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Jott
A novel about friendship, madness and modernism
London in 1935 is a world of dingy pubs and bedsits; of strange inventions like psychoanalysis, feminism and modernist art; of fascism, communism and looming war; of asylums in which the mentally ill are subjected to cruel and primitive treatments. Arthur, a junior doctor in London’s oldest mental hospital, is about to compromise his medical ethics for the sake of his closest friend, a brilliant and charismatic aspiring writer called Louis.
But soon Arthur finds that he doesn’t want to become a minor character in someone else’s story, he must change the narrative of his lifelong friendship, and create a story of his own.
- GenresFictionHistorical
304 pages, Paperback
Published June 28, 2018
3 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
About the author
Sam Thompson
8 books18 followersSam Thompson was born in London in 1978.
His first book Communion Town, which is about a kaleidoscopic city, was published in 2012 and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His second book Jott is about friendship, madness and modernism. It came out in 2018.
He’s written for the Times Literary Supplement, the London Review of Books and other periodicals, and has taught English lit and creative writing at Oxford University, Oxford Brookes and Queen’s University Belfast.
He lives in Belfast.
His first book Communion Town, which is about a kaleidoscopic city, was published in 2012 and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His second book Jott is about friendship, madness and modernism. It came out in 2018.
He’s written for the Times Literary Supplement, the London Review of Books and other periodicals, and has taught English lit and creative writing at Oxford University, Oxford Brookes and Queen’s University Belfast.
He lives in Belfast.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 5, 2018
Contemplative and understated second novel from Thompson, whose brilliant
Communion Town
was longlisted for the Booker in 2012. Written in cool and elegant prose, it describes several years in the life of a young psychiatrist, Arthur Bourne, as framed by his long-standing friendship with a volatile writer, Louis Molyneux. Jott is the title of a novel Louis labours over, one Arthur often supposes will never come to fruition. The relationship between Arthur and Louis is unbalanced and tense – when Arthur marries Sarah, even more so. Yet Arthur feels unable to do anything other than acquiesce to Louis's requests, for example access to one of Arthur's most intriguing patients, whom he intends to use as artistic inspiration.
This is not a plot-driven story, but rather a series of moments, many of them seemingly unremarkable, in a man's life. It is a novel about interior life, uncertainty and doubt; about friendship and marriage, and the quiet spaces within both. It's also a well-researched portrait of London in the 1930s, with the rise of psychoanalysis foregrounded by way of Arthur's experience with 'the talking cure' as both doctor and patient, and a shifting political landscape – fascism, feminism, the looming threat of war – in the background. According to what I've read elsewhere, Jott is based on Thompson's grandfather and his friendship with Samuel Beckett. Doubtless there were things that went over my head here due to my lack of familiarity with Beckett, but it certainly didn't feel like anything was missing.
At first I was mildly disappointed that Thompson hadn't revisited slipstream fiction, having produced such a wonderful example of the genre with his debut. But it's impossible not to admire Jott, to settle into its smooth flow right away. This is a fine novel; there's something reassuring in how beautifully assembled it is.
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This is not a plot-driven story, but rather a series of moments, many of them seemingly unremarkable, in a man's life. It is a novel about interior life, uncertainty and doubt; about friendship and marriage, and the quiet spaces within both. It's also a well-researched portrait of London in the 1930s, with the rise of psychoanalysis foregrounded by way of Arthur's experience with 'the talking cure' as both doctor and patient, and a shifting political landscape – fascism, feminism, the looming threat of war – in the background. According to what I've read elsewhere, Jott is based on Thompson's grandfather and his friendship with Samuel Beckett. Doubtless there were things that went over my head here due to my lack of familiarity with Beckett, but it certainly didn't feel like anything was missing.
At first I was mildly disappointed that Thompson hadn't revisited slipstream fiction, having produced such a wonderful example of the genre with his debut. But it's impossible not to admire Jott, to settle into its smooth flow right away. This is a fine novel; there's something reassuring in how beautifully assembled it is.
TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
December 27, 2018
(2.5) Jott has an interesting premise in that the author’s grandfather was a friend of Samuel Beckett, a relationship on which the novel is built. However, I found it to be a somewhat disappointing read. For me, a novel has to have either some narrative pull or at least beautiful prose to engage me, preferably both, but I found Jott a bit lacking in both departments, sorry to say: there is absolutely nothing wrong with the language, but it’s a little stale and safe (especially coming to this after Alex Pheby’s Lucia), and as for the “pull,” there is relatively little to look forward to in Jott: I found no proper tension in any scene and, instead, the text seems to revel merely in the creation of a historically realistic picture of early 20th-century Dublin and London, especially of the psychiatric wards. Historically oriented readers might have a completely different opinion from mine and enjoy reading about the time period, while I would rather go for the convoluted prose of Beckett himself! (There are instances where Thompson mimics Beckett’s early style and I found those to be the most enjoyable bits of Jott). I could see people enjoying this – just not entirely my cup of tea.
December 31, 2018
Inspired by the author’s grandfather’s relationship with Samuel Beckett, this is a graceful and adroit examination of the quiet crisis of being the less brilliant friend.
June 10, 2018
Despite differences in lifestyle and temperament, the friendship between Arthur and Louis, begun as pupils at an Irish boarding school, has endured through university in Dublin to early adulthood in 1930s London. Arthur, a junior psychiatrist, has always been overshadowed by his friend, an unpublished writer with the flair and determination to live by his own rules. While Alistair is shy and socially awkward, Louis can charm anyone, including Arthur, such that the psychiatrist often finds himself sacrificing his own needs for the sake of his friend.
This intelligent and engaging novel was inspired by the author’s grandfather, a psychiatrist and lifelong friend of Samuel Beckett who helped the latter research his first novel by taking him onto the wards. Beckett aficionados will find much delight in the novel’s meta-fictions, beginning with a shared title with the Beckett-character’s own novel, extracts from which are shared towards the end. I’ll leave that strand to reviewers more competent in that area and focus on the themes of failure, psychoanalysis and psychiatric hospital care.
Continues http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/annecdo...
This intelligent and engaging novel was inspired by the author’s grandfather, a psychiatrist and lifelong friend of Samuel Beckett who helped the latter research his first novel by taking him onto the wards. Beckett aficionados will find much delight in the novel’s meta-fictions, beginning with a shared title with the Beckett-character’s own novel, extracts from which are shared towards the end. I’ll leave that strand to reviewers more competent in that area and focus on the themes of failure, psychoanalysis and psychiatric hospital care.
Continues http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/annecdo...
March 18, 2021
I feel somewhat unqualified to write about Jott, with its acknowledged references to Samuel Beckett in one way or another, a writer with whose work I am only vaguely acquainted (and such vague acquaintance has obviously not inspired me to look closer), so I am writing about Jott purley on Jott alone though even with my limited exposure to Becket I can discern the connection .
Essentially a story about the unequal friendship between Louis, a writer of budding genius, and Arthur, a withdrawn and self-conscious mental health doctor, I found it overall rather bleak despite being peppered throughout with more charming or amusing episodes; by contrast I struggled to maintain interest (stay awake) during some of the digressions, of which there are more than a few. I felt for Arthur, who wanted, in fact needed to stand up at some point to his more forceful friend in the face of the continued emotional use and abuse. It almost goes without saying my feelings toward Louis were rather less charitable. Primarily it is probably for this reason that I found this book wanting - I like a book which is not so much plot driven but centres on friendship, and while this qualifies as such on both scores, I would just add, not this sort of friendship.
One the positive, I opened this book having somehow missed the reference to the time period of its setting, yet long before I arrived at any direct reference to the time period the writer had already implanted the impression favourably in my mind.
The writing is of course excellent, and I suspect my general lack of enthusiasm for Jott is my failure, and not the authors.
Essentially a story about the unequal friendship between Louis, a writer of budding genius, and Arthur, a withdrawn and self-conscious mental health doctor, I found it overall rather bleak despite being peppered throughout with more charming or amusing episodes; by contrast I struggled to maintain interest (stay awake) during some of the digressions, of which there are more than a few. I felt for Arthur, who wanted, in fact needed to stand up at some point to his more forceful friend in the face of the continued emotional use and abuse. It almost goes without saying my feelings toward Louis were rather less charitable. Primarily it is probably for this reason that I found this book wanting - I like a book which is not so much plot driven but centres on friendship, and while this qualifies as such on both scores, I would just add, not this sort of friendship.
One the positive, I opened this book having somehow missed the reference to the time period of its setting, yet long before I arrived at any direct reference to the time period the writer had already implanted the impression favourably in my mind.
The writing is of course excellent, and I suspect my general lack of enthusiasm for Jott is my failure, and not the authors.
March 5, 2019
I loved this book. I'm tempted to give it 5 stars. But it's also difficult to review. There is a temptation in me to review it by defending it against other reviewers who appear to miss the clear and obvious predecessors of this book which give it its validity. For example, the book does not have much "tension" because it follows literary predecessors which made legendary careers portraying characters living life in quite the way one might expect, rather than being drawn on particular "event driven" plot devices from which tension might derive. A book this mature, this nuanced and careful, simply doesn't need "tension." It's a rare book about a man evaluating his life through his interactions with three central people in his life - his wife, his closest friend, and the patient that comes to define his work. The book is not built on plot, but on the very clear implications for introspection that all of us encounter at around the same age that Arthur is in this story. The book is full of insightful turns of phrase and subtle but carefully drawn characters. Absolutely a worthy contribution to the particular literary "sub" tradition to which it belongs.
January 2, 2019
Went on a bit ...
and if you're leveraging Beckett, you might want to think about importing the humour.
and if you're leveraging Beckett, you might want to think about importing the humour.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews