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Nov 07, 2011

Jane rated it:

Characters

Jack Arthur Dodds (deceased) - "Dodds and Son Family Butcher, since 1903".
Vince Dodds (Vincent Ian Pritchett) - "son" of Jack and Amy. "Dodds' Autos"
Ray "Lucky" Johnson - "...if you want to put a bet on, he's your man".
Lenny Tate, Grocer - "