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Swimming in the Volcano
Set on the fictional Caribbean island of St. Catherine, an American expatriate becomes unwittingly embroiled in an internecine war between rival factions of the government. Into this potentially explosive scene enters a woman once loved and lost, but who remains a powerful temptation-one that proves impossible to resist.
In the opening pages of Shacochis's first novel, Mitchell Wilson, an American who works for the Ministry of Agriculture on the Caribbean island of St. Catherine, is heading downhill. His lost love, Joanna, has decided to drop into his life again, and he's on his way to the airport to meet her, riding in a dilapidated car whose brakes--dependent on coconut oil for braking fluid--have failed. Wilson's harrowing ride is a perfect metaphor for life on St. Catherine's, an island both beautiful and corrupt, and for the turn his own life is about to take. Joanna may have come to St. Catherine simply to escape trouble, but Wilson still bristles when a government official tells him to stay clear of her. He should have listened. There's a mystery to crack at the heart of this richly detailed novel, but in fact Shacochis offers a chilling evocation of the misunderstandings that arise between feckless Americans and struggling islanders for whom St. Catherine's is no paradise.
At once an enchanting love story and a superbly sophisticated political novel about the fruits of imperialism in the twentieth century, Swimming in the Volcano is as brutally seductive a novel as the world it evokes.
In the opening pages of Shacochis's first novel, Mitchell Wilson, an American who works for the Ministry of Agriculture on the Caribbean island of St. Catherine, is heading downhill. His lost love, Joanna, has decided to drop into his life again, and he's on his way to the airport to meet her, riding in a dilapidated car whose brakes--dependent on coconut oil for braking fluid--have failed. Wilson's harrowing ride is a perfect metaphor for life on St. Catherine's, an island both beautiful and corrupt, and for the turn his own life is about to take. Joanna may have come to St. Catherine simply to escape trouble, but Wilson still bristles when a government official tells him to stay clear of her. He should have listened. There's a mystery to crack at the heart of this richly detailed novel, but in fact Shacochis offers a chilling evocation of the misunderstandings that arise between feckless Americans and struggling islanders for whom St. Catherine's is no paradise.
At once an enchanting love story and a superbly sophisticated political novel about the fruits of imperialism in the twentieth century, Swimming in the Volcano is as brutally seductive a novel as the world it evokes.
- GenresFictionLiterature
528 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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282 people want to read
About the author
Bob Shacochis
36 books53 followersBob Shacochis is an American fiction writer and literary journalist.
He teaches creative writing at Florida State University.
He teaches creative writing at Florida State University.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 15, 2010
A big, magnificent book with passages of prose that will make your head spin, also overblown, meandering, brilliant in its enthusiasm for detail, maddeningly slow in developing, always careful in chronicling the minutiae of life on St. Catherine, a made-up Caribbean island. And, oh yeah, there's some kind of political conspiracy and a few spicy things happen toward the end, but the real joy of this book is in the first 200 pages or so as Shacochis takes his sweet time creating and wandering the byways of his little backwater republic. Every scene is woven with tremendous care.
Not the book of a lazy writer, or one for lazy readers. It requires patience, and in the end doesn't fully reward that patience from a plot standpoint. On the other hand, the more important, dominant hand: I can't say enough about how impressive the writing is. The dialogue, the prodigious description, even the flights of emotional abstraction, all of it comes out pitch-perfect. By the end the book can wear you down with its sheer girth, leaving you unable to sustain the attention it merits, but take that as a challenge. It's worth getting through.
Incidentally, the opening scene (Isaac and Mitchell on their way to the airport) is one of the best I've ever read. Brilliantly conceived from a craft standpoint, giving him the perfect vehicle (pun intended, I suppose) to deliver crucial exposition, and also tremendous fun to read.
Not the book of a lazy writer, or one for lazy readers. It requires patience, and in the end doesn't fully reward that patience from a plot standpoint. On the other hand, the more important, dominant hand: I can't say enough about how impressive the writing is. The dialogue, the prodigious description, even the flights of emotional abstraction, all of it comes out pitch-perfect. By the end the book can wear you down with its sheer girth, leaving you unable to sustain the attention it merits, but take that as a challenge. It's worth getting through.
Incidentally, the opening scene (Isaac and Mitchell on their way to the airport) is one of the best I've ever read. Brilliantly conceived from a craft standpoint, giving him the perfect vehicle (pun intended, I suppose) to deliver crucial exposition, and also tremendous fun to read.
May 3, 2011
this is a hard book to for me to classify, not only because it was such a demanding read. Snake imagry comes to mind, the writing is sinuous and the plot twists tangle back before slinking forward,characters emerging abrubtly from the deep background and sometimes disappearing entirely leaving only an undulating shape in the grass. At times I loved this book but I cant put it on my favorites shelf because he lost me, just at the end there, and I was stupified when I did arrive at the last words, so incomplete and unsatisfying. And yet, this is a book I can recommend, maybe not for everybody, but for the thoughtful reader interested in the nature of being
September 3, 2012
A dizzying account of what the author calls "good intentions" and their effect on the complex developing world. It is in many ways a story of naiveté of which many of us are guilty, myself included. The writing is beautiful and complex and savage, capturing the energy of human thought in its ceaseless activity. I loved this book, which is probably clear by now, and I encourage especially the expat community to take a look at it. I already want to read it again even though I just closed the back cover. The story is layered and thick and not explicitly stated in cut and dry language. I had the feeling I needed to draw my own conclusions about certain topics and events. Alright, I've rambled on enough. Can't wait to read my next Bob Shacochis masterpiece.
April 20, 2019
A well written but slightly disjointed story. The book follows an American expatriate on a Caribbean island and includes a host of other characters. The story has several facets including sexual tension and political intrigue but never seems to go anywhere. The opening section was probably the best part of the book, in which, Shacochis describes a car ride going down a mountain road when the cars brakes fail. The opening gave the impression that this was going to be an excellent read but the rest of the book never seemed to reach that level. A good book but just not as good as I was expecting.
March 8, 2018
On its face, Swimming in the Volcano stacks up all the wrong adjectives: discursive, dense, self-indulgent, meandering. But shambolic as it may be in its half-drunk stroll through the fictional Carib island of St. Catherine, it contains some of the most precise and evocative passages, characters, and scenes you’ll ever have the pleasure to read. And once you realize it’s more a 500-page tracking shot than a novel concerning itself with storytelling orthodoxy, it’s much easier to sit back and luxuriate in the views.
January 12, 2016
Most of this book is meandering and slow; nothing much happens until around page 350. It's true, there are some moments of beautiful prose that can help sustain the reader up to that point, and but there is also plenty of lengthy but uninspired description. Overall I am not convinced that this book is well enough written at a sentence level or stylistically innovative enough to make up for the dragging plot.
But there was some payoff at the end. And for what it's worth, there are some really fascinating sequences - the initial swimming in the volcano scene, the women's trip to Cotton Island, Collymore's backstory.
I liked his other novel, The Woman Who Lost Her Soul much better - it was more exciting, explored a greater variety of settings, and the political commentary was of more world-historical proportions. I am also disappointed to find that he can apparently only write one kind of female lead character - Johnnie in this novel is essentially the same as Jackie in TWWLHS except that Jackie's backstory is more developed and more convincing. They're both essentially a kind of manic pixie dream girl who is psychologically damaged, hyper-sexual, emotionally volatile, naturally incredibly attractive to everyone she meets (including straight women), and mixed up in some kind of crazy drug/spy conspiracy). Johnnie was much less believeable, though, because we never really found out the exact nature of what she was involved in or how she wound up there. We only get the outlines, and who knows if her telling of it is reliable (I suspect that it is not).
This book is really a 3.5 (can't give half stars on Goodreads). I thought for most of the book it was going to be a 3, but the last 150 pages are good enough to earn back a half-star.
But there was some payoff at the end. And for what it's worth, there are some really fascinating sequences - the initial swimming in the volcano scene, the women's trip to Cotton Island, Collymore's backstory.
I liked his other novel, The Woman Who Lost Her Soul much better - it was more exciting, explored a greater variety of settings, and the political commentary was of more world-historical proportions. I am also disappointed to find that he can apparently only write one kind of female lead character - Johnnie in this novel is essentially the same as Jackie in TWWLHS except that Jackie's backstory is more developed and more convincing. They're both essentially a kind of manic pixie dream girl who is psychologically damaged, hyper-sexual, emotionally volatile, naturally incredibly attractive to everyone she meets (including straight women), and mixed up in some kind of crazy drug/spy conspiracy). Johnnie was much less believeable, though, because we never really found out the exact nature of what she was involved in or how she wound up there. We only get the outlines, and who knows if her telling of it is reliable (I suspect that it is not).
This book is really a 3.5 (can't give half stars on Goodreads). I thought for most of the book it was going to be a 3, but the last 150 pages are good enough to earn back a half-star.
June 3, 2012
The writing was brilliant prose, but I didn't care for the subject of the book. Sacochis is brilliant but needs a better topic - character development superb, details in the imaginary setting incredible, but the subject just made me feel like I was reading porn because there was nothing else of substance except for random drunken-high insights into the meaning of life which were out of place and just strange in greater context.
If you have time to read this slowly and appreciate word choice and such literary devices, go for it, but if not then give it to someone who does. I had a limited amount of time to read it and so it was a somewhat painful read and sadly, I am glad it didn't win the 1993 National Book Award.
If you have time to read this slowly and appreciate word choice and such literary devices, go for it, but if not then give it to someone who does. I had a limited amount of time to read it and so it was a somewhat painful read and sadly, I am glad it didn't win the 1993 National Book Award.
June 29, 2018
Prose so heady it should be a class A substance. I'll take immature, undisciplined Shachosis over just about anyone else - nobody does roguish sentimentality, or dissects odd pockets of the earth, quite as well.
That said - the writing & structure are REALLY undisciplined. I didn't find most of the book enjoyable, didn't come out of it feeling altered in any way, never felt terribly invested. It felt like staging & practice for TWWLHS, which is so good as to be worth it, but that's different from worth standing alone.
That said - the writing & structure are REALLY undisciplined. I didn't find most of the book enjoyable, didn't come out of it feeling altered in any way, never felt terribly invested. It felt like staging & practice for TWWLHS, which is so good as to be worth it, but that's different from worth standing alone.
November 18, 2014
A classic
Gripping and thought provoking from the beginning to the end, this account of the life of an expat on a small Caribbean island during a period of heightened political tension is written in sublime language. There is humour and reflection on every page and the characters are beautifully drawn. If you have a love of language and culture you can get no better than this.
Gripping and thought provoking from the beginning to the end, this account of the life of an expat on a small Caribbean island during a period of heightened political tension is written in sublime language. There is humour and reflection on every page and the characters are beautifully drawn. If you have a love of language and culture you can get no better than this.
February 5, 2021
Intense, challenging read. This guy can write, no question! Slowly draws, and then just sucks you in completely into this classic slow beat, contorted third world island setting. A bit baffling at moments and the ending may be a little less than what you want, bit it is assuredly a book with and about "Good Intentions", and the simple fact that they are often just not enough. 5 star book!
November 4, 2007
fiction:Caribbean 1970s-----------contrived
February 6, 2008
Good bad times in the Caribbean. Strong Hemingway influence, I guess. Sex, drugs & political coups.
August 10, 2008
Slow to develop, but entertaining story as it all comes together. Interesting take on politics on a Caribbean island. The main characters are all tragically flawed, almost pathetic.
August 11, 2009
The story catches me and then I get lost in the politics. It makes me think a lot, though, about the way the world views Americans.
July 28, 2009
I read this about 10 years ago and loved it. This time I thought it was only okay. Not sure why.
February 25, 2012
political commentary on 3rd world island- interesting insights, prose very good but can get overdone
August 21, 2013
Well written and surprises throughout. Reminds me a bit of "The Ugly American"
April 9, 2018
If you read this after "The Woman Who Lost Her Soul," beware the Friends of Golf. Just trust me on this one.
March 21, 2013
I read this several years go whilst living in the Caribbean - very evocative.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews