Chemistry

by Graham Swift

"Chemistry" - A boy and his grandfather try to cope with the arrival of a new man in the household and his effect on the woman who is their mother and daughter. The boy dreams of violence and the grandfather retreats to the only sanctuary he knows. Learning to swim on a beach in Cornwall, the nuances and memories of a stagnant marriage are explored by a man, a woman - and ultimately their son, as he finally learns to float in the sea and strikes out for a more independent emotional life.

Genres: Short Stories

80 pages, Paperback

First published February 23, 2012

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

[Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly · Rating 2 out of 5]

A young boy, his parents. A perfect three. But the father died at sea, on a plane crash. The mother, with her young boy, sold their house and moved in with her father. A perfect three once more. But a man came for her and everything changes.

The boy's grandfather dabbles with chemicals:

"'What are you making, Grandpa?'

"'Not making--changing. Chemistry is the science of change. You don't make things in chemistry--you change them. Anything can change.'"

Then later:

"He smiled bitterly.
"'What are we going to do?'
"'Grandpa?'
"'People change too, don't they?'"

He should have let us find that out for ourselves.

[Esta · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice but not quite eel heavy waterland is it??

edit: upon 2nd/3rd reading having taught it to y10s last week i like this better than i did originally. i think that it’s actually pretty clever and interesting. nice one graham.

[Anatoly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chemistry by Graham Swift — Review

At first glance, the title of the story might sound rather strange. Chemistry ... Chemistry is the science of the composition, structure, properties of substances and their transformations.

In this story, chemistry appears as both a reality and a symbol. The Grandfather has a hobby where he experiments with chemical elements. This is an interest which might ultimately destroy him.

The boy is the narrator and he seems to be the only one who really understands what is happening. The child's observations are mixed with adult understanding and descriptions of the events.

Here is the link to the text of the story:
https://psv4.userapi.com/c536132/u500...

[Chloe Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. I read it in school and the context and depth that the language gives you, it almost makes it a pleasure to read and annotate. I love this it has so many emotions involved and it makes you feel for the narrator and the grandfather. Absolutely amazing I have so many words for this but some may ruin the book! Absolutely love it!

[MySmallReadingCorner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read this short story for one of my English classes and really liked it.
It had a lot of hidden symbolism throughout the story which were really fun to discover. And the story itself was very engaging and well-written for such a short story.

[Daisy · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are many ways to view the characters in this story if you consider the fact that the story is narrated from the viewpoint of a little boy.

[Nandini · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story has so many layers of meaning to it, but you must be patient with it. For a short story, I think there was some well rounded development to it, but it still didn't impress me much.

[Felicity · Rating 2 out of 5]

I needed a quick read to add a book to my reading challenge. This very short story deals with a family struggling to accept the mother’s new partner after the unexpected death of her husband.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Гарна історія, яка пробиває на сльози. Мені дуже сподобалося поєднання і я думаю це та книга до якої я буду повертатись.

[sav · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is boring, nonsense, and makes me question if I even know how to read.