Monday, July 6, 2015

Last Order By Graham Swift : A Book Review

Good Morning,

I hope you all had a great weekend! I thought I would start off the week with another book review because I  will most likely have another one later in the week and I didn't want to have them back to back!

Sadly this is another book that I didn't love but none the less I thought I would write about it because there was a lot of mixed reviews... a lot of great reviews so I really do think its the style of writing that wasn't for me.

Since being here I also read Graham Swift's The Sweet Shop Owner and I didn't review it I believe because I was reading a bunch of books at the time and reviewing them all I didn't want to include one that I wasn't crazy about! I don't know where I got all these Graham Swift books from and although I think he is an amazing writer I must say its not my style and it makes it really hard for me to get into the books. Lets talk about Last Orders.



Reading the synopsis of this book it sounded like it would be right up my alley, something I would really love. 

This is the synopsis from www.goodreads.com:

Winner of the 1996 Booker Prize, and now a major new film starring Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren and Michael Caine. Four men once close to Jack Dodds, a London butcher, meet to carry out his peculiar last wish: to have his ashes scattered into the sea. For reasons best known to herself, Jack's widow, Amy, declines to join them. On the surface the tale of a simple if increasingly bizarre day's outing, Last Order is Graham Swift's most poignant exploration of the complexity and courage of ordinary lives.

Obviously this book is well written, it won the 1996 Booker Prize and that it no small feat! Like I said above it just is not my style of writing and I have a really hard time getting into it. You get to know the characters really well throughout the book and about their lives, how the past, present and future is all but one basically. The idea behind the book is fabulous I think but for me you kind of get lost in the rambling. 

When it says in the synopsis "exploration of the complexity and courage of ordinary lives" complexity is basically hitting the nail on the head. The writing is complex, as is the relationships and I think in trying to define that it becomes very convoluted.

Again this is just my opinion, I read a huge variety of books but at this point I think its Swift's style of writing is just not for me. I think I would still recommend this book because I really did think the story behind it is great and maybe some of you would really enjoy it! 

Have you read this book? Is it just me feeling a little baffled? Let me know what you think!  


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