SWIFT

Last Orders tells (as has been adequately summarized elsewhere on the page) the story of group of friends taking their dead friend's ashes to the sea. Ray is the primary voice of the present in the novel, but the book shifts between all party members' POV of past events between them. The novel is very well woven, with the texture of reality flashing beautifully in the look at the decisions people make and the lives they lead.

I recently read an interview with Swift where he said he thought that there was too much circularity between the media culture and the modern novel and talked about how much he respected writers like Faulkner, and while I agree with that, I missed a certain circularity with *something* in Last Orders. It was such a beautiful little self-contained world, and for me that was both its strongest and weakest point. It may well be that not being British I miss the larger context of the book (wheras when I read Faulkner the whole sense of southern history inflects the reading experience) or it may just be that my taste runs towards more things that while not as perfect, reach farther. I don't know. But for me, as much as I admire the book, it doesn't reach to the five star level.

seminal tale of four men: lenny, ray, vic and vince, who do a last order for a decease mate, jack dodds, which is to dump his ashes into the sea near margate. along the way, we learn about the kind of man jack was through the four characters and also through his widow, amy.

definately a stark portrait of working class england in the late 20th century.swift uses his four characters to explain jack dodds, the way ralph ellison did with rhinehart in the invisible man. the other guys " flesh " jack out, showing the reader the life of a man who did the best he could with the choices he had/ made. all of the characters are great. especially vince, as jack's adopted son and lenny, a man who has a uncanny knack with winning at playing the horses.

this is a faulkneresque novel that's actually easier to read. swift repeats certain phrases, words, and sentences over, as if it's all a code, giving the story a cryptic feeling. comparisons of this book to canterbury tales have piqued my curosity; i have never read the tales, so that's another title to add to my ever expanding list. the last chapter is memorable. highly reccomended.

Last Orders by Graham Swift is to date my favorite book. The author's ability to capture the essence of the frienship between the men is riveting. Swift explores the changes that their friendship goes through over time yet still remains strong. His brilliant command of language and unique point of view narration will make any reader rethink their relationships with all their friends.
The writing style is a bit jumpy and difficult to understand at the beginning but the reader gets used to it and the message of the book is worth the effort.