I won't describe the plot here. You can find that in the Goodreads description. I will make some observations, among them my idea that, whether by design or not, LAST ORDERS is Joycean. It is also accessible. The reason I think it may not be a conscious imitation of Joyce is that I suspect Joyce, fundamental innovator though he was, wrote in a tradition. Somebody once said you could go to any bar in Dublin and hear the sort of conversations you'd read in ULYSSES. Graham Swift's Englishmen (and women) are similar to Joyce's Dubliners because they come from essentially the same part of the world, if a half a century later. Also, if you want to hear British men actually talking in the way Joyce has men talk, listen to the bonus disc "Fly On The Wall" on the Beatles CD, LET IT BE NAKED. A casual conversation between them is heard as they noodle around on the piano and it is proof that Joyce's elaborate, punning dialogue was largely a representation of real speech. So: If Graham Swift's LAST ORDERS seems digressive and rambling to you and you've stopped reading it, take a second look. You'll notice that most little things in this book are expanded upon at some point and you'll also find yourself grasping seemingly impenetrable bits of slang. Then you will see that this book is as universal as any other when it comes to meditations on war, generations, life and death. And love.

Subconsciously, I think I give extra credit to writers who write about ordinary people, commonplace circumstances, and routine life. Their extraordinary ability to detangle the humdrum into harmony leaves me in awe of life, and all that it can be while we might not be much at it.

Graham Swift, what a magnificently gifted writer, how beautifully he elevates the little things to greater meanings. Here, in LastOrders, he conjures up a world of old-timey people, we have as our protagonists four friends in a small community of London - they are butchers, vegetable sellers, funeral directors. They work all day, have a pint in the evening, share their hopes and abandoned dreams, then go home. On the face, we see them as simple folks with a simple life, but when one of them dies and the others take a journey to fulfill his ‘last orders’, it all comes undone. Swift expertly digs up their hidden truths - all their slight conflicts, little resentments, and regrets - dents begin to appear in their seemingly flawless friendship leading up to a supremely satisfying conclusion.

Every character gets a voice in the narrative, everybody has a chance to tell their side of the story, and this is where it gets muddled up, because their voices aren’t much distinct from the other, especially at the beginning and also, they happen to be speaking a dialect which makes it hard to understand these voices.

Structurally though, this book is a marvel, there are layers and layers of thoughts, feelings and actions, all from different people and all working in tandem with each other. It forces you to see, even for the most reluctant of us, that life is endlessly fascinating, even in its most faded shades. 4 stars!

I actually read an English signed 1st edition so it may have had some typos. It won the Booker Award for 2006, the british equivalent of the Pulitzer.

Graham Swift has written a book not in English but in Cockney which makes it a little harder to read for us Colonials. At the same time it is this use of cockney that gives Swift the possibility of more freedom in writing the book as he does. The book is divided into numerous chapter of 1 to 5 or so pages in length. Each chapter is written in the first person for the various players in the drama; if the chapter is a location, Ray is the "person" narrating the story.

Jack Arthur Dodds, first class butcher of Bermondsey, a neighborhood in London south of the Thames, has died, cremated and has a last wish - to have his ashes spread on the water in Margate, a town on the northeast tip of Kent, east of London. He has asked his long-time friends to do this fir him. The book describes this journey with numerous flashbacks to various times in the lives of Jack, his friends and his family. It explores the different aspects of husband-wife, parent-child and friend-friend relationships in Bermondsey London in the war years (1938-1945) and thereafter, from the time Jack and his mates were in the war, their lives thereafter and mostly the journey to his death and release of his ashes into the sea.

The reader becomes well-acquainted with Jack, his world, his life and his friends. Swift is a master craftsman as he brings his characters through this journey from Bermondsey to Margate and back and forth through their lives. Good book for travelers as chapters are very short (one chapter is just one word), and the story draws you in. You may have to be an Anglophile to really enjoy it. I have spent two years in England and know some of the sites (e.g., Canterbury Cathedral, an amazing place), so I may be biased, but it is a worth-while book for all. It sounds like a "guy book" (as opposed to what some may call a "chick book") but it is just a human book about a last good-bye.

