Reviews

Swimming Home by Deborah Levy

jade_flynn's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

4.0

runkefer's review against another edition

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4.0

This started kind of slow, but it was hypnotic (in a good way) and the author accomplised a k\lot in very few pages. it was ultimately satisfying and profound.

pebbles65's review against another edition

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1.0

I guess I just didn't feel what everyone else did. I really cared for none of the characters. This fell flat for me. One star for being 165 pages.

hennershenners's review against another edition

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4.0

Not her best. But very good indeed.
Probably'll get better on subsequent readings, it feels like a little novel that needs a little work to open up and shed it's secrets

sofiaoh's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

it's funny, reading this was a kinda laborious process (not really because of this, i'm just in a reading slump 🫤) and i was convinced i was going to feel nothing about this, at best, by the end. safe to say, changed my mind about this! i also think switching from audio to phyical helped a lot. 

i have similar feelings about this book that i do with big girl by mecca sullivan. the process of reading wasn't the most enjoyable per se but after finishing and taking a step back to look at the work as a whole, the sum of its parts was really great. sometimes you gotta look at the forest and not just the trees. 

writing never an issue. love deborah levy's prose, really works for me. it was languid but not light, it sort of felt like wading through water with clothes on. fluid, but not seamless. quality wise, always a five star (which tbh bumps my overall rating).

i do want to try re-reading this in the future, maybe when my mindset isnt hindered by a lack of burning desire to read 😓 in ideal circumstances i could see myself zipping through this. 

jdgcreates's review against another edition

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2.0

(2.5) I didn't quite "like" this book so much as wonder how it was going to turn out which kept me reading until the end. There was some beautiful language but it was not a novel--a novella at most, but better if it's described as a long short-story. It just didn't have the depth of a novel. Interesting themes of mental illness, grief, guilt, fidelity, and dysfunction were explored.

babaecalum's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

lexathegreat87's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

flissreadsbooks's review against another edition

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4.0

Does Deborah Levy ever miss? Brilliant interconnected writing, etc.
I found the plot less cohesive than others by her but it still had those amazing moments of writing which were just so utterly perfect.

j___sayer's review against another edition

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dark mysterious

2.5