What do you think?
Rate this book
The Night Swimmer
From the “remarkable storyteller” ( San Francisco Chronicle ) and highly acclaimed author of The Wettest County in the World comes a suspenseful novel about a young American couple who win a pub on the southernmost tip of Ireland and become embroiled in local violence and intrigue.
Matt Bondurant’s novel The Wettest County in the World was a New York Times Editor’s Pick, one of the San Francisco Chronicle ’s 50 Best Books of the Year, and is being made into a major motion picture. Now, Bondurant has delivered The Night Swimmer , an atmospheric tale infused with Hitchcockian suspense.
When Fred and Elly Bulkington arrive in a small town on the southern coast of Ireland from Vermont, having won a pub in a contest, they encounter a wild, strange land and the native resistance to outsiders. As Fred immerses himself in the life of a pub-owner, Elly takes the ferry out to a nearby island where she—to the disbelief of the locals—is consumed by her ritual of open water ocean swimming, pushing herself to the limits. Elly becomes enmeshed in the island’s troubles—the power struggles between an enigmatic goat herder and the family that has controlled the area for centuries—while Fred’s sanity wavers and their marriage begins to unravel.
Filled with lush imagery of the Irish coast, crashing sea, rolling hills, and rich Irish lore, The Night Swimmer is a stunning novel that exposes the dark and unseen crevasses in the human heart.
Matt Bondurant’s novel The Wettest County in the World was a New York Times Editor’s Pick, one of the San Francisco Chronicle ’s 50 Best Books of the Year, and is being made into a major motion picture. Now, Bondurant has delivered The Night Swimmer , an atmospheric tale infused with Hitchcockian suspense.
When Fred and Elly Bulkington arrive in a small town on the southern coast of Ireland from Vermont, having won a pub in a contest, they encounter a wild, strange land and the native resistance to outsiders. As Fred immerses himself in the life of a pub-owner, Elly takes the ferry out to a nearby island where she—to the disbelief of the locals—is consumed by her ritual of open water ocean swimming, pushing herself to the limits. Elly becomes enmeshed in the island’s troubles—the power struggles between an enigmatic goat herder and the family that has controlled the area for centuries—while Fred’s sanity wavers and their marriage begins to unravel.
Filled with lush imagery of the Irish coast, crashing sea, rolling hills, and rich Irish lore, The Night Swimmer is a stunning novel that exposes the dark and unseen crevasses in the human heart.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 10, 2012
21 people are currently reading
795 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews
Read
May 12, 2023My introduction to the fiction of Matt Bondurant is The Night Swimmer. Published in 2012, this novel poses the question of: what would happen to an American couple who win a pub in Ireland? The novel answers that question with "nothing special." It reminded me of The Shipping News if Annie Proulx had dangled the lure of a crime thriller over readers in order to sell books or maybe reshuffle where her novel was stocked on bookshelves, without bothering to include any crime in her story. I'm going to abstain from rating this book, which I started skimming judiciously once it was clear the author was writing something I didn't want to read.
The story is the first person narrative of Elly Bulkington, who recalls the events surrounding her husband Fred winning a pub in Ireland courtesy a spirits company. After demonstrating mastery in darts, pint pouring and poetry at a contest in Cork, Fred is handed the deed to a pub called the Nightjar. The couple relocate from their home on Lake Champlain in Vermont to the town of Baltimore in the southwestern corner of Ireland, situated near one of the more dangerous seas in the world. Having met in college as English grad students, Fred is a boisterous man's man who lucks into a successful career as a corporate trainer, a career he walks away from after switching places with a colleague killed in his place on 9/11.
Elly, and by association the author, loves the fiction of John Cheever, but unlike the author, realized--or allowed herself to be convinced--that she had no facility to be a writer herself. For lack of children or pets, her love is deep water swimming, a dangerous sport she excels at due to a condition called congenital hypodermic strata, giving Elly a fat layer under her skin that enables her to tolerate cold most people would not. While Fred sets up the pub and begins work on a novel, Elly spends most of her time on a nearby cape, where she meets goat herders and birders and odd folk, including a clan descended from pirates who run local construction and salvage operations.
The pirate clan want Fred to go home, the whole "locals rule" mentality where yokels who've lived in an area for a thousand years don't like outsiders coming in with their outsider ways. This threat isn't introduced until page 80/274 of the book, which throws a lot of Irish culture or swimming research at the reader first, and then becomes all Irish culture or swimming research. Even after the threat is introduced, it's dropped until page 246/274. Rather than a thriller of any kind, say Elly, Fred and their allies defending the pub against the pirates, Bondurant writes about swimming and Ireland. And I am nowhere near as interested in those subjects as he is.
Bondurant, who lives and teaches in Mississippi, deserves a special jury prize for not only writing about Ireland, but attempting to do so in an American woman's voice. He gets the words right, but the book never gets past its "idea" phase to any "story" phase. The Bulkingtons exist in a Hemingway novel. Their world is books and travel. Elly shows zero interest in the pub or helping her husband open a local business, the defense of which against thugs was the novel I wanted to read. As soon as an author dangles the takeover of an Irish pub in front of me, the novel better lead to the takeover of an Irish pub. This one didn't fulfill its most interesting promise.
The story is the first person narrative of Elly Bulkington, who recalls the events surrounding her husband Fred winning a pub in Ireland courtesy a spirits company. After demonstrating mastery in darts, pint pouring and poetry at a contest in Cork, Fred is handed the deed to a pub called the Nightjar. The couple relocate from their home on Lake Champlain in Vermont to the town of Baltimore in the southwestern corner of Ireland, situated near one of the more dangerous seas in the world. Having met in college as English grad students, Fred is a boisterous man's man who lucks into a successful career as a corporate trainer, a career he walks away from after switching places with a colleague killed in his place on 9/11.
Elly, and by association the author, loves the fiction of John Cheever, but unlike the author, realized--or allowed herself to be convinced--that she had no facility to be a writer herself. For lack of children or pets, her love is deep water swimming, a dangerous sport she excels at due to a condition called congenital hypodermic strata, giving Elly a fat layer under her skin that enables her to tolerate cold most people would not. While Fred sets up the pub and begins work on a novel, Elly spends most of her time on a nearby cape, where she meets goat herders and birders and odd folk, including a clan descended from pirates who run local construction and salvage operations.
The pirate clan want Fred to go home, the whole "locals rule" mentality where yokels who've lived in an area for a thousand years don't like outsiders coming in with their outsider ways. This threat isn't introduced until page 80/274 of the book, which throws a lot of Irish culture or swimming research at the reader first, and then becomes all Irish culture or swimming research. Even after the threat is introduced, it's dropped until page 246/274. Rather than a thriller of any kind, say Elly, Fred and their allies defending the pub against the pirates, Bondurant writes about swimming and Ireland. And I am nowhere near as interested in those subjects as he is.
Bondurant, who lives and teaches in Mississippi, deserves a special jury prize for not only writing about Ireland, but attempting to do so in an American woman's voice. He gets the words right, but the book never gets past its "idea" phase to any "story" phase. The Bulkingtons exist in a Hemingway novel. Their world is books and travel. Elly shows zero interest in the pub or helping her husband open a local business, the defense of which against thugs was the novel I wanted to read. As soon as an author dangles the takeover of an Irish pub in front of me, the novel better lead to the takeover of an Irish pub. This one didn't fulfill its most interesting promise.
March 27, 2012
I'm really not sure why I finished this one....it was hard to follow. Way too much description and not enough narrative... the plot seemed to be an afterthought and was very confusing. Still not sure what happened at the end and why.
February 13, 2012
I felt like this book had too many questions and not enough answers. We are lead to believe there is more to the Corrigans, more to Highgate, more to Fastnet, and more to Miranda. There's just more, and you're not told what the more is.
February 17, 2013
Well, the novel has one of the best opening lines ever. And that's about the best thing I can say about it. I'm not really sure what themes Bondurant was trying to convey; certain passages, while well-written, just seem to come from nowhere; there's no cohesion to the plot; and none of the characters are likable or even that we'll developed. Take a pass.
June 25, 2012
mild horror that could grab your spine a bit. plus expert treatment of swimming in very cold water. win a bar in ireland, get in a big ass fight with the local hillbillys. love your partner so much you stop having sex. take any and all drugs at any and all times. fall in love with the idea of falling in love with a blind hippie old man goat farmer. see what happens when you live in the howling wind for a year. be skeptical about globalized faux tourism.
“The night swimmer” by Matt Bondurant
A bit of modern gothic with suspenseful conflicts with the locals (Irish islanders) and the power of water, community and modern life clashing in the lives of the characters. An American couple win a pub in Ireland and after they move there to take ownership the idyll turns a bit horrific as the wife Elly takes to her favorite pastime, swimming in the ocean, and meets some very strange “things” both in the water and on the island. A well done and thought-provoking novel.
“The night swimmer” by Matt Bondurant
A bit of modern gothic with suspenseful conflicts with the locals (Irish islanders) and the power of water, community and modern life clashing in the lives of the characters. An American couple win a pub in Ireland and after they move there to take ownership the idyll turns a bit horrific as the wife Elly takes to her favorite pastime, swimming in the ocean, and meets some very strange “things” both in the water and on the island. A well done and thought-provoking novel.
May 23, 2012
Written for the KAZI Book Review (http://kazibookreview.wordpress.com/):
The Night Swimmer, the latest book by Matt Bondurant (author of The Wettest County in the World), is much like the narrator Elly’s favorite hobby: a dark swim through a choppy ocean. It is a haunting tale of love, intrigue and obsession, tinged with regret throughout.
Bondurant tells the story of Elly and Fred, an American couple that wins an Irish pub and moves there to run it. Of course, these things are never quite that simple--the locals don’t really take to the American “blow-ins”--and this novel follows the triumphs and tragedies that result from their move across the world.
Essentially The Night Swimmer is a love story, the story of Elly and Fred and their grand adventure to the remotest part of Ireland, an adventure that eventually goes wrong. However, to simply call it a love story would do it a grave injustice, as Bondurant deftly weaves in history, mysteries, local politics, beautiful descriptions of this lonely part of Ireland, the exhilaration and loneliness of swimming in the open ocean, even the attacks of 9/11. This makes The Night Swimmer a difficult book to categorize, but it’s driving force is always the dynamic between Fred and Elly.
Early on, Bondurant establishes the main tone of the book, a palpable sense of dread, by having Elly admit in the prologue that she is ashamed, and she needs to be careful with her tone. As you then read about their love story and the story of winning the pub, you begin to wonder just what there is to dread. It is a most unsettling feeling, as you read about how much these two love each other and wait for the other shoe to drop. Drop it does, however, and the story certainly takes some surprising turns as we find out what exactly is going on.
Bondurant gives us a lot of memorable characters, but the location of Cape Clear becomes almost a character unto itself. Elly, who has been swimming her entire life and has a condition that allows her to stay in cold water longer than most, repeatedly describes the stark, dangerous and beautiful conditions as she takes her long ocean swims that give the book its title. It is an example of the way Bondurant has created a very real world for his characters to inhabit, and it shows that he is just as careful with his settings as he is his characters.
The Night Swimmer is a sad, touching tale that refuses to be easily categorized. Since it is difficult to put a genre on this book, let me just say this: The Night Swimmer is for fans of excellent writing, as Bondurant has deftly woven a complex and thought-provoking story.
The Night Swimmer, the latest book by Matt Bondurant (author of The Wettest County in the World), is much like the narrator Elly’s favorite hobby: a dark swim through a choppy ocean. It is a haunting tale of love, intrigue and obsession, tinged with regret throughout.
Bondurant tells the story of Elly and Fred, an American couple that wins an Irish pub and moves there to run it. Of course, these things are never quite that simple--the locals don’t really take to the American “blow-ins”--and this novel follows the triumphs and tragedies that result from their move across the world.
Essentially The Night Swimmer is a love story, the story of Elly and Fred and their grand adventure to the remotest part of Ireland, an adventure that eventually goes wrong. However, to simply call it a love story would do it a grave injustice, as Bondurant deftly weaves in history, mysteries, local politics, beautiful descriptions of this lonely part of Ireland, the exhilaration and loneliness of swimming in the open ocean, even the attacks of 9/11. This makes The Night Swimmer a difficult book to categorize, but it’s driving force is always the dynamic between Fred and Elly.
Early on, Bondurant establishes the main tone of the book, a palpable sense of dread, by having Elly admit in the prologue that she is ashamed, and she needs to be careful with her tone. As you then read about their love story and the story of winning the pub, you begin to wonder just what there is to dread. It is a most unsettling feeling, as you read about how much these two love each other and wait for the other shoe to drop. Drop it does, however, and the story certainly takes some surprising turns as we find out what exactly is going on.
Bondurant gives us a lot of memorable characters, but the location of Cape Clear becomes almost a character unto itself. Elly, who has been swimming her entire life and has a condition that allows her to stay in cold water longer than most, repeatedly describes the stark, dangerous and beautiful conditions as she takes her long ocean swims that give the book its title. It is an example of the way Bondurant has created a very real world for his characters to inhabit, and it shows that he is just as careful with his settings as he is his characters.
The Night Swimmer is a sad, touching tale that refuses to be easily categorized. Since it is difficult to put a genre on this book, let me just say this: The Night Swimmer is for fans of excellent writing, as Bondurant has deftly woven a complex and thought-provoking story.
October 30, 2011
This book is mostly set in a small community in the southwest corner of Ireland. The narrator and her husband are Americans trying to cope with a near-miss on 9/11 who win a pub in the community in a contest. The story tracks their relationship with each other and with the people who live in and/or regularly visit this community over about a 9-month period.
That doesn't sound like a completely fascinating tale, or it sounds like it could be rather comforting and pastoral...and it instead completely defies expectations. This is not a quiet book. It is not comforting. It is very suspenseful and edgy, which fascinates me in a book that is decidedly not a traditional thriller or mystery. There are crimes, but this is not a book focused on solving crimes. There is corruption, but that's not the point either. There is open-water swimming and sailing and Irish tales and Gaelic, all of which add to the atmosphere of the story, but they're only decorations for the real action. Deep at its heart, I think this is a story of testing (and accepting) one's limits, and of how hard it is to love another person and still be yourself. But with all of that told in a very suspenseful way.
That doesn't sound like a completely fascinating tale, or it sounds like it could be rather comforting and pastoral...and it instead completely defies expectations. This is not a quiet book. It is not comforting. It is very suspenseful and edgy, which fascinates me in a book that is decidedly not a traditional thriller or mystery. There are crimes, but this is not a book focused on solving crimes. There is corruption, but that's not the point either. There is open-water swimming and sailing and Irish tales and Gaelic, all of which add to the atmosphere of the story, but they're only decorations for the real action. Deep at its heart, I think this is a story of testing (and accepting) one's limits, and of how hard it is to love another person and still be yourself. But with all of that told in a very suspenseful way.
January 19, 2012
“The Night Swimmer” by Matt Bondurant, published by Scribner.
Category – Fiction/Literature
Fred Bulkington and his wife Elly live in Vermont. Fred enters a contest and wins a pub in a small town in Ireland. Fred becomes involved in the opening of the pub while Elly, a world class swimmer, spends most of her time on a nearby island. Elly has a condition that allows her to survive in very cold water and she becomes acquainted with the locals due to her long swims in very cold water.
Fred finds the going very difficult when they are considered outsiders and are snubbed by the locals. Elly becomes involved in an aged goat herder on the island and finds herself entangled in his problems with the Corrigan family that has run the town for centuries.
Fred and Elly find their marriage is starting to fall apart due to the problems brought on by their involvement or non-involvement in the town.
I found the book to be a long and tedious journey that took me nowhere except to the end of the book.
Maybe someone with deeper insight will find this a satisfying read.
Category – Fiction/Literature
Fred Bulkington and his wife Elly live in Vermont. Fred enters a contest and wins a pub in a small town in Ireland. Fred becomes involved in the opening of the pub while Elly, a world class swimmer, spends most of her time on a nearby island. Elly has a condition that allows her to survive in very cold water and she becomes acquainted with the locals due to her long swims in very cold water.
Fred finds the going very difficult when they are considered outsiders and are snubbed by the locals. Elly becomes involved in an aged goat herder on the island and finds herself entangled in his problems with the Corrigan family that has run the town for centuries.
Fred and Elly find their marriage is starting to fall apart due to the problems brought on by their involvement or non-involvement in the town.
I found the book to be a long and tedious journey that took me nowhere except to the end of the book.
Maybe someone with deeper insight will find this a satisfying read.
January 10, 2012
Books captivate readers for a number of reasons. Maybe it’s a character that reminds you of someone you know or someone you want to know. Maybe it’s a setting that you’ve always dreamt of. Maybe the plot engages your attention fully, refusing to let go even as it twists and turns.
If you’re lucky, a book captivates you because of its author’s voice and its author’s awareness of how to build character relationships and how to maintain suspense. Readers of Matt Bondurant’s The Night Swimmer can consider themselves among the lucky.
Bondurant centers his story on an American couple who win a pub in Ireland. Many people might take the cash equivalent of the prize, but Elly and Fred make the decision to leave everything and everyone they know behind. As Fred restores the pub in Baltimore, Elly spends her time swimming in the waters off Cape Clear Island.
Elly has a minor genetic abnormality (an evenly distributed, thin layer of fat) that allows her to spend long amounts of time in cold water. Her communion with the ocean is one of the strong points of Bondurant’s writing, likely because he is a long-distance swimmer himself.
A side note – the locations in The Night Swimmer are real, and images are available on the web if Bondurant’s word paintings make you want more.
Another strong point of the novel is the bond between Elly and Fred. Bondurant doesn’t describe their love in over-the-top prose. He lets his characters’ actions speak for themselves. It’s clear these two love each other, which makes it slightly confusing when events of the novel begin to overtake their relationship.
Elly and Fred begin to feel the power of the Corrigan family which controls most of the commerce and culture of Baltimore and Cape Clear. The Americans are outsiders and Elly’s growing awareness of the undercurrents on Cape Clear make them more of a target. Fred retreats into a novel he’s trying to write and neglects the needs of the bar. Elly retreats into her swimming and getting to know Cape Clear. The two start to drift apart, but Bondurant never fully explains why.
It’s a jarring flaw in the novel. Other plot points go unexplained. For some of them, this works – Elly starts to learn about mysteries on the island and she may not need all the answers. Some of the island’s mysteries though cry out for explanations, at least for the reader.
Highgate, a blind goat farmer who becomes central to the story, may be more than he seems. As may the Fastnet lighthouse, which exerts a strange pull on Elly.
It’s to Bondurant’s credit though that these flaws are minor. The story is told from Elly’s point of view, and Bondurant never once drops the female perspective, a feat not all male authors can pull off. The mood he creates throughout The Night Swimmer pulls a reader in. His descriptions of setting and character are active. Readers experience the setting as Elly does, not as a laundry list of flora and fauna. Even when Elly befriends a visiting birder (who offers his own threat to her marriage), her exposure to the numerous species excites the readers, rather than becoming a mind-numbing list of bird names.
The novel builds exquisitely to a series of climaxes before ending on what may seem an abrupt note. Perhaps that’s an area for improvement in Bondurant’s writing. Or perhaps it’s just a sign of not wanting to find yourself on the last pages of a book.
If you’re lucky, a book captivates you because of its author’s voice and its author’s awareness of how to build character relationships and how to maintain suspense. Readers of Matt Bondurant’s The Night Swimmer can consider themselves among the lucky.
Bondurant centers his story on an American couple who win a pub in Ireland. Many people might take the cash equivalent of the prize, but Elly and Fred make the decision to leave everything and everyone they know behind. As Fred restores the pub in Baltimore, Elly spends her time swimming in the waters off Cape Clear Island.
Elly has a minor genetic abnormality (an evenly distributed, thin layer of fat) that allows her to spend long amounts of time in cold water. Her communion with the ocean is one of the strong points of Bondurant’s writing, likely because he is a long-distance swimmer himself.
A side note – the locations in The Night Swimmer are real, and images are available on the web if Bondurant’s word paintings make you want more.
Another strong point of the novel is the bond between Elly and Fred. Bondurant doesn’t describe their love in over-the-top prose. He lets his characters’ actions speak for themselves. It’s clear these two love each other, which makes it slightly confusing when events of the novel begin to overtake their relationship.
Elly and Fred begin to feel the power of the Corrigan family which controls most of the commerce and culture of Baltimore and Cape Clear. The Americans are outsiders and Elly’s growing awareness of the undercurrents on Cape Clear make them more of a target. Fred retreats into a novel he’s trying to write and neglects the needs of the bar. Elly retreats into her swimming and getting to know Cape Clear. The two start to drift apart, but Bondurant never fully explains why.
It’s a jarring flaw in the novel. Other plot points go unexplained. For some of them, this works – Elly starts to learn about mysteries on the island and she may not need all the answers. Some of the island’s mysteries though cry out for explanations, at least for the reader.
Highgate, a blind goat farmer who becomes central to the story, may be more than he seems. As may the Fastnet lighthouse, which exerts a strange pull on Elly.
It’s to Bondurant’s credit though that these flaws are minor. The story is told from Elly’s point of view, and Bondurant never once drops the female perspective, a feat not all male authors can pull off. The mood he creates throughout The Night Swimmer pulls a reader in. His descriptions of setting and character are active. Readers experience the setting as Elly does, not as a laundry list of flora and fauna. Even when Elly befriends a visiting birder (who offers his own threat to her marriage), her exposure to the numerous species excites the readers, rather than becoming a mind-numbing list of bird names.
The novel builds exquisitely to a series of climaxes before ending on what may seem an abrupt note. Perhaps that’s an area for improvement in Bondurant’s writing. Or perhaps it’s just a sign of not wanting to find yourself on the last pages of a book.
September 7, 2013
This story has everything going for it. But it never manages to become really good.
It's about a young, married couple who are very interesting characters, particularly Elly who is the Night Swimmer. She is an incredible swimmer who loves the freedom and challenge of deep water swimming, night or day. Elly literally has a different mechanism in her body that allows her to swim at 45 degrees without an insulated wet suit. When Elly and her husband Fred lived in Vermont, she swam across Lake Champlain regularly, and that is a big lake.
Fred enters an Irish beer company's contest and wins a mortgage free pub located in the most southern part of Ireland, in a wee town called Baltimore not too far from Cork. Fred and Elly's pub is called the Nightjar. A ferry ride away from Baltimore is the legendary, windswept, romantic, mysterious and historic island of Clear. Off they go, very excitedly, to begin their new life in a brand new place.
I checked the locations out in the atlas, and all the town, island and bay names in the story are there. Jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean at the very bottom of Ireland, left hand side. Clear is often the first place migrating birds stop at as they return to Europe.
This book is filled with heavy drinking, quirky Irish characters, old legends and the essence of history being alive in an ancient place. The townspeople don't take well to the 'blow in's'. Blow ins are tourists, bird watchers and the young people that come to work on the goat farm high up in the hills of Clear. Anyone who wasn't born in Baltimore or Clear is a 'blow-in'.
Elly has her sights set on swimming to the lighthouse 3 miles away on the island of Fastnet which has a powerful draw for her. The currents are treacherous and even Elly knows she can't attempt it without a boat alongside her for safety.
And Fred is revved to write his novel, learn as much as he can about everything and run his pub successfully.
But there are secrets on the island, Elly is away swimming the sea from the island of Clear many days a week, Fred starts to drink heavily and the Nightjar has no customers.
So the book has the exotic location and interesting story. Part of the problem is there is too much going on the in book and some of it becomes confusing. For example there is a goat that walks on its hind legs that Elly keeps seeing but no one else ever sees. The islanders know about the goat but never catch a glimpse.
Then there are the Corrigans, the oldest family in the region (by about 1,200 years) who dominate and run everything on the island. They are comparable to an Irish mafia with even more history.
There is Fred's father who is totally eccentric and flies around in his own plane.
There is Dinny who is the only Irish customer at the Nightjar but never says a word. Why?
Why doesn't Elly want to tell Fred her plans for swimming to the lighthouse on Fastnet?
I kept waiting for The Night Swimmer to really take off and become a truly magical read, and even have some of these questions answered but it never makes it. Just like this review.
And truly, I could not explain to you the last quarter of the book and why the story ended the way it did. So my advice is to pass on this one and have a Guiness instead.
It's about a young, married couple who are very interesting characters, particularly Elly who is the Night Swimmer. She is an incredible swimmer who loves the freedom and challenge of deep water swimming, night or day. Elly literally has a different mechanism in her body that allows her to swim at 45 degrees without an insulated wet suit. When Elly and her husband Fred lived in Vermont, she swam across Lake Champlain regularly, and that is a big lake.
Fred enters an Irish beer company's contest and wins a mortgage free pub located in the most southern part of Ireland, in a wee town called Baltimore not too far from Cork. Fred and Elly's pub is called the Nightjar. A ferry ride away from Baltimore is the legendary, windswept, romantic, mysterious and historic island of Clear. Off they go, very excitedly, to begin their new life in a brand new place.
I checked the locations out in the atlas, and all the town, island and bay names in the story are there. Jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean at the very bottom of Ireland, left hand side. Clear is often the first place migrating birds stop at as they return to Europe.
This book is filled with heavy drinking, quirky Irish characters, old legends and the essence of history being alive in an ancient place. The townspeople don't take well to the 'blow in's'. Blow ins are tourists, bird watchers and the young people that come to work on the goat farm high up in the hills of Clear. Anyone who wasn't born in Baltimore or Clear is a 'blow-in'.
Elly has her sights set on swimming to the lighthouse 3 miles away on the island of Fastnet which has a powerful draw for her. The currents are treacherous and even Elly knows she can't attempt it without a boat alongside her for safety.
And Fred is revved to write his novel, learn as much as he can about everything and run his pub successfully.
But there are secrets on the island, Elly is away swimming the sea from the island of Clear many days a week, Fred starts to drink heavily and the Nightjar has no customers.
So the book has the exotic location and interesting story. Part of the problem is there is too much going on the in book and some of it becomes confusing. For example there is a goat that walks on its hind legs that Elly keeps seeing but no one else ever sees. The islanders know about the goat but never catch a glimpse.
