie is played out in this delicately-written novel. The author cycles through the characters' viewpoints and chops up the timeline so events get revisited in flashback, and connected with other events at other times. Once again, it's reasonably obvious from the outline that it's not necessarily going to be a happy story, but I found it a richly rewarding and emotional one that was worth staying with right up to the skillfully managed and suspenseful climax.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Death...was in many ways a great place of shelter. It was life and all its knowledge that was insupportable."
25 Aug 2012
Format:Paperback
(4.5 stars) In this novel about the many aspects of death, Booker Prize winner Graham Swift offers no humor to leaven the heavy mood or the profound sadness which the novel evokes. In addition, his main character and many peripheral characters are inarticulate people who think in clichés and deal with the everyday challenges of their lives in "tried and true" fashion. These characters have few, if any, thoughts about the larger world, or even a recognition of how they might differ, in the grand scheme of life, from the animals on their farm.
Still, Swift creates a stunning novel which inspires the reader's empathy, and the novel becomes, ultimately, a study of how an unreflective everyman handles the disasters that fate and time deal out to him, and over which he believes he has no control. The novel opens in a caravan park owned by Jack and Ellie Luxton on the Isle of Wight where thirty-nine-year-old Jack, the only remaining member of his family, has just received a letter from the military saying that his younger brother Tom has died in Iraq. Jack's family has never been open with their feelings, and as the author's focus swirls backward, forward, and around again from Jack and Tom's childhood to the present, Swift depicts the family's long history and their values. They have owned their land in Devon since 1614, but after two epidemics - most recently, mad cow disease - they have lost their entire healthy herd, sacrificed to protect the nation as a whole. Jack and his wife have sold the farm and moved to the caravan park which they now own. When Jack goes alone to the mainland to receive Tom's "repatriated" remains and oversee the burial in Marleston, the Devon town where Jack and Tom grew up, he reacts powerfully (and uncharacteristically) to the events.... Read more ›
Still, Swift creates a stunning novel which inspires the reader's empathy, and the novel becomes, ultimately, a study of how an unreflective everyman handles the disasters that fate and time deal out to him, and over which he believes he has no control. The novel opens in a caravan park owned by Jack and Ellie Luxton on the Isle of Wight where thirty-nine-year-old Jack, the only remaining member of his family, has just received a letter from the military saying that his younger brother Tom has died in Iraq. Jack's family has never been open with their feelings, and as the author's focus swirls backward, forward, and around again from Jack and Tom's childhood to the present, Swift depicts the family's long history and their values. They have owned their land in Devon since 1614, but after two epidemics - most recently, mad cow disease - they have lost their entire healthy herd, sacrificed to protect the nation as a whole. Jack and his wife have sold the farm and moved to the caravan park which they now own. When Jack goes alone to the mainland to receive Tom's "repatriated" remains and oversee the burial in Marleston, the Devon town where Jack and Tom grew up, he reacts powerfully (and uncharacteristically) to the events.... Read more ›
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3.8 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Too slow
I have enjoyed other Graham Swify novels but this did not compare. I found it slow and never really felt I got to know the characters....disappointing.
Published 8 days ago by Missy Moo
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pointless?
I couldn't get into this book for a long time. I was not convinced by the characters or by the drama. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Emmanuelle Tulle
3.0 out of 5 stars
Too rambling for me
This was my first Graham Swift book and I am unsure whether too try another one. I found his style slow to read at first but then began to enjoy it. Read more
Published 6 months ago by oldgrayfan
3.0 out of 5 stars
All Englands Ills
Poor Jack seems to have been afflicted by several of the disasters which affected England in the last 30 years and could be seen as a bit of a representation of the state of the... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Anne
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting
I can appreciate this book - the atmosphere is impressive, the characters seem real if a little stereotypical. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mr. G. C. Stone
5.0 out of 5 stars
Swift Was Laying Down Roadside Bombs for His Readers All Along
"Wish You Were Here" is the latest release from British author Graham Swift, a frequent prize-winner who has given us eight previous novels, a collection of short stories, and a... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Stephanie DePue
5.0 out of 5 stars
grim but powerful
This novel certainly wouldn't win any prizes for cheerfulness: mad cow disease grips the country side, sharing the headlines with the war dead; farmers are going under and bankers... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Kentish Woman
4.0 out of 5 stars
Loss, love, anger, guilt
The book begins with several images of carnage: the slaughter of thousands of cattle, first because of Mad Cow Disease; then again because of Foot-and-Mouth Disease; then 9/11;... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Ralph Blumenau
2.0 out of 5 stars
Depressing
Sorry, I would not recommend this book since I found the repeated rumination going on inside the heads of some of the characters madding and far too depressing,...so beware. Read more
Published 13 months ago by J Hutch
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wish you were Here.
Very prompt delivery.
I don't presume to be a literary critic. Can only say that this book was compelling and easy to read. Read more
I don't presume to be a literary critic. Can only say that this book was compelling and easy to read. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mrs. Elizabeth M. Synge
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