Deep Down

by Imogen West-Knights

A 2023 best book to look forward to in Vogue, Bustle, GQ and the New Statesman

'A superbly observed exploration of intimacy and its failings' Megan Nolan

'West-Knights is a masterful, hilarious and humane story-teller' Olivia Sudjic

'A sharp and clear-eyed portrait of familial love and the ways it makes us mad' Monica Heisey

Billie and Tom have just lost their father. It should be a time to comfort each other, but there's always been a distance to their relationship. Determined to change this, Billie boards a flight to her brother in Paris.

Dazed by grief, the siblings spend days wandering the streets, both helping and hurting each other in the process. When their explorations lead them to the infamous Paris catacombs, they will finally be forced to face the secrets lurking in their past that illuminate the questions in their present.

Funny, moving and unexpected, DEEP DOWN is an empathetic and hard-hitting look at both the struggles and the joys of sibling relationships, and the realities of grieving the loss of someone who was already an absence.

Genres: Fiction

302 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 2, 2023

Reviews

[Cara McDermott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve made it sixty percent into this book, but just cannot keep going. I don’t care about any of the characters, and it proved impossible to keep track of all the timelines.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conflicting feelings about this particular one! An interesting concept and some nice ideas throughout. As I’ll mention, I think my 3 star rating simply comes from some of my own personal preferences. I think anyone would be happy with a novel like this as a debut.

I think the Paris setting was well chosen given its romanticised and idealised connotations. It sets a nice backdrop for a story that is anything but ideal. The contrast is interesting and the catacomb segment was a cool choice by the author.

The characters are relatively interesting and seeing how their perspectives on their alcoholic father’s life diverge towards the end of the text provided good character development for both.

I think my disappointments with the novel are more personal preferences than anything else. There is a LOT of description of movement from one place to another, which I find absolutely exhausting as a reader. I think if these lengthy descriptions of inane journeys had instead been used as deep dives into character psyches I would have felt more connected to Billie and Tom.

The fact that parts of the story feel unresolved also makes the novel seem redundant. Yes it’s perhaps a commentary on nothing ever really having a definitive ending and grey areas always causing confusion, but even the text to Nour from Tom at the end felt borderline cliche.

Again, from a personal standpoint, the acting school trope is very much overdone at this stage. I would wager that West-Knights herself is a drama kid at heart and they should know that this idea is a little bit tired. Even if Tom had been a failed drama student but had some sort of redemption in this regard the constant poking at his degree may have felt slightly less like deja vu.

If you like stories of family, friendship and the power of grief I certainly wouldn’t be saying no this novel!

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written but, oh, it's so sad. If you're already feeling a bit melancholy, avoid for the time being.

[Sian · Rating 2 out of 5]

this sounded like such an interesting concept but the timeline jumps and changes in narrative were unnecessary and confusing

[Tilly Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m definitely categorising this one in the ‘sad girl reads’ section because it’s a pretty bleak and edgy take on family and grief.

Billie and Tom are not necessarily likeable characters, but as the story progresses with flashbacks to their childhood we start to understand why they’re a bit messed up and have such a tense relationship - they’ve both processed their father’s behaviour in a different way and are therefore handling his loss differently too. I found Tom’s story more compelling but maybe that’s just because I love Paris and can’t resist a bit of romance 🤷‍♀️ Together the siblings make for some uncomfortable reading, finding any reason to pick at each other and disagree until it all comes to a head in the catacombs (loved this little sidebar of the story, fascinating!!).

For me, the highlights of this book were the Paris location and the friends and family who surround Billie and Tom - they brought joy and lightness where there wasn’t much. Some of the feelings around loss were recognisable and easy to relate to, but this is different in a lot of ways because of their past. The only thing I would say (and it may well have been updated in the finished copies), was that it would’ve been helpful to have time frames detailed as it did jump around and you kind of had to guess when a flashback was etc. Otherwise it was a compelling read and promising debut!

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Deep Down" by Imogen West Knight is a debut novel that shows promise but ultimately falls short of expectations. The story follows a compelling premise but struggles to truly take off, leaving readers wanting more.

The author's writing style is engaging and descriptive, creating a vivid world for the reader to immerse themselves in. However, the pacing of the narrative is slow, and the plot never seems to fully develop, leaving the reader feeling unsatisfied.

While the characters are well-crafted and complex, their development feels stagnant throughout the story. It's disappointing to see such potential in the characters go unrealized due to the lack of significant growth or evolution.

Overall, "Deep Down" is a decent debut with a lot of potential, but it fails to deliver on the promise of its premise. Readers looking for a fast-paced and engaging story may find themselves frustrated by the sluggish progression of this novel.

[Ian Hanreck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly? For 90% of this book nothing really happens.

Billie the central character doesn't do much, doesn't like much, would rather sit around a pokey flat even in Paris. She has no interests, none. Maybe she's some cipher representing something. If she is either it was too subtle or I'm just a bit thick. Most likely both!

Tbh from about a third of the way through I skim read it.

[Paradise]

Sadly didn’t finish this one as it was quite slow and boring. There was also no distinction between the different timelines which was confusing.

[Tobias Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

really great prose and sharp human observations

[Aravind · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Billie's chair screeches and she begins to pick up bits of a jar with a careful thumb and forefinger. She won't meet his eye. Tom starts to pick up the glass too, and the only sounds in the room are the gentle clink of tile on shard, and the rumbling of the kettle. They are repairing the scenery, rebuilding the set on which their performance of normal life takes place."

I loved the premise of this book - two siblings reconnecting to cope with the loss of a parent. It was very simple yet poignant. However, I felt like it didn't fully realise its full potential.

For a start, the way the story was told was hard to keep up with. If we are going to be switching back and forth in timelines as well as between two perspectives, it would have been helpful to replace chapter numbers with character names instead... Or even dates!

Secondly, I think that the story could have used additional layers on top of the grief and resentment they were experiencing in the present day. Our understanding of the characters is quite limited to their relationship and history with their father. It's valid that it all goes back to their upbringing and childhood but while we dug deeper, we didn't get to go broader. We know that their love lives and careers aren't going to well but we just leave it at that. It's a lot of what happened back then and not so much what's going on now. And that might be because there isn't much going on now and our protagonists have stagnated. But then that makes me wonder if they make good protagonists?

And thirdly, the big confrontation felt rather underwhelming. The tension might have built up over years but considering they have been living their own lives, there was only really three days for everything to resurface. Even so, they didn't spend that much time together and they were cordial the entire time so it felt like the tension was diluted. I also felt like the Catacombs felt like a gimmicky set-up. They put themselves in an unnecessary situation and it's hard for me to feel for them, for that reason. I think their tension could have just as easily been triggered by an activity above ground.

Perhaps we could have used another character - like a sibling or a cousin - who has kept in touch with both siblings to help bridge the gap, and keep the action, communication, and tension between our main characters. Noemie and Wayne seemed to take away from our rather passive main characters.

Don't get me wrong, I do think that there are some really touching and relatable moments in this book. I just wish it was easier to follow and that we got to know the characters even better so that those moments held more weight.

[Hannah Symonds · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredible read, one that will stay with me forever. I couldn't believe this was a debut novel, it certainly pulled at my heart strings and bought reality back to life. The story is about Tom and Billie, they have both had a bereavement in the family and seeing as they both are so far away from each other they decide to reconnect and hope that being together will help with the grief. We see the book flit back to them as children and them now as they attempt to get their lives back on track. This is a tender story about families and how you need them to cope through some of the worse possible times of your lives. This book has opened my eyes and made me realise to be grateful for who you have and what you have got.

[Shantalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very underwhelming. Don't know what all the hype was about. It reminds me of Sally Rooney's normal people. Millenials philosophising about mundane things while roaming around the streets of Paris and surviving on bread and water. There was potential for some interesting explorations on family dynamics, domestic violence and complicated grief, but that didn't happen here. The characters were too busy pitying themselves.

[Natasha Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know this bothers some people but the timeline in this story jumps all over the place. Lots of flashbacks till it got to main story which is basically the ending. Not the cheeriest book, a brother and sister and their childhood and basically how it affects them as adults and losing a parent. Really enjoyed the Paris parts especially the tunnels. Straight onto Google afterwards. Overall it was a very readable book which I enjoyed.

[Steph Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually more like a 2.5. Bought this on a recommendation from Twitter but don’t feel particularly pleased to have now read it myself. It lacks pace, the time hopping needs some sort of clue like dates or even “then” and “now” at the start of chapters. And the ending, especially the tunnels (what did Tom actually see?), was underwhelming. Won’t be looking out for a second novel from this writer who I felt was trying too hard to be Sally Rooney.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite an interesting read about a brother and sister coming to terms with the death of their abusive father. I agree with one reviewer who said that the author is a 'human story- teller' but disagree that she is 'hilarious' as I didn't find much humour in the book. It is a well written book but ultimately rather easy to forget.

[Taylor Almeraz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've got a DNF rule which is you have to read 1/3 of the book before you give up.

Can genuinely say, nothing happens in the first 150 pages of this book, which I think is meant to be crafted like a slow-burn, but comes off as meandering and wasteful. Real shame, as I had high-hopes after listening to Imogen on a recent podcast and she was entirely hilarious.

[aditi ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ · Rating 2 out of 5]

i was deeply upset by the conflicted in this book. there was no thrill i am literally so upset by the fact that i just got out of a reading slump and this put me back to it v happy about it. :/

Thank you, NetGalley & the publisher, for approving me to read this arc and write this review.

[Rebecca Mason · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book disappointing - the plot had enough interest to keep reading but ultimately I felt let down by it. I also didn’t find any of the characters particularly likable - understandable maybe but not likable.

[Am ✿ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. The introduction of Aunt Helen and the car ride made me laugh so much I reread like 5 times. So much character is conveyed through the dialogue and subtle features through this book, which is at once intelligent and heartfelt.

[Sara Aylward-Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tender and nuanced exploration of family, grief, intimacy and communication.
Surprisingly funny, with an unexpected gravity and insight.

[Zoe B · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Eliza · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really excellent, couldn’t put it down! It’s sad and challenging without being harsh or cruel. Tender, if you will. Unlike so many sad-girl-lit books in a very good way.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Iv Divine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do not know why I put myself through this. Upsetting.

[Dominique Horsfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written, but perhaps a little predictable in places. I did enjoy it, although I could guess what might be going to happen. It didn't really keep me engaged though unfortunately.

[Paula Killey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing ending

[Simone Torn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a fan. I appreciate the attempt, though. But something is missing here.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

well-written for sure, but struggled to keep up with the time jumps. very sad, too. wouldn't pick it if you're feeling fragile.

[evie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75⭐️
Still don’t know what Tom “saw” at the end? But a very touching read anyway.