A melancholy story of a broken family told in fantastic prose. 3/5 stars.
Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for giving me a copy of the book.
The blurb:
Ingrid Coleman writes letters to her husband, Gil, about the truth of their marriage, but instead of giving them to him, she hides them in the thousands of books he has collected over the years. When Ingrid has written her final letter she disappears from a Dorset beach, leaving behind her beautiful but dilapidated house by the sea, her husband, and her two daughters, Flora and Nan.
Twelve years later, Gil thinks he sees Ingrid from a bookshop window, but he’s getting older and this unlikely sighting is chalked up to senility. Flora, who has never believed her mother drowned, returns home to care for her father and to try to finally discover what happened to Ingrid. But what Flora doesn’t realize is that the answers to her questions are hidden in the books that surround her.
My take:
Firstly, and because cover designers often don’t get enough credit for their work, I’d like to say that whoever designed the book cover deserves heaps of praise. It’s beautiful.
Back to the contents…
As with Our Endless Numbered Days, Swimming Lessons showcases Claire Fuller’s wonderful descriptive prose. Every landscape, location (the Swimming Pavillion is a brilliant idea for a setting) and mood is captured evocatively, pulling the reader into and along with the story.
And, as with her first novel, she again shows skill in handling multiple timelines. This time she juggles three at once, all interweaving to build a complete picture of the dysfunctional family at the centre of her story.
Unfortunately, although this book is undeniably well-written, I just couldn’t get into it. I lay the blame squarely with the characters who were an unloveable bunch. Gil, in particular, needed a good kick up the backside. I kept hoping we’d learn something about him which would redeem him, even slightly. Instead, with each new detail I had more reason to loathe him. Ingrid was perhaps the most sympathetic character, but I felt she needed a thorough shaking for putting up with Gil’s crap. The rest of the characters were disappointingly bland and too weak to rescue the story from the shadow of their unlikeable and passive parents and friends.
Overall: if unlikeable characters aren’t a problem for you, I’d recommend Swimming Lessons. The writing is terrific and the various plot strands are well-handled, I just couldn’t get past the lack of anyone to like.
Claire Huston / Art and Soul
Art and Soul 
Sometimes I can get into a book with several unlikeable characters….and I might just give this one a try.
I do like to have positive feelings for at least ONE of the characters, though. Thanks for sharing. Great review.
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I didn’t hate them all, just didn’t warm to any of them 🙂 If you can stand unlikeable characters then I’d definitely give this one a try as the writing is beautiful.
Thank you!
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Unlikable characters don’t usually ruin the book for me either. If the writing is that good, I may give this a try!
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It’s a shame those pesky characters were so unloveable for you! But I agree, the writing IS wonderful. ( I adored this one 😀 ).
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I don’t think anyone could fault her writing. She’s clearly extremely talented. The nasty characters just ruined it! 🙂
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Ah, but the blurb sounds soooo good! Pity with the inability to disconnect wth the characters… one character that is hard to like is OK, but if they’re all meh, then… I agree on the cover though- it is very pretty!
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I know! 🙂 And the cover is tremendous.
It’s a shame because many other readers haven’t had my issues and are giving the book 5 stars. I wish that had been my experience!
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Great review! I’ve read about the unlikeable characters on a few blogs, however, so I’m not surprised to see it here. For me, I am content as long as there is character development.
It sounds like Fuller’s prose should be experienced, though. Your review ratings for Fuller’s books are both about the same. Which would you recommend?
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Thank you!
I would definitely recommend Our Endless Numbered Days over Swimming Lessons. I felt her first novel had better plot progression and character development. Also, while none of the characters were particularly cuddly, I didn’t loathe any of them! 🙂
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That’s a valid point – I would rather not loathe the characters I’m reading about. Okay! Our Endless Numbered Days is now requested from the library!
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I don’t mind unlikeabke characters! I do agree though, the cover for this is so lovely.
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In that case, you’ll like this 🙂 The writing is great, but I couldn’t get close enough to any of the characters to care 😦
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I had same feel when I read Jennifer Egan’s ‘A Visit From The Goon Squad’ – brilliantly done but populated with characters I couldn’t stand by the end!! Will read this because I loved Endless Numbered Days ( though didn’t like the Dad in that either!)
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Endless Numbered Days has the edge for me. I liked the character development (even if the development in the Dad’s case was him descending into madness), whereas in Swimming Lessons we don’t get much development which is a shame.
It’s definitely worth reading, just for the lovely writing 🙂
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Hm, I’ve come to like a few books with unlikable characters. Most often, I end up loving a book with the most despicable characters ever but I suppose that’s just me and my morbid tastes. Hahaha. I can’t believe I want to read this one because you didn’t like some of the characters.
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Haha! Nothing wrong with that 🙂 You should definitely give this one a try!
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I just finished Swimming Lessons last night and couldn’t agree with you more. I struggled to get through the first half because I had no connection to the characters. I thought it got a little better in the second half, but nowhere close to Our Endless Numbered Days!
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It’s lovely to hear from someone who had a similar experience. So far I’ve only seen reviews from readers who loved it all! I just couldn’t get along with any of the characters 😦
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LOL. Duly noted when I write my book. No unlikeable characters for you.
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Thank you! 🙂
They don’t all have to be nice, I just need one I can get behind 🙂 The rest can be horrible!
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I also hated the characters! But I connected with them anyway…great review 🙂
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Thank you!
I was longing to find something about any of them to like because the writing was terrific 🙂
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indeed, but I’m so glad you felt the same way I did, I was feeling like a bit of a scrooge by the end of it haha
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