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I know the general story line but nothing else what HAPPENED in this book

What a beautiful, beautiful book. Graham Swift has got to be one of the greatest writers of our generation. This is not a large book, but one should take his time reading to savor his language, his great skill in crafting amazingly simple stories of everyday people. Swift brings his characters--in this book, butchers, junk dealers, used car salesmen, funeral directors, housewives--great dignity.

Four friends set out to scatter the ashes of a mutual friend, at his request. Not an original plot device, but Swift makes this small, sweet tale an interwoven poem about love and life and changes.

I listened to this book, and the readers on Audible were superb, but I think I might go back and actually read at least portions of the book, just to savor the written words on the page.

Ordinary people have deep lives.

We live in the present and the past. I have only realised the last few years that time is not linear. We are continually dipping in and out of the past, the present and the future. We are living it all at the same time.

Graham Swift has written a complex book that tries to blend this truth with the other truth that "our" stories are not solely ours. We are part of history, of communities and families. Our inner worlds bump up against others, and historical forces shape our inner worlds.

So this is the story. A group of male friends, nearly all entering the home stretch of their lives, are carrying out the last wishes of their friend Jack. He wants his ashes scattered from the pier at Margate. They meet up at the pub and set out together for down at heel coastal town. How complicated can this story be?
Swift uses the device of entering each persons head to tell the story. Each character muses about his life and that of Jack's. They are all of a time and place. They are all Cockneys, while not precisely working class, they are certainly culturally that way inclined. Except for Jack's son Vince, they have all been through World War II. Some met in the army. Some lived across the street. They are of a time and place though, and while they have similar stoic attitudes towards life, they are all different but the same.

This device, while I understand why the author wants to do it, is also very confusing. The "voices' of the characters are not distinctive enough to not be confusing to even the most attentive reader.

The deep bonds of affectation, love and just plain old shared history that bind these characters lives together gives this book its integrity.

The living characters populating this book are deader than the dead one. If he'd risen from the grave to slap some life into them I might have given this 3 stars, but he stayed dead and they remained boring to the end.

Read this by accident but I loved it. My poor heart! Hadn’t heard of it before and had no idea it won the Booker in the 90s. The pacing is a little odd sometimes and it jumps in time which you get used to as the book goes on but is a bit disorientating at first. B’s teacher has given it to him to read for A level and I don’t think he’s going to like it, but I thought it was absolutely stunning. Nuanced and understated conversational style with secrets and things unsaid over half a century. Just lovely.

This was an ok book. Some of the descriptive passages were beautifully written. But the storyline wasn’t great. A bunch of blokes taking turns narrating their experiences during their road trip to scatter their friend’s ashes. They’re all about as charming as listening to those workers who give catcalls to every woman they see. Not my kind of guys. I can’t understand how it won the Booker Prize.

Μία μέρα, ένας αποχαιρετισμός, ολόκληρες ζωές. Εξαιρετικός Γκράχαμ Σουίφτ για ακόμα μια φορά.
Ίσως όλα έχουν να κάνουν με το ότι βρίσκεσαι στο χείλος, και όντως εκεί βρίσκεσαι, υπό άλλη έννοια όμως, πράγμα που το ξέρεις. Όχι που πάει ο δρόμος, αλλά που δεν πάει άλλο λόγω της σαβούρας που ξέβρασε η θάλασσα. Τέρμα ο δρόμος, τέρμα ο μώλος. Πλατς!

The fast switch in focus between the different characters is a bit confusing. Probably would be more enjoyable if read in one or two sittings. I didn't grasp the characters until almost at the end and that's the part that would get 4 stars. Very skillful and leaves a great impression. Swift is an amazing author but like the other books I read by him more.

4.7