He Wants

by Alison Moore (Contributor)

Retired teacher Lewis Sullivan always imagined living by the sea.

He lives instead in the Midlands village in which he was born. His grown-up daughter visits every day, bringing soup. He does not want soup. He frequents his second-favourite pub, where he can get half a shandy, a speciality sausage, and a bit of company.

When a childhood friend appears on the scene, Lewis finds his life and comfortable routine shaken up.

In Moore’s inimitable, haunting style, this seemingly simple but in fact multi-layered narrative unfolds with compelling assurance. Moving between memories of childhood and Lewis's current life of cosy habit, plot twists thicken and weave with stealthily increasing tension. Always unexpected, sparely written and beautifully crafted, He Wants deftly dissects the themes of loneliness, anxiety, the weight of recollection and the complex nature of friendship and family ties. A surprising, lingering and intensely moving tale from one of our most exciting novelists.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

182 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2014

About the author

Born in Manchester in 1971, Alison Moore lives next but one to a sheep field in a village on the Leicestershire-Nottinghamshire border, with her husband Dan and son Arthur.

She is a member of Nottingham Writers’ Studio and an honorary lecturer in the School of English at Nottingham University.

In 2012 her novel The Lighthouse, the unsettling tale of a middle-aged man who embarks on a contemplative German walking holiday after the break-up of his marriage – only to find himself more alienated than ever, was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize.

Reviews

[Gerhard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Until I actually manage to catch up with my reading challenge for 2017, I have decided to write shorter reviews for my next couple of reads than would usually be the case. Which really is ironical, as Alison Moore's second novel "He Wants" (coming after the uniquely ambiguous reading experience she gifted us in her undisputed masterpiece "The Lighthouse") deserves a studied analysis of some literary weight to do justice to the multi-layered depths she so deftly -- and effortlessly -- explore this time around.

The plot concerns retired schoolteacher Lewis Sullivan, still living in the same Midlands village he's always been ensconced in -- first as a child, later as a teacher in the same school his father Lawrence taught at. Moore starts heaping up the tantalizing little mysteries from early on, and as the novel progresses she weaves a beguiling tapestry made up of scintillating and apparently inconsequential strands that entertain, mystify, amuse and move in equal measure until the surprising but perfectly realized and life-affirming conclusion.

Along the line we meet an ex-con with an unexpected literary career and an aging golden retriever for a companion, a dutiful soup-making daughter engaged in a secret correspondence, and a local small-time thug. There is a trip to Manchester to see evangelist Billy Graham in action, an experiment with exploding jelly babies that go horrifyingly wrong, reminiscences and observations around the nude wrestling scene in D.H. Lawrence's "Women in Love", and the obsessive and regretful memories centered on a long-lost school acquaintance.

Alison Moore's intriguing novel is written in a deceptively spare style. Delightfully elliptical, with surprises waiting around every corner, it is ultimately a compassionate study of the various physical and psychological needs we harbor at the most basic levels of our inner beings.

[Annemarie Neary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an early copy of this book from Goodreads as a First Reads giveaway, but that hasn't influenced my review.

This is a taut and expertly controlled novel about convention, daring and desire. Tension is present from the opening line, with its intimation of what is to come. 'The front door is mostly glass, a pane as tall and wide as a man.' The chapter headings, signalling ever more extravagant wants, are an effective way of marking the pulse of a book that makes for compelling reading throughout.

The book has a striking cover — weathered yellow — and the colour appears throughout as a signifier of things unconstrained, out of the ordinary, wild and (in the case of the yellow-bellied newt trod underfoot by Lewis), fragile. Life itself is fragile; Lewis has a suspicious growth on the back of his neck, and both he and his father, Lawrence, suffer on account of terrible accidents for which they feel responsible. His daughter Ruth and her young son are fearful, tentative people who shy away from risk-taking. All in all, there is little colour in Lewis' soup-coloured life before Sydney arrives, the breaker of boundaries, in his yellow Saab.

Moore has an eye for the telling detail. She is particularly good at the visual metaphors of ordinary life — a 'dry teabag, a shiny teaspoon and the tiny white dot of a sweetener'. But it is the characters that make this novel the delight that it is. Each one is drawn with great empathy and care. Lewis in particular, with his awkward boyhood — Billy Graham set against D H Lawrence — his loneliness, and lack of insight feels deeply understood. As for Sydney, unpredictable and transgressive, he is the motor of this story. A wonderfully ambiguous character who brings the novel alive. Highly recommended.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5, rounded down.

Through much of Moore's second novel, I was finding it hard to know exactly what was happening or where it was all going - and was often frustrated, and sometimes semi-bored. As many of the negative reviews indicate, it CAN be quite difficult to follow who all the characters are, or where we are in the story - but Moore is nothing short of amazing at bringing it all together beautifully in the final chapters. One definitely has to pay very close attention to things that seem like meaningless throw-aways - and if ANY book almost demands a re-reading, it would be this one.

I think one of the keys that I missed (and should have Googled earlier), is that the main character, Lewis, is a former RE teacher - RE meaning Religious Education - and there are all sorts of asides - including childhood visits to Billy Grahams's revival meetings - that give a clue as to the cause of Lewis's repressed and dull nature.

The chapter titles are all variations of wants or 'un-wants', that are also milestones that point the way to the underlying themes and direction of the book: 'He Wants to Fly', 'He Does Not Want the Sausages' - and most tellingly 'He Wants to See Two Men Wrestling Naked on the Carpet' - obviously an allusion to the infamous scene in Women in Love.

I love it when an author has full control of her material and fools me into thinking she hasn't a clue - and then totally pulls the rug out from under me. Early on I was thinking - 'Eh, maybe a 3-star, at most' but the final 25 pages bumped it up quite a bit to a 4.5 (although not quite the masterpiece that her first novel, The Lighthouse, is - so rounded down, instead of up). Well-played, Ms. Moore, well-played.

[Patrycja Krotowska · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 50% as I simply don't care what he wants.

[Cathrine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Longings, indecision, motivation, drive, anticipation. Moments and perspectives.

This author has such insight into the tic toc of human nature.

Many authors do but Alison seems to own a pause button and a magnifying glass.

I'm grateful and very ready for more :-) !
I highly recommend her work!

[Mike Finn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whatever I wanted, it wasn't this clumsily constructed, overly contrived but largely empty story.

Judging from the critical acclaim this novel received, I'm in the minority in seeing this particular emperor as naked.

"He Wants" was The Observer Book of the Year in 2014, which asserted, ‘Moore movingly mines the aching gap between aspiration and actuality.’ The Guardian called it "brave and rigorous’. The Financial Times declared, ‘Moore is a serious talent. There’s art here. There’s care.’

My experience of "He Wants" was very different. I read a book that was reaching for profundity wrapped in a fable but only achieved monotony, wrapped in astute and sometimes funny observations on what it feels like to grow old.

I'm in my sixties and I smiled at how well Moore captured the small assaults of old age on wellbeing. The prose was sparse but evocative, especially when summoning childhood memories. The opening was intriguing and promised much but the middle and the end delivered very little.

The framework of the story kept trying to link the action (such as it was) to a wider exploration of what we want and what we don't want and what we do about the gap between what we want and what we have but it was done in a very heavy-handed, sometimes clumsy way, that distracted from the story.

My main stumbling point was that I neither believed in nor cared about either of the two main characters.

Lewis Sullivan, widower and retired Secondary School RE teacher is, in his sixties, a boy-man afraid of the world and so passive and cautious that he's one step away from being put into care. Yet he doesn't come across as tragic or even interesting, just irredeemably dull and timid. Sydney, Lewis' anarchic childhood friend / teenboy crush, who, after disappearing for decades, returns from prison just in time to move the story towards its denouement, is at best and archetype and at worst a caricature.

The plot relies heavily upon co-incidence but doesn't use the co-incidences to go anywhere except around in circles of ever-diminishing meaning.

"He Wants" had me starting by wanting it to be as intriguing as it seemed to be, moves me swiftly on to wanting it to be less empty than it seemed to be and ended with me just wanting it to be over.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slight, in several ways. This is a short novel that follows a small group of a characters in a small town in what seems like a small world. Not that there’s anything wrong with such limited scope; but that is it, pretty much.

We follow Lewis, a retired teacher and widower in a small town in England, while he struggles with the many small inconveniences of a quiet life. (In the author’s hands, these inconveniences becomes crises that imply much of What is Wrong with the country.) The life of Lewis is upended by the arrival of Sydney, an old friend from childhood who has become a writer in the meantime. Sydney is a cooler sort of old person who drives erratically, owes money to bad people, and listens to the Rolling Stones at high volume. They may be in love. Lewis and Sydney get into a couple of scrapes, there’s a great deal of meandering childhood reflection, and then the book ends.

The writing isn’t bad. It is often quite good. It’s just that there isn’t very much here to think about. Nothing is ever quite developed, and though the book is not actually short on action (in its way), nothing feels consequential. A disappointment.

[William Koon · Rating 1 out of 5]

The plot goes here and there and back again and let’s double back even once more. The main character is an ordinary man we don’t care about and nether does the author since she leaves him a commonplace and undeveloped. . There’s also a mysterious childhood friend who is a famous romance writer who is somehow a penniless bum on the run who has been in prison and has disappeared for the past 54 year. Details? We don’t get them and further, we also don’t care about these artistic failings, too. There are a couple of feeble “I have a letter” events and details, which are forced and totally unnecessary. A wasted work by what seemed to be a talented writer. Vile and ordinarily specious. If this book and George Bush were running for president, I'd vote for George Bush.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I love Alison's writing style and her study of the minutiae of every day life juxtaposed with some shocking or unexpected actions, I was not gripped by this book in the same way as The Lighthouse. I will certainly be reading her future books however and the message I take from this book is not to leave the things you want to do for some time in the future!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided it was time to read all these books that I have loaded my "To-Read" shelf with for the last 4-5 years (it's just one long "shelf" since they are digital copies, not actual books, else it would be rather longer). I find it is quite a shift in reading when opting for literary-fiction so this book started slowly. Granted, there aren't specific borders for genres, but books like this are unlike horror, fantasy, and thrillers in their mannerisms. Once I was 10-20 pages in and sufficiently adjusted, I started to enjoy the pace and feel of this story. Moore has a beautiful writing style and creates strong emotions and a firm sense of place. It took me a while to juggle all the characters and timelines and PsOV - for such a slim volume there are more than I expected - but they all have their part to play in the narrative. "You won't regret what you've done, but what you haven't done", says someone somewhere in the book. Fitting, as we get a tale of two men, and the different paths they took, or did not, to get from youth to old age. Still, this is no philosophical analysis, more a snapshot of lives lived simply. I can see many readers disliking the lack of action or suspense or excitement, but the book isn't about what we want life to be, but what it is, however mundane or remarkable that is for those living it or for us reading about it. Life is mostly repetition, but it is the peaks and valleys we choose to remember, often forgetting that the day-to-day holds its own brand of excitement, wonder, and possibility. This book shows us that there is beauty, solace, and amazing, if we just know how to see it.

[Jay Hinman · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Lighthouse” is one of the best works of recent fiction that I’ve encountered, and yet reading this newer work I felt like I was reading a somewhat clumsy first novel that later gave way to something much better. Quite the opposite, as “Lighthouse” is from 2012 and “He Wants” 2015.

Moore is phenomenal at illuminating the emotional stuntedness of her characters, all very English and confused and often repressed. Yet this time by her focusing and jumping around multiple woeful characters, often with little connective tissue between them, I found it difficult at times to understand what it was she was getting at in describing their meandering and fumbling.

Awkwardly done in parts, masterfully in others. I’ll certainly still read the other two books of hers I recently bought.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I reviewed Moore’s first novel, The Lighthouse, I described it as a “study in loneliness. Everyone is lonely. And mostly unhappy.” I’m tempted to say the same about this book only I’m not sure that ‘lonely’ and ‘unhappy’ are the right words. Old people often end up alone because everyone they know moves away or dies off and often they end up rattling around on their own in family homes one or two sizes too big for them and that’s what we have here: Ruth is in her mid-thirties and married to John a man a few years older than her seventy-year-old father, Lewis, who she visits regularly with soup he doesn’t really want and eats (often cold just before he knows she’s due to arrive) simply to please her; Lewis, in turn, visits his own father, Lawrence (named after the writer), who’s over ninety and now living in a nursing home where he writes long, apologetic letters to his uncle who emigrated to Australia only Lawrence doesn’t know exactly where in Australia so he writes c/o the post office in all the major cities and towns hoping they can trace him.

Lewis first met John in 1961 when his father took him to see Billy Graham in Manchester; they ended up staying with John and his wife, Lilian, having missed their coach. After Lillian’s death (in the late nineties) John comes to stay with Lewis for a while—by this time Lewis has also lost his wife, Edie—but, rather than return to Manchester, John ends up hanging around; seems he’s developed feelings for Ruth and they marry, an arrangement Lewis has never felt comfortable with although he’s happy enough to babysit when needed. 1961, coincidentally, was the last time Lewis saw his best friend, Sydney, who has now, fifty-two years later, made his way back home but oddly enough not to see Lewis; instead he’s here to meet Ruth with whom he’s been corresponding for over ten years apparently oblivious to the fact he even knew her dad. Actually it’s not true to say 1961 was the last time Lewis saw Sydney but it was the last time the two of them spoke; in the summer of 1977, on the way to the church to get married to Edie, Lewis passes a yellow Saab:

On his wedding day, Lewis was driven to the church by Edie’s brother, who was his best man. En route, in a quiet side road still hung with decorations from the silver jubilee, they came across an old, yellow car that had come to a stop, its hazard lights flashing. ‘We’d better go around it,’ said Lewis. As they drew alongside it, Lewis noticed the hula girl on the dashboard, ready to dance but still for now. The driver was sitting on the bonnet, reclining against the windscreen, sunbathing with his long legs out in front of him, one knee raised up. He had his shirt off. There was music coming from the car’s stereo and the man was drumming his hands against the bonnet while the bunting fluttered above him, like someone on a float at a parade. They paused at the junction, and Edie’s brother, glancing in the rearview mirror, said that they ought to go back and see if they could help. Lewis was looking in his wing mirror. ‘We haven’t got time to go back,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to get my suit dirty. He looks like he’s waiting for someone.’ He opened his mouth to say something else, to say, ‘I don’t know,’ but Edie’s brother was already pulling out of the junction, pressing on in the direction of the church.

Yeah, I know. There’s no mention of the fact that it’s a Saab or that the guy sunbathing is Sydney; we find that all out later. And that’s the thing with this book: it is a master class in how to drip feed a story. Little by little the picture builds into something that feels like it might be starting to make sense and then we have the climactic scene in Sydney’s parents’ house and even though there’s still a chapter to go to the end of the book the first thing you’ll want to do is start clawing through the preceding chapters to see what you’ve missed. Like any good mystery all the clues are there and in plain sight but who was to say what was the stuff you should’ve been paying attention to and what were the red herrings?

I’ve often wondered about people who spend their entire lives in the one town. I know one of two people I went to school with who have but, like Sydney, pretty much as soon as I could I got out of there. I’m not sure what, now, I’d have in common with any of them any yet I can’t pretend I don’t feel bonded to them; we went through stuff together. Mostly the stuff wasn’t anything to write home about but it was our stuff. And there was unfinished business. There’s always unfinished business.

I related strongly to this book. It is definitely a novel that warrants a second read because even though there is a climax that puts to bed one nagging question, not every question’s answer is so obvious and even some seemingly minor characters have stories to tell that, on a first read, you’ll’ve probably not paid any real attention to. I can see why people didn’t like it but mostly the reason given is that it simply wasn’t their cup of tea. Moore must’ve been about forty when she wrote this—she was born in 1971—but I think the older the reader the better; this is not a book young adults or even new adults will appreciate. Hopefully it will still be in print—if only as an e-book—in thirty-odd years’ time (will anyone differentiate by then?) and by then they’ll be better ready for it.

[SueLucie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pre-publication review copy courtesy of lovereading.co.uk

Fewer than 200 pages yet this book packs quite a punch. Carefully constructed, it never loses focus on its theme. The main character Lewis has spent 50 years yearning for something just beyond his reach, just failing to connect with others. He aspires to the freedom and adventure he thinks they have. The book charts his life to date and the significant incidents when his action or lack of action has dashed his hopes. The return of his glamorous old schoolmate Sydney into his world brings Lewis the possibility of change at last.

One of the most appealing themes for me is the use of the colour yellow which features throughout and which Lewis senses as the colour of exhilaration and excitement on the one hand, on the other security, contentment and hope fulfilled. Golden labradors as smiling, faithful companions, golden lager with a whiff of travel to exotic lands, a yellow car to drive so fast you feel you are flying. Effective and memorable.

There is so much to admire in the writing here, not least a lightness of touch and concise expression of emotion. I loved this beautifully written story and cannot recommend it highly enough.

[Elliott Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book, I picked it up because it was slim and the cover somewhat echoed that of a crime novel, I thought it would be a nice change to read something different. But I was mistaken, this is not really a crime novel. It wasn't fast paced or thought provoking, certainly not in a crime-classic sort of way.
However I did find it gripping in it's own unique way, it was interesting and certainly made me think. This novella is a kind of biography of old age, looking back upon your childhood interests and feelings, thinking about your father now and your children and how they've all changed for better or worse.
There were certainly some unsavoury parts to this novel, and in places it became weird and a little out of place, but I suppose that these feelings go hand in hand with thoughts and feelings surrounding the characters in the novel.
The characters themselves were in many ways quite flat, but they each provoked my thoughts at different points, be it their relationship with animals, or religious views. They each had their own intriguing backgrounds and the way they intertwined and worked in tandem was really fascinating and brillaint.

[Emmkay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lewis, a retired Religious Education teacher, lives alone, a Tupperware of soup made from leftover vegetables dropped off each day by his adult daughter en route to her administrative job. He still thinks about Sydney, a schoolmate from many years ago whom he hasn't seen since they were 18. I loved Moore's writing style, which is witty and poignant and filled with just the right sort of details. Her varying use of the word 'want' throughout always brought me up short and made me notice what was going on. The plot itself felt a bit slight and improbable, if a plot can be both of those things at the same time. I would like to read more of her work.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

ordinary and strange at the same time. I love the way it all comes together, but not quite. Withheld information a bit naughty at times, but on the whole well done. Still puzzled, in a good way. Poor old Lewis. Billy Graham, D H Lawrence, chemistry experiments, denial, Labradors, 1961, villages at night feature. It was all yellow.

[Eleanor Fitzsimons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Alison Moore's dark, offbeat novels. This is the third I've read. She gets inside the heads of her quirky characters very well and takes us there too. This one describes a life unfulfilled with a brief redemption towards the end and includes an odd bunch of largely disappointed yet compelling people. I enjoyed it immensely.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a friends first reads book.found this book slow not my type of book.

[Karen Mace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book went where I didn't expect it to go, and that's what made reading it so memorable and an enthralling reading experience.

It's a fairly simple story centred around Lewis, a retired RE teacher who has lived his life doing the opposite of how he imagined things would turn out. Since he's been a widower he still feels bound by routine and unable to live the life he dreamed of.

His daughter lives nearby and brings him soup everyday, despite the fact he never eats it, and she brings her own complexities to the relationship with her father.

He spends many hours looking back, at the things he regrets, the missed opportunities and it's only when an old school friend appears back in his life, that his rebellious streak shows itself and he starts to live life a little dangerously and throws caution to the wind to see if the life he had always dreamed of would bring him the joy he craved.

The attention to the little details throughout really make this short novel sparkle and I found it to be so touching and enchanting.

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about a man who wants, but has never allowed himself to have. He does not want the things he cannot have though. He also does not want things he shouldn’t have. His wants are perfectly reasonable. He wants things that he can have - mundane things mostly, like a cappuccino. He wants to try new things (like being a passenger on an aeroplane), but he doesn’t and hasn’t, for 50-odd years on the earth, out of habit maybe, or superstition.

Alison Moore has this peculiar ability to sink the reader into situations and settings that are very familiar and yet not quite right, ever so slightly off-kilter. She absorbs you into the world of her peculiar yet easily loveable characters with such subtlety and skill. I was wrapped up nicely in the cosy blanket of He Wants, but she tore the covers off me in the closing pages and left me feeling shaken, strangely sad, yet exhilarated and wanting even more.

[Alan Pottinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Moore’s ‘The Lighthouse’ however didn’t enjoy this one as much. I still adored her writing, with it’s focus on the ‘everyday’ and the way she captures the very English part of our nature, our awkwardness and suppressed emotional abilities. However I felt that the characters jumped around too much and I wasn’t able to get a sense of them, too me that character arc didn’t build, despite us find more about them as the story progressed, so found myself flicking back because I’d obviously misinterpreted something, that I’d assumed was about one character when it was actually about another - which shouldn’t really have happened in a very short book - maybe it was just my state of mind. The book opens beautifully and I was engaged until about halfway through, but then found my mind wandering - ‘He wanted to appreciate the book Moore’ but he sadly didn’t

[Anna Emm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hesitantly give this book 5 stars, (1) because it is movingly beautiful and tender, and (2) because I am aware of the fact that I have read it at the right time in my life. I am not sure how much I would've appreciated it, had I read it a year ago and even a year from now. It was the right book at exactly the right time. It is a story about longing, about regrets and about those small moments that stay with you even though you had missed their signifcance when they happened to you. I liked the first half better than the second half, but still feel it deserves my 5 stars. A gem, and I am richer for having read it.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written book. I loved The Lighthouse and this is good too, but somehow it didn't engage me as much.
I don't need lots of action, I like quiet books.
However, disappointment runs through the book and it just made me feel a bit dejected. I will read her again though.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of the book is a trek. After that, Lewis becomes more likeable and I actually want to hear about his life. Basically becomes an action book at one point - fighting, stealing cars, unexpected to be honest.

[Susie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this - although it was kind of confusing at first. Surprising, interesting, really enjoyed it.

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably more like 4.5 stars.

[Sue Warnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't really get this, lots of loose ends and only just kept going with it.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a strange little book. Enjoyed it though.

[Kirstin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very gentle story which in this rather strange year had a welcoming calming effect on me.
The characters of Lewis and Sydney were exquisitely drawn. Quite a little gem of a novel

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quirky tale.