Then there are the Corrigans, the oldest family in the region (by about 1,200 years) who dominate and run everything on the island. They are comparable to an Irish mafia with even more history.
There is Fred's father who is totally eccentric and flies around in his own plane.
There is Dinny who is the only Irish customer at the Nightjar but never says a word. Why?
Why doesn't Elly want to tell Fred her plans for swimming to the lighthouse on Fastnet?
I kept waiting for The Night Swimmer to really take off and become a truly magical read, and even have some of these questions answered but it never makes it. Just like this review.
And truly, I could not explain to you the last quarter of the book and why the story ended the way it did. So my advice is to pass on this one and have a Guiness instead.
January 23, 2016
“The Night Swimmer” is a beautifully written novel that tells the story of Fred and Elly and their undertaking in moving to Ireland when they win a pub. It’s a new adventure for them and they dive into it head-long without much thought. Fred is thrilled with the pub and Elly is free to indulge her own passion—swimming in the ocean. Through a genetic defect, Elly is able to swim in cold water without any adverse affects for quite a long time.
While Fred submerges himself in learning how to run a pub in Baltimore and writing his ever-elusive novel, Elly finds herself taking the ferry to Clear Island on a regular basis to swim. She befriends only a few. Most of the locals do not like strangers, and they ignore her, but some seem to keep track of her swimming in their waters. There are a number of interesting characters on Clear Island, a decades old tragedy that no one will speak of, and an enigmatic goat farmer who seems to have a running feud with the Corrigans, a powerful family who runs most of the island commerce and the ferry service to and from the mainland.
The author does an excellent job of keeping to Elly’s viewpoint. I could feel her anguish when her marriage begins to unravel and her hurt feelings when the locals shun her. I enjoyed reading most of the story. However, I did find some things either not explained at all or that they were so subtle that I found myself wondering what just happened especially surrounding the climatic events on Clear Island. I feel like I missed something important, but just couldn’t put my finger on it. I found this frustrating and for that reason, I’ve not rated this novel as high as I would have liked.
While Fred submerges himself in learning how to run a pub in Baltimore and writing his ever-elusive novel, Elly finds herself taking the ferry to Clear Island on a regular basis to swim. She befriends only a few. Most of the locals do not like strangers, and they ignore her, but some seem to keep track of her swimming in their waters. There are a number of interesting characters on Clear Island, a decades old tragedy that no one will speak of, and an enigmatic goat farmer who seems to have a running feud with the Corrigans, a powerful family who runs most of the island commerce and the ferry service to and from the mainland.
The author does an excellent job of keeping to Elly’s viewpoint. I could feel her anguish when her marriage begins to unravel and her hurt feelings when the locals shun her. I enjoyed reading most of the story. However, I did find some things either not explained at all or that they were so subtle that I found myself wondering what just happened especially surrounding the climatic events on Clear Island. I feel like I missed something important, but just couldn’t put my finger on it. I found this frustrating and for that reason, I’ve not rated this novel as high as I would have liked.
November 12, 2014
Listened to the audiobook and grew to love the narrator's cool, dispassionate voice. As Elly, the narrator, discovers more about the desolate islands surrounding the pub that she and her husband have "won", she has many frightening experiences, even while swimming in deep water, her natural element.
Some mysteries remain unexplained, and the ending is an abrupt and brutal conclusion which is neither satisfying nor fitting. Not sure what the author was trying to say -
Some mysteries remain unexplained, and the ending is an abrupt and brutal conclusion which is neither satisfying nor fitting. Not sure what the author was trying to say -
November 10, 2011
I was disappointed in this. It felt very kitchen-sink-y what with the ghosts and the feuds and the alcohol and the bad parenting and the flirtation and the swimming and the mystical goat.
I think there's a very good book in there somewhere.
I think there's a very good book in there somewhere.
January 26, 2018
I wasn't crazy about it. The almost hallucinatory style of writing and the constant temporal jumps were annoying, as was the nearly constant slaughter. The clash of cultures was interesting and he depicts that part of Ireland very vividly.
September 25, 2023
I'd normally rate this book somewhere around the 4.25 to 4.5 stars mark, but I'm rounding up because I think the reviews that currently exist for this book are unnecessarily aggressive. So I'm doing my part to get this book the credit and positive attention it's due.
I really liked the characters and I really liked the writing. I was intrigued from the very start - I think that was because of the tense, melancholy aura the book gives off pretty much all the way through. The story was told in a way that just really appealed to me and I flew through this book.
Unsure why people are saying "nothing happened" (confusing given that I read the book and things did indeed happen) and that the book jumps around too much etc etc... maybe this book just never landed with the right audience it was designed for.
Anyway, I do recommend this book and look forward to seeing if anyone I know reads this and what their thoughts are 🙂
I really liked the characters and I really liked the writing. I was intrigued from the very start - I think that was because of the tense, melancholy aura the book gives off pretty much all the way through. The story was told in a way that just really appealed to me and I flew through this book.
Unsure why people are saying "nothing happened" (confusing given that I read the book and things did indeed happen) and that the book jumps around too much etc etc... maybe this book just never landed with the right audience it was designed for.
Anyway, I do recommend this book and look forward to seeing if anyone I know reads this and what their thoughts are 🙂
August 4, 2012
This week’s headline? darts, pint, poem
Why this book? review in Statesman
Which book format? hardback from Half-Price
Primary reading environment? bedtime at home
Any preconceived notions? ambivalent Kirkus Review
Identify most with? grad student toadstools
Three little words? “And me, sober.”
Goes well with? clamshell of tea
Recommend this to? open water swimmers
One lazy weekend, while I was lying in bed reading this book, I heard a seagull call through the open window.
Strange, considering I make my home two hundred miles inland. Strange, but not impossible.
I loved the set-up of this book. I bought it because of the Irish connection, but I also liked the swimming theme. An island, a goat farm, an Irish pub, a lighthouse in the middle of the wild ocean – it all appealed to me, and the first two-thirds of this book were magical for me.
I even liked Miranda. She is so perfectly eerie, walking around the windswept island by the light of the moon, her pale figure crossing over stone walls, stopping to watch Eleanor during her nighttime swims in the Ineer. Strange, but not impossible.
Despite all the implausibility of the character, only one thing about Miranda’s genesis bothered me: in Highgate’s telling of the story, how on Earth did he see Miranda “eyeing him defiantly,” if Highgate is blind? I realize Elly is narrating Highgate’s telling of the story, but that detail snagged my attention. A blind person has overdeveloped senses, I understand, and I let it slide when Highgate was able to shoot milk from a goat’s udder into the calico cat’s mouth, but the story of Miranda is overdeveloped in its visuals, which detracts from its believability. As I said, I like Miranda's story, but there is only so much a blind man can see.
Beyond that, things start to get a little weird. Elly’s behavior, stoic and calm throughout the entire telling of the story, becomes frantic and bizarre at the end. I can’t understand the choices she makes in the final hours; not as a human being, or within her character - which makes the entire story less trustworthy.
Other cultural accompaniments: http://www.statesman.com/life/books/k..., http://pinterest.com/manderrific/goat...
Grade: B
I leave you with this: “…I had the tunnel vision of the extremely self-conscious individual, seeing the world through the wrong end of a telescope, each word and gesture a macro decision that involved all my mental faculties.”
January 15, 2012
Fred and Elly have a good life, but it's busy. So when Fred wins an Irish Pub in Ireland in a dart competition, they decide to pack it all up and move. Fred studies up on how to run a pub, and Elly is anxious to swim in the waters. She's a long distance swimmer and she's extraordinarily good at it. She has a skin condition that gives her a higher fat density, making it easier for her to float and not drown.
When they arrive, it takes a while to get the pub, called the Nightjar, into working order. While Fred works with various contractors to get the pub ready to open, Elly goes to Cape Clear, a nearby island. There, she stays at a bed and breakfast and begins to know the locals and about the ancient clan, descended from Irish saints, who have ruled the island for centuries.
What Elly really wants to do is swim the Fastnet, a dangerous endeavor. Also, Elly keeps seeing a strange man with no arms walking the fences at night, leading a pack of goats. When she questions the locals about it, they regard her curiously. They haven't seen that person and have no idea who she is talking about.
Meanwhile, Fred is trying to write a novel and spend time with Elly when it allows. Elly misses Fred as well, but her swimming seems to have taken over most of her time. But as the two of them find their lives immersing more with the locals, danger begins to surround them. As it accelerates, their marriage begins to crumble.
With a cast of likable and original characters, a dramatic and beautiful backdrop, a dangerous feud and a local intrigue, The Night Swimmer is a unique journey with complex plotting. Powerful, beautiful writing and remarkable storytelling, you won't want to miss this exciting novel!
When they arrive, it takes a while to get the pub, called the Nightjar, into working order. While Fred works with various contractors to get the pub ready to open, Elly goes to Cape Clear, a nearby island. There, she stays at a bed and breakfast and begins to know the locals and about the ancient clan, descended from Irish saints, who have ruled the island for centuries.
What Elly really wants to do is swim the Fastnet, a dangerous endeavor. Also, Elly keeps seeing a strange man with no arms walking the fences at night, leading a pack of goats. When she questions the locals about it, they regard her curiously. They haven't seen that person and have no idea who she is talking about.
Meanwhile, Fred is trying to write a novel and spend time with Elly when it allows. Elly misses Fred as well, but her swimming seems to have taken over most of her time. But as the two of them find their lives immersing more with the locals, danger begins to surround them. As it accelerates, their marriage begins to crumble.
With a cast of likable and original characters, a dramatic and beautiful backdrop, a dangerous feud and a local intrigue, The Night Swimmer is a unique journey with complex plotting. Powerful, beautiful writing and remarkable storytelling, you won't want to miss this exciting novel!
February 11, 2013
The writing in this book was so beautiful. Luscious, dark prose - a throwback to Gothic fiction like Daphne du Maurier's Jamaica Inn. This takes place in Ireland, near Cork and I loved the premise of it. A couple wins an Irish pub. When they move to the desolate town, they are caught in the mix of old legends and ruling clans. Their marriage suffers and stuff gets weird. At first the story-telling aspect of this novel was awesome - goats that walk on two legs, weird shipwrecks, ghost children, blind goat herders. Cool stuff. But I don't feel like it was wrapped up very well. I was hoping that some of the mysteries would be solved by the end, but of course not. Instead, the reader is stuck with more pretty language and dark imagery. Of course I love a good ambiguous ending, but I felt like this was just mean spirited.
February 2, 2014
The scenery of Ireland was described beautifully. The sense of mystery in the story made me want to continue to read it. I didn't like all the loose ends. It seemed as if there were several inner stories going on, some without closure. I didn't feel connection to any one character and there were several.
January 2, 2012
Article first published as Book Review:The Night Swimmer by Matt Bondurant on Blogcritics.
Personal interests often vary, and those with no knowledge or even care about those things which others see as unique and interesting, are a part of what makes each and every person individual. I do not profess to know much about swimming, nor do I understand the thoughts of those who live to swim, so I was quite surprised to find myself immersed in The Night Swimmer by Matt Bondurant.
The Night Swimmer tells the tale of a couple very in love, and who find themselves in a place that they little imagined. Winning a Pub in a small town on the coast of Ireland, Fred and Elly Bulkington find themselves in a place full of resistance to strangers, and next to a powerful and wild North Atlantic sea. The land itself is shaped by the storms and wild waves surging into the land which becomes a source of the belief and heartache of the natives of this wild and harsh land.
While Fred works at making the Pub successful, Elly realizes her love of swimming and finds solace in the surging waters of Cape Clear Island. It is hear she first becomes involved in the age old feuds and dangers of life in the remote islands of Ireland where danger seems to lurk everywhere. As her marriage begins to unravel, so too their idyllic lives begin to fall apart with danger and mayhem from those who do not want them there. Can they get through the anger and build their life together as it is meant to be? Can they help to stop a feud riven before time and full of heartache, or will they too be lost to the dangers and harshness of the land?
Bondurant has given us a group of characters full of life and danger. The descriptions of the land pull you there and engrave the beauty as well as the danger in the storm torn waves. The sadness and hurt of past disasters hold the residents in sway and have a part of everything they do. Those who are not born in the wilds of this beautiful country are treated as outcast and are made to understand their place. But even the vilest of those who make life miserable for the outsiders have a story that tugs at your being. Yet not everything can be forgiven.
As hurt and anger take their toll, bodies begin to turn up, and lives are changed in an instant. Can Fred and Elly survive the onslaught of such anger and make a home for themselves in such a dangerous and hostile place or must they give up their dreams? Through all the hurt and anger, Elly’s love of swimming and the sea take her to places and bring her in contact with others in ways that are hard to imagine.
I would recommend this story for those who enjoy romance and mysteries. With just a bit of the unusual and danger at every turn you will keep on turning the pages wanting to know where the story is headed. The danger of the coastline as well as from the people is well told and daunting, keeping you guessing as to where it will all end.
This would be a terrific book for a reading group as well as a book club. This is a story that will stay with you and one that would be great for your library.
This book was received free from the publicist. All opinions are my own based off my reading and understanding of the material.
Personal interests often vary, and those with no knowledge or even care about those things which others see as unique and interesting, are a part of what makes each and every person individual. I do not profess to know much about swimming, nor do I understand the thoughts of those who live to swim, so I was quite surprised to find myself immersed in The Night Swimmer by Matt Bondurant.
The Night Swimmer tells the tale of a couple very in love, and who find themselves in a place that they little imagined. Winning a Pub in a small town on the coast of Ireland, Fred and Elly Bulkington find themselves in a place full of resistance to strangers, and next to a powerful and wild North Atlantic sea. The land itself is shaped by the storms and wild waves surging into the land which becomes a source of the belief and heartache of the natives of this wild and harsh land.
While Fred works at making the Pub successful, Elly realizes her love of swimming and finds solace in the surging waters of Cape Clear Island. It is hear she first becomes involved in the age old feuds and dangers of life in the remote islands of Ireland where danger seems to lurk everywhere. As her marriage begins to unravel, so too their idyllic lives begin to fall apart with danger and mayhem from those who do not want them there. Can they get through the anger and build their life together as it is meant to be? Can they help to stop a feud riven before time and full of heartache, or will they too be lost to the dangers and harshness of the land?
Bondurant has given us a group of characters full of life and danger. The descriptions of the land pull you there and engrave the beauty as well as the danger in the storm torn waves. The sadness and hurt of past disasters hold the residents in sway and have a part of everything they do. Those who are not born in the wilds of this beautiful country are treated as outcast and are made to understand their place. But even the vilest of those who make life miserable for the outsiders have a story that tugs at your being. Yet not everything can be forgiven.
As hurt and anger take their toll, bodies begin to turn up, and lives are changed in an instant. Can Fred and Elly survive the onslaught of such anger and make a home for themselves in such a dangerous and hostile place or must they give up their dreams? Through all the hurt and anger, Elly’s love of swimming and the sea take her to places and bring her in contact with others in ways that are hard to imagine.
I would recommend this story for those who enjoy romance and mysteries. With just a bit of the unusual and danger at every turn you will keep on turning the pages wanting to know where the story is headed. The danger of the coastline as well as from the people is well told and daunting, keeping you guessing as to where it will all end.
This would be a terrific book for a reading group as well as a book club. This is a story that will stay with you and one that would be great for your library.
This book was received free from the publicist. All opinions are my own based off my reading and understanding of the material.
April 21, 2012
Fred and Elly Bulkington are the luckiest couple alive. They have won a genuine Irish pub in a contest, lock stock and barrel. All they have to do is open the doors and their new lives will begin.
But this is not the Ireland of sunny skies, laughing children and warm communities. This is the Ireland flung out on the outskirts of civilization, a dark, brooding, inbreed place where anyone not born there is called a 'blow-in'. A place with secrets that outsiders only catch occasional glimpses of. A place that is ruled by one family and where everyone else bows to that family's wishes. A place of menace, contrasted with occasional flashes of casual violence.
Fred opens the doors, but customers are few and far between. The only tourists who come here are birders, as this is the first landfall for migrating birds. Elly is a distance swimmer, the kind of swimmer who only feels alive in the water. She spends her time swimming in the ocean, an occupation that the natives view suspiciously. To them the water is a necessary evil, a force that gives livilhoods but in return may demand a life in payment. The couple is ostracized, not overt acts but just treated as if they don't exist. The strain mounts with Fred falling into the bottle and their marriage starting to crack. Will they be able to make a go of things in this remote, desolate place?
Matt Bondurant has written a stunning book, one that grips the reader, insinuating its way into thoughts at strange times, leaving behind an impulse to drop whatever is being done to get back to Elly and Fred's story. The language is brooding, building suspense with each vignette the story unfolds, leading to a climatic finish that won't be soon forgotten. This book is recommended for all readers who are interested in connection and remoteness and how we find our way in the world, clinging to others to save us from the cruelty we encounter.
But this is not the Ireland of sunny skies, laughing children and warm communities. This is the Ireland flung out on the outskirts of civilization, a dark, brooding, inbreed place where anyone not born there is called a 'blow-in'. A place with secrets that outsiders only catch occasional glimpses of. A place that is ruled by one family and where everyone else bows to that family's wishes. A place of menace, contrasted with occasional flashes of casual violence.
Fred opens the doors, but customers are few and far between. The only tourists who come here are birders, as this is the first landfall for migrating birds. Elly is a distance swimmer, the kind of swimmer who only feels alive in the water. She spends her time swimming in the ocean, an occupation that the natives view suspiciously. To them the water is a necessary evil, a force that gives livilhoods but in return may demand a life in payment. The couple is ostracized, not overt acts but just treated as if they don't exist. The strain mounts with Fred falling into the bottle and their marriage starting to crack. Will they be able to make a go of things in this remote, desolate place?
Matt Bondurant has written a stunning book, one that grips the reader, insinuating its way into thoughts at strange times, leaving behind an impulse to drop whatever is being done to get back to Elly and Fred's story. The language is brooding, building suspense with each vignette the story unfolds, leading to a climatic finish that won't be soon forgotten. This book is recommended for all readers who are interested in connection and remoteness and how we find our way in the world, clinging to others to save us from the cruelty we encounter.
December 30, 2011
My Thoughts:
There are so many elements to this book that I'm going to valiantly attempt to get them all.
I was blown away by the prose of this novel. It was lyrical and flowing, which is fitting since the main character, Elly, is a swimmer. Another eye catching, and initially off-putting, was the way the author doesn't use quotation marks to denote conversations. I did get used to it, and once you really get into the swing of it, it makes sense and flows very well - The story is coming from Elly's POV, and it's a retelling. She's recounting her life with her husband Fred, about the drastic life changes they make after 9/11, in which Fred has narrowly missed being in one of the towers. Fred wins a pub in Ireland, and they leave their previous lives to pursue dreams of a meaningful life. Much like swimming in the ocean Elly loves, their little slice of Ireland is full of hidden things and mysterious figures: There is the clan who lays claim to the island and has a serious dislike of "blow-ins" and a seemingly frail goat farmer, an island tragedy no one will speak of, there is an otherworldly goat, (look I know how it sounds, but its good. Trust me. I know my goats) suspicious deaths and bully tactics, all wrapped in Ireland's mystical setting. Elly has to find herself before the harsh land and turbulent sea swallow her up whole, as Fred gets even more lost. The drift between the two is palpable, and heart wrenching.
The writing is intense, lush and beautiful. I highly recommend it to any and all, especially if you want a change of pace. There's nothing else quite like The Night Swimmer.
There are so many elements to this book that I'm going to valiantly attempt to get them all.
I was blown away by the prose of this novel. It was lyrical and flowing, which is fitting since the main character, Elly, is a swimmer. Another eye catching, and initially off-putting, was the way the author doesn't use quotation marks to denote conversations. I did get used to it, and once you really get into the swing of it, it makes sense and flows very well - The story is coming from Elly's POV, and it's a retelling. She's recounting her life with her husband Fred, about the drastic life changes they make after 9/11, in which Fred has narrowly missed being in one of the towers. Fred wins a pub in Ireland, and they leave their previous lives to pursue dreams of a meaningful life. Much like swimming in the ocean Elly loves, their little slice of Ireland is full of hidden things and mysterious figures: There is the clan who lays claim to the island and has a serious dislike of "blow-ins" and a seemingly frail goat farmer, an island tragedy no one will speak of, there is an otherworldly goat, (look I know how it sounds, but its good. Trust me. I know my goats) suspicious deaths and bully tactics, all wrapped in Ireland's mystical setting. Elly has to find herself before the harsh land and turbulent sea swallow her up whole, as Fred gets even more lost. The drift between the two is palpable, and heart wrenching.
The writing is intense, lush and beautiful. I highly recommend it to any and all, especially if you want a change of pace. There's nothing else quite like The Night Swimmer.
October 2, 2021
This is a difficult review for me because I know some people who would love this book and some who would not. I want to describe it in a way to help readers know if it would suit them.
It is written beautifully, but it is not an overall happy book. There are many struggles going on.The second half of the book is more exciting than the first, but wouldn't be as powerful without the groundwork done in the first half. It's a mixture of analyzing a marriage, feeling like you've visited Ireland (the one of family feuds, fights, pubs, and villagers who don't want outsiders), and touches of magical realism. If you're still interested, keep reading...
If you are someone who likes a book that relies on the reader to figure things out on their own, and you don't mind that there are unanswered questions at the end, you will enjoy this book. If you like a story where you get all the answers to all the questions you've collected in your mind when you read, you won't like this book.
As for me, I enjoyed the book and believe it deserves more than an average on GR of 3 stars. (I'll be mulling over this one, then re-reading, for a good bit - which I enjoy.) I actually read this book because the ratings were so skewed, and I wondered why some disliked it so much and others loved it. I don't usually try a book with an average of less than 3.8 on GR unless someone I know recommends it. I'm so glad I read this one.
It is written beautifully, but it is not an overall happy book. There are many struggles going on.The second half of the book is more exciting than the first, but wouldn't be as powerful without the groundwork done in the first half. It's a mixture of analyzing a marriage, feeling like you've visited Ireland (the one of family feuds, fights, pubs, and villagers who don't want outsiders), and touches of magical realism. If you're still interested, keep reading...
If you are someone who likes a book that relies on the reader to figure things out on their own, and you don't mind that there are unanswered questions at the end, you will enjoy this book. If you like a story where you get all the answers to all the questions you've collected in your mind when you read, you won't like this book.
As for me, I enjoyed the book and believe it deserves more than an average on GR of 3 stars. (I'll be mulling over this one, then re-reading, for a good bit - which I enjoy.) I actually read this book because the ratings were so skewed, and I wondered why some disliked it so much and others loved it. I don't usually try a book with an average of less than 3.8 on GR unless someone I know recommends it. I'm so glad I read this one.
Read
March 17, 2012Thankfully, I read this novel well after our summer trip to Ireland where we met nothing but warm and inviting locals. I got this book from the library after reading that the premise was based on an actual "win an Irish pub" contest sponsored by the people at Guinness back in 1998. In Bondurant's fictional version, the winners are Fred and Elly, a Vermont couple whose prize is a pub in the tiny town of Baltimore on the southern coast of Ireland. Once there, they encounter all sorts of obstacles - ghosts, goats and Gaelic superstitions - and plenty of not-so warm and inviting locals. Elly is a swimmer who assumes she can swim from Clear Island to the mystery enshrouded Fastnet Lighthouse. One look at photos of the light house online convinced me she was crazy, even without the threats of the locals. I liked the Gothic mystery of the novel, but I finished it with lots of unanswered questions and disappointment over the evil Irishmen that this book introduced me to.
February 16, 2015
I read this and I still don't have any real idea what it was about. What was the deal with the Corrigans and Highgate? I don't get it. Why wouldn't Conchur Corrigan let Elly board the ferry to leave the island? What did Elly say or do that led to Miranda being killed? None of this makes any damn sense, nor is it adequately explained.
While this is beautifully written, it has almost no plot to speak of. For that reason, I can't rate it any higher than 2 stars. I hate novels that don't explain things and leave plot points dangling the way this one does.
While this is beautifully written, it has almost no plot to speak of. For that reason, I can't rate it any higher than 2 stars. I hate novels that don't explain things and leave plot points dangling the way this one does.
January 28, 2012
The book was well-written and had some interesting topics, but I just couldn't relate and didn't like it. I didn't like or relate to any of the characters in John Updike's "Rabbit Angstrom" series, but I still liked the books. Not the case with "The Night Swimmer".
My major "take" from this book: don't visit Baltimore Ireland or the islands off the SW coast there. The people are really unfriendly! Also: if you focus on things other than your marriage, your marriage is likely to suffer.
My major "take" from this book: don't visit Baltimore Ireland or the islands off the SW coast there. The people are really unfriendly! Also: if you focus on things other than your marriage, your marriage is likely to suffer.
December 1, 2014
I really did not like this book and it took me forever to read it. There was far more about goat farming and cold water swimming than I cared to know about. I enjoy swimming but this was just boring. I did not like or was indifferent about the characters. I stuck it out till the end partly because once I start a book I feel like I have to finish it and because it was not a long book. It just seemed very long. I would not recommend it.
July 25, 2015
Awful! Way to much description....do we really need to know that the town of Baltimore is clustered along the curved bow of a small inlet surrounded by a sharp set of hills, more pronounced at each end, like a pair of shrugging shoulders. On the edge of a bay with limestone cliffs stretching hundreds of feet above the thrashing ocean. A half mile inland................................. it goes on and on and on.
Characters are appearing with no explanation.
Characters are appearing with no explanation.
February 6, 2012
Literary fiction with elegant prose, strong sense of place, and no place to go. The plot line of the outsiders coming to run an Irish pub, then running afoul the locals seemed rather obvious. Some of the details never really made sense.
I enjoyed it for the writing, but am not sure that I actually liked the book or its uniformly unsympathetic characters.
I enjoyed it for the writing, but am not sure that I actually liked the book or its uniformly unsympathetic characters.
March 19, 2019
A pastiche of The Tempest and Cheever. Half written with half drawn characters or worse Irish stereotypes. Not to mention the weird insults about Vermont. Main character was too self absorbed to feel any sympathy for not to mention kind of stupid. I don't hate the book as it would require more effort than the author put into creating a coherent story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews