
The Swimmers
Julie Otsuka(Author)
Penguin Books Ltd (Publisher)
Published on 13. July 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
192 pages
978-0-241-99428-3 (ISBN)
Description
Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction
'Exquisite' The New York Times
'A tale of grief and memory awash with dark humour and wit' Spectator
____________________________________________________
"Up there," she says, "I'm just another little old lady. But down here, at the pool, I'm myself."
For the people who swim there each day, the local pool is a haven of unexpected kinship and private solace. For Alice, her daily laps have become the ritual that gives her life meaning, even though she may not remember the combination to her locker or where she put her towel.
But one day, a crack appears deep beneath the surface of the water, and then another, and then another. The pool must close for repairs, and with that Alice is plunged into dislocation and chaos.
Away from the steady routines of her swimming, she is engulfed by difficult memories of her own past. And as her sense of home, and of herself, slip further out of her grasp, her daughter must navigate the newly fractured landscape of their relationship.
From the internationally bestselling author of The Buddha in the Attic comes a novel about memory and loss, mothers and daughters, the stories that make up a life, and what happens when they start to unravel.
______________________________________________
'I'm in awe of how this beautiful, graceful novel can hold so much grief and loss and love in its pages: a literary gem.' Nicci Gerrard
'An unforgettable novel about mothers and daughters by a spellbinding talent' Daily Mail
'Exquisite' The New York Times
'A tale of grief and memory awash with dark humour and wit' Spectator
____________________________________________________
"Up there," she says, "I'm just another little old lady. But down here, at the pool, I'm myself."
For the people who swim there each day, the local pool is a haven of unexpected kinship and private solace. For Alice, her daily laps have become the ritual that gives her life meaning, even though she may not remember the combination to her locker or where she put her towel.
But one day, a crack appears deep beneath the surface of the water, and then another, and then another. The pool must close for repairs, and with that Alice is plunged into dislocation and chaos.
Away from the steady routines of her swimming, she is engulfed by difficult memories of her own past. And as her sense of home, and of herself, slip further out of her grasp, her daughter must navigate the newly fractured landscape of their relationship.
From the internationally bestselling author of The Buddha in the Attic comes a novel about memory and loss, mothers and daughters, the stories that make up a life, and what happens when they start to unravel.
______________________________________________
'I'm in awe of how this beautiful, graceful novel can hold so much grief and loss and love in its pages: a literary gem.' Nicci Gerrard
'An unforgettable novel about mothers and daughters by a spellbinding talent' Daily Mail
Reviews / Votes
Her wisdom is staggeringly beautiful, implicating each of us * The Irish Times * Here comes the new Julie Otsuka novel, so we can begin to live again * Colson Whitehead, author of Harlem Shuffle * Heartbreaking and astoundingly good * Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers * I'm in awe of how this beautiful, graceful novel can hold so much grief and loss and love in its pages: a literary gem. * Nicci Gerard, author of Soham: A Story Of Our Times * 'If it wasn't tragedy it would be comedy, and it nimbly treads the very narrow line between' * The Tablet * 'One of the marvels of The Swimmers is its unshowy portrayal of the immense drama inherent in losing the mind before the body has expired. But perhaps even more impressive is its respect for the general confusion of living' * Financial Times * Poignant and funny, I've never read such a brilliant account of this devastating illness, nor for that matter of the compulsive nature of swimming lengths in a pool. * Collagerie * "The Swimmers" is an exquisite companion. Though it doesn't answer the unanswerable, the novel's quiet insistence resonates: that it is our perfectly ordinary proclivities that make us who we are. * New York Times * An unforgettable novel about mothers and daughters by a spellbinding talent * Daily Mail * Stylistically ambitious and deeply moving * Kirkus Reviews *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 194 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
146 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-241-99428-3 (9780241994283)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Person
Julie Otsuka was born and raised in California. She pursued a career as a painter for several years before turning to fiction writing at age 30. She is the author of When the Emperor Was Divine, which was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, The Buddha in the Attic, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 2012, and The Swimmers. She is a recipient of the Asian American Literary Award, France's Prix Femina Etranger, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and was a finalist for the National Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. She lives in New York City.