The Sweet Shop Owner

by Graham Swift

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF LAST ORDERS AND MOTHERING SUNDAY, reissued for the first time in Scribner

For forty years, Willy Chapman has struck a strange but steadfast bargain between the two poles of his life: his beautiful but emotionally damaged wife and the sweet shop he runs on a south London high street. Devoted to each, he has maintained a delicate, precarious balance. Now, on a hot summer’s day, he attempts to settle his final accounts and reach an understanding with a third, disruptive element in his reckoning: his angry, unforgiving daughter.

Spanning five decades and intricately exploring a doomed family triangle, Graham Swift’s first novel already shows the historical scope combined with intense intimacy that will characterise his work.

‘A marvellous first novel’ New Statesman

‘Brilliantly chronicled’ The Spectator

Genres: Fiction, Novels, British Literature, Literary Fiction, 20th Century, Contemporary, Literature

332 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Graham Colin Swift is a British writer. Born in London, UK, he was educated at Dulwich College, Queens' College, Cambridge, and later the University of York.

Reviews

[Left Coast Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

For many couples, small physical signs of affection -- the eye contact, the hugs, the waist squeezes, the butt pats -- come as easily and thoughtlessly as breathing. For an unfortunate few, though, perhaps due to traumatic incidents in their pasts, the idea of casually touching someone, even one's spouse of many years, causes them to seize up, to panic. The irony is that these people may love their partner with greater-than-usual intensity, given the cost of that love to both of them.

This is a really, really sad book.

I met her here those first times, Dorry; here on the common. She looked as though she were lingering on some errand. And up there, at St. Stephens, you were christened, and your grandfather, whom you never saw, was buried, near the plaque to his already dead son. We never moved out of these narrow bounds. Born here, schooled here, worked here. And even when I met her I stood here on the common and thought: enough, everything is in its place, and I in mine.

In simple books, a marriage is a union of two people. In a complex book like this one, a marriage is like two neurons touching inside a brain, a link that branches out in both directions, sending currents forwards, backwards and sideways, and nothing can be truly contained between the two principal actors.

This is the fourth novel I've read by Graham Swift, and the third that has left me deeply changed. It was not as well-written as Waterland (though to be fair, neither is anything else I've ever read), but was still a painful gut-punch. I found it more powerful than the Booker-Prize-winning Last Orders, though. Let me take a moment to note that this was his first novel, that he was thirty-one when it was published, which likely means he was in his mid to late twenties while writing it. In the space of 220 pages, a world is created and populated with sympathetic but damaged souls, and a tale is vividly told. On the bell curve of human achievement, this man is way, way off to the right someplace, all by himself.

The main character, Mr. Chapman, is running a race in high school:

Keep your eye on the landmarks as you round the bends: St. Stephen's spire; the back straight; the clock-tower; into the home straight. That's the trick of it. 'Not paying attention again Chapman!' But, didn't he see, that's precisely what he was doing? Looking at things that were fixed while you moved yourself. That was how you endured.

I'm going off to curl up in the corner and stare into space for a while.

[Solistas · Rating 4 out of 5]

"...αργά ή γρήγορα έρχεται η τελευταία φορά..."

Ο Γουίλι Τσάπμαν, ο καταστηματάρχης ή καλύτερα ο ψιλικατζής, είναι ένας 60άρης με καρδιακά προβλήματα. Η γυναίκα του (Αϊρήν) έχει πεθάνει κ η διανοούμενη κόρη του (Ντόροθυ) έχει αποξενωθεί από αυτόν επειδή φαίνεται πως τον κατηγορεί ότι βολεύτηκε στο ρόλο του, ότι κατ'επιλογή άφησε τη ζωή του να κυλήσει επιλέγοντας να αφιερωθεί στην φιλάσθενη σύζυγό του που μοιάζει ανίκανη να νιώσει το οποιοδήποτε συναίσθημα.

O Graham Swift σε αυτό το υπέροχο ντεμπούτο, αφήνει τον αναγνώστη να μπει στη συνείδηση του κεντρικού ήρωά του περιγράφοντας ένα 24ώρο κατά τη διάρκεια του οποίου οι σκέψεις του διαπερνούν ολόκληρη τη ζωή του καθώς ο ίδιος περιμένει την αποξενωμένη κόρη του. Ο λόγος που είναι σίγουρος ότι θα εμφανιστεί κ πάλι η Ντόροθυ υπονοείται με φανταστικό τρόπο, όπως συμβαίνει κ με άλλα κομμάτια της πλοκής, χωρίς αυτό να σημαίνει ότι όλα αυτά τα διακριτικά ευρήματα λειτουργούν το ίδιο αποτελεσματικά.

Ο Swift είναι ένας μάστορας της αφήγησης κ σε αυτό το κείμενο που το χαρακτηρίζει το λεπτεπίλεπτο στυλ κ η πανέμορφη γραφή του, καταφέρνει να συγκινήσει τον αναγνώστη κ να ζωντανέψει μια συνοικία του Λονδίνου πριν,κατά τη διάρκεια κ μετά το τέλος του Β'ΠΠ. Οι περιγραφές του είναι υψηλότατου επιπέδου κ κάνουν το βιβλίο ακόμα πιο εντυπωσιακό επίτευγμα, ειδικά αν αναλογιστεί κανείς ότι πρόκειται για πρώτη συγγραφική απόπειρα.

Ταυτόχρονα όμως δεν είναι όλα ονειρικά πλασμένα. Οι οικογενειακές σχέσεις είναι λίγο πιο αφηρημένες απ'όσο έπρεπε με αποτέλεσμα να δυσκολεύεσαι να ερμηνεύσεις κάποιες βασικές σκηνές, είτε κοιτάξεις τη σχέση πατέρα-κόρης, είτε αυτή των μελών της οικογένειας της Αϊρήν. Πάνω κάτω, το ίδιο ισχύει κ για όσα διαδραματίζονται στο κατάστημα. Εκεί υπάρχει η απαραίτητη ανάλαφρη νότα που σώζει το βιβλίο από αφόρητη μουντάδα, με τις αντιδράσεις της κα. Κούπερ (της υπαλλήλου που είναι ερωτευμένη με το αφεντικό της) προς τη μικρή λολίτα, Σάντρα, που επίσης εργάζεται στο κατάστημα, να είναι απολαυστικές αλλά τελικά να πιάνουν περισσότερο χώρο από όσο θα ήθελα.

Αν κ υπάρχουν κι άλλα πράγματα που θα ήθελα να σχολιάσω, είναι κάπως δύσκολο να το κάνω χωρίς να προδώσω μεγάλο κομμάτι της πλοκής. Ας είναι όμως. Αυτό που χρειάζεται να ξέρει ο επίδοξος αναγνώστης είναι ότι η γραφή του Swift τσακίζει κόκκαλα, μετακινείται από χρονική περίοδο σε χρονική περίοδο κ από ήρωα σε ήρωα με εντυπωσιακή άνεση κ ακρίβεια, κ πως όποιος ενδιαφέρεται να διαβάσει ένα υψηλού επιπέδου οικογενειακό δράμα θα ανταμειφθεί κ με το παραπάνω. Ο Καταστηματάρχης είναι ένα βιβλίο που σίγουρα θα επιστρέψω κάποια στιγμή, ένα βιβλίο που αν κ έχει ελαττώματα προτείνεται χωρίς δεύτερες σκέψεις στους οπαδούς του Banville, του Ishiguro κ του McEwan (οι 2 τελευταίοι είναι άλλωστε φίλοι του), γι'αυτό κ παίρνει μισό αστεράκι παραπάνω.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Sweet Shop Owner is the first book in my month of birthday reading. Graham Swifts birthday is May 4th, ooh that’s today – spooky. I have read two other Graham Swift novels although quite some time ago, I am now reminded what an excellent writer he is.
It is June 1974 and on the last day of Willy Chapman’s life, he gets up re-reads a letter from his daughter and goes to work at his sweet shop, the shop he has run for over thirty years. Through a series of flashbacks we see Willy’s life – from the time he met his emotionally damaged wife Irene – through the events that have led him to that one last sad day. Willy is an unremarkable man – on the face of it – running a small suburban sweet shop, the father of one child, he didn’t even see service during the war, but was drafted into the army stores, doling out helmets and ration books keeping count of the boots and the packs he issues. Yet Willy’s steadfast devotion is, in the end, what makes him really quite remarkable.
“Every night their clothes hung over the chair by the bed stirred by the breeze through the window. And every day the pieces of the picture fell into place; the boat trips to Weymouth, the little scenes of themselves arm in arm on the beach or at table for two, about which the nodding onlookers might say ‘honeymooners’; their Mr and Mrs in the hotel register. But if only she would say, ‘I love you.’ No not even that, if only she would say – sometimes it seemed like she used him like an excuse – ‘I know that you love me.’ But she wouldn’t. Not even when the moment was ripe. When the evening sun burnished the sea and they walked back, in the cool, along the cliff tops. Swallows dived. Cow-parsley frothed in the hollows. Her dress was white with diagonal rows of blue flowers. No, that was not included, not part of the bargain. Wasn’t the rest enough?”
Dorothy – Dorry as she is known, was Irene’s gift to Willy, part of the unspoken bargain between them, Irene’s middle class family provided the money that bought the shop, Willy ran it – while Irene stayed at home, damaged, often sick – giving him a daughter she is unable to love. Willy provides a secure and safe home for his wife, remaining in the same house, running the same shop for nearly forty years seven days a week, holidays in Dorset and Teignmouth the only respite. Willy’s love for Irene – is sad and passionless, though unexpressed, his devotion never wavers, and his loyalty to her is absolute, but Irene a fragile beauty can’t show love. Willy never really knows why this is (though the reader does) he accepts it and works hard for Irene, proud of what he has built up. Now Irene is dead, and their angry educated daughter is still bitter, feeling rejected, especially by her mother – a rejection that Willy seems to have been complicit in. Their latest communications have been bitter and resentful, but Willy still hopes – vainly that she will come.
“But she would come, surely. Now she had the money. She would come – she hadn’t said she wouldn’t – through the hallway (she still had her key to the front door), past the mirror, the barometer clock, the photographs of Irene and herself on the wall. Her eyes would be moist. She would find him in the armchair in the living-room, by the French windows where he always sat – where Irene had sat with her medicine – still, silent, his hands gripping the arm-rests. She would go down, weep, clasp his knees, as though she were clasping the limbs of a cold, stone statue that stares out and beyond, without seeing.”
The Sweet Shop owner was Graham Swift’s first novel, and I think it is hugely accomplished. The lives of these ordinary broken people and their quiet acceptance of the limits that life has placed upon them resonate strongly. It is a sad and memorable novel, and I am very glad that my month of birthday reading prompted me to read it.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As others have said, The Sweet Shop Owner doesn't quite match up to Waterland. But this is Swift's first book, and it set a precedent for his later work. Some of the themes, especially that of history (in the academic and personal senses) shine through, and it's interesting to see how he enlarged upon them later.

Whatever I say about the story will sound trite. It's about a man married to a much wealthier woman, the disease she refuses to treat, and their daughter, who feels repulsed by both of her parents to some degree. The levels of emotion in this story are complex and sometimes inexplicable, but that's life. The more I think about the book, the more I think that Swift has captured the life of a real, broken family more masterfully than any other author I've read.

[Natalie Richards]

DNF page 127. Life's too short to struggle on with a book I'm not enjoying. So many other books to read!

[Gaby Meares · Rating 4 out of 5]

How little you know how you've kept my balance.
It's what's not said that makes this book so extraordinary. The emotions never articulated, the feelings, deeply felt, but never expressed. So many missed opportunities to connect. I found this novel profoundly sad, and a little too close to home - I saw my parent's marriage poignantly reflected in The Sweet Shop Owner. For a first novel, written by a man barely into his thirties, it is a testament to Swift's emotional maturity.
If the word love is never spoken, does it mean there isn't any love?

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find it's always a risk backtracking to an author's first novel. I should not have worried. Graham Swift is one of my favourite writers and this, his first work from 1980 is one of his best. There were so many parts that took me back to my youth. Even near the beginning, when Willy Chapman's shop is also a newsagents in the 1960's, paper boys started at 6.30 am "riding off with their sacks of newspapers, pedaling their bikes to the appointed streets". That was me. The author describes Willy marking up the papers, each one had the address written on the front. We soon knew the route and where to stop at each house.

The story takes us back and forth through different periods of Willy's life. Here we are post second world war, ration books, bomb sites, shortages, third pints of milk at school.. I knew them all. Then things get better, more in the shops, early TV, bubble gum machines outside his shop, coffee bars and jukeboxes. All so familiar.

Willy' s wife and daughter are there, not the happiest of families, but is that what Willy deserves? Or endures? Graham Swift describes this small life in tones of vivid grey. Even very early we get a taste of the older Willy: "sooner or later, you do something for the last time. And then it becomes some kind of victory". The last passages are a little depressing but are completely true to the story. I agreed so much with the kirkusreviews of this book which concludes "Full of more emotion and with less surface gloss than the later books, The Sweet Shop Owner is richly rewarding."

[Cindy Leighton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Graham Swift novel I read makes me love his writing even more - and makes me less tolerant of mediocre writing. What a beautiful, seemingly simple story of one day in the life of a "simple" man. An important day. And a man who is not as simple as he might appear. We get the backstory of his life, the complex story of his wife (who has already died before this day) and the broader story of the impact of the Wars on London. Even "side" characters like Mrs. Cooper, who has worked tirelessly alongside Willy Chapman in his Sweet Shop, are well developed and compelling.

So much beauty and pain in what, on the surface, is such a simple story - only a master storyteller can do that.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

pub 1980
spring 2013
hardback
paper> one penny wonder
under 500 ratings
fiction
debut novel

For Candice

Opening: 'In the end.' 'In the end'? What did she mean - in the end he would see?

5* Waterland
4* Last Orders
5* Ever After
3* The Sweet Shop Owner

[Mary Goul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ο Γκράχαμ Σουίφτ γεννήθηκε το 1949 και είναι συγγραφέας δέκα μυθιστορημάτων, δύο συλλογών διηγημάτων και του " Making an Elephant", ενός βιβλίου με δοκίμια, πορτρέτα, ποίηση και σκέψεις για τη συγγραφική του ζωή. Με το "Waterland" κέρδισε το βραβείο μυθοπλασίας The Guardian και με το "Last Orders" το βραβείο Booker. Και τα δύο μυθιστορήματα έχουν έκτοτε γίνει ταινίες. Πρωτοεμφανίστηκε στα βρετανικά γράμματα με το βιβλίο " ο καταστηματάρχης "(The sweet owner) το 1980 . Το θέμα του δεν είναι κάτι φανταχτερό, είναι η ζωή ενός απλού καταστηματάρχη, που πάσχει από στηθάγχη και ζει με την ελπίδα να ξαναγυρίσει στο σπίτι του η θυμωμένη κόρη του. Επιλέγει να ασχοληθεί με το βάθος των συναισθημάτων των ανθρώπων και με την μονοτονία της καθημερινότητας που αντιμετωπίζεται σαν ένας ρόλος που πρέπει να παιχθεί σε καθημερινές παραστάσεις, άλλοτε παίζεται με όρεξη, άλλοτε με βαρεμάρα αλλά πάντα με αξιοπρέπεια.Η ζωή η ίδια είναι ένας ρόλος που έχουμε αναλάβει να παίξουμε και που ποτέ δεν ξέρουμε πια μέρα θα δώσουμε την τελευταία παράσταση.Η αφήγηση αρχίζει με το σήμερα που είναι μια ζεστή μέρα του Ιουνίου και γίνονται αναδρομές στο παρελθόν που μας βοηθούν να δούμε την περίεργη σχέση του με την γυναίκα και την κόρη του.Ο Γουίλι Τσάπμαν έχει κάνει έναν γάμο που μοιάζει με εμπορική συμφωνία,η γυναίκα του θα του έδινε το κατάστημα για να το δουλεύει και ένα παιδί και αυτός θα της έδινε ψυχική ηρεμία και σταθερότητα,με όρο να μην υπάρξουν καθόλου συναισθήματα και εξάρσεις.Η διανοούμενη κόρη του Ντόροθυ του έχει θυμώσει, έχει φύγει από το σπίτι και τον κατηγορεί γιατί σπατάλησε την ζωή του με το να ζει μονότονα φροντίζοντας την μητέρα της .Η γραφή του είναι πολύ ωραία, παρόλο που είναι το πρωτόλειο του, αλλά δεν είναι καθόλου εύκολη, αφηγείται ακολουθώντας την ροή της συνείδησης και μέσω των σκέψεων του , πηγαίνουμε μπρος πίσω στον χρόνο ακολουθώντας τις αναμνήσεις του και τα συναισθήματα του. Έχει έναν μεγάλο εσωτερικό μονόλογο και μια εμβάθυνση στα συναισθήματα έτσι ώστε καταφέρνει να συγκινήσει τον αναγνώστη, αλλά έχει και πολλές αοριστίες στην αφήγηση που σε δυσκολεύει στο να καταλάβεις τι ακριβώς έχει συμβεί.Το βρήκα πολύ ενδιαφέρον και μου άρεσε ο τρόπος γραφής του, σίγουρα θα ψάξω και άλλα δικά του.Να πω ότι κατάλαβα γιατί οι ήρωες κάνανε ότι κάνανε θα είναι ψέμα.

[Ane Cathrine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

We listened to this as an audio book and were very engaged by it. Chatted about it for a good while after. Recommend it if you enjoy this author's writing, characterisation. Very well read on the cd version

[Chrissie]

*****************************

*Waterland 4 stars
*Mothering Sunday 4 stars
*Here We Are 4 stars
*Last Orders 3 stars

*Ever After TBR
*The Light of Day TBR
*Out of This World TBR
*Shuttlecock TBR
*Wish You Were Here TBR
*The Sweet Shop Owner TBR
*Tomorrow TBR

[Adrian Farrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I much preferred this book to Swift's other works: I found it more sensitive and more closely observed.

There are enough other reviews to make it unnecessary to outline the plot. But it is worth noting that this book is about the unspoken promises we make to each other, the contracts we make with ourselves, and the acts we put on to make ourselves safe.

In terms of writing style, I found the text gentle, and was not at all jolted by the switches between present and past, nor by the flips between first and third person. All of that worked perfectly to paint the right picture.

Swift is, to my mind, a very male writer in the same way that Fowles is. That means that he draws male characters better than female, and that it is likely that men will find this book a more appealing read than women.

Not a perfect book, but very good. And quite outstanding as a first novel.

[Richard Kettlewood · Rating 4 out of 5]

RA

Some parts of this book were dull and flat. At times almost like Open All Hours without any comedy. But the probing and exploring of the language was wonderful, even if, to me at least, it revealed little. It seemed about a man's empty life and hollow relationships. About acting out roles: school sportsman, token soldier, unreal purveyor of pointless goods. A person conspicuous and yet invisible. Even to himself. A good read if you like immersion in lives half lived through the background of history. His daughter seemed a minor character to me, more a refrain in his mind. The shop assistant seemed more vivid. Not that anything was vivid in this book apart from retail and domestic details. The emotions were immersive, but in the way murky water is. The real shopkeeper never came up for real air.

[Julie Barrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sweet-shop owner by Swift_ Graham
Starts out with the man who owns the shop and I love how he prepares for his day as he's older now and can't really the chores himself.
In his younger days we find out how he met his wife and her stipulations. Hate how others just want his money, not fair as they never earned it or even appreciated him.
Book is set in England so some things are a bit different than in the US. Was hoping he'd share a recipe or two.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

[Alexiapapa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is the first book that I read by Graham Swift and at the same time his first attempt of writing such an emotional story. The destroyed family and the problems that they deal with are strongly resonated throughout all the book. Each one, being in a different situation and level of status, follow their lives from a different perspective. The relationship of these emotions isn't quite clear at some points, but this fact didn't stop me from wanting to read another book of this author!

[Nick Popa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good first novel, very Virginia Woolfesque, memories, flashbacks, flashes of sexuality, "the beauty of distance running", meditations upon history (foreshadowing perhaps Waterland?), a microhistory of a community and of a family (again, like in Waterland) - "What do you learn from history, Dorry? Was it history that made you come and plunder your father's house? ... Did you want to escape history, to put it all behind you ... to have your moment, your victory at last, with one wild gesture?"

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another beautiful book by this wonderful author.
Set in 1974, it captures that time so well, yet hints at so many hidden emotions and events that I was left trying to work out if I had managed to capture the essence of it at all. I’m not sure I have and I know I shall be mulling over it for days to come.
A joy to listen to, particularly for Brits of that era.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graham Swift never disappoints with his excellent writing style .
This novel reflects on how the damage done to one family member can have adverse effects on the rest of the family.
Very readable - looking forward to more of his work.

[Richard Swan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The debut novel (1980) of Graham Swift (my favourite modern English author). It has his typical style, and it prefigures Waterland and Tomorrow, even Last Orders, in a number of ways. Good in a quiet fashion, but lacks conclusiveness

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an impressive first novel! The sweep of a family’s history, small things, little events, building up to a whole lifetime. Snippets revealed slowly, masterfully. Very believable characters, all with distinct voices. Loved it.

[Vanessa Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had forgotten how beautiful and poignant this is.
It's not a hardback or prizewinner but I so want to keep it to read again and again, but the pages are beginning to come loose and I can't keep every book I read, can I?

[Lillie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Graham Swift's first novel and it shows. It was just ok.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't finish

[Heather Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very clever psychological story of a family. Compelling, satisfying and thought provoking

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you write a book about a very dull, uninspiring shopkeeper, it’s hardy surprising that the resultant book is dull and uninspiring.

[Bill Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written but so sad….

[Mandy Rathbone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, another wonderful book by Graham swift

[David Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful writing. Sad sad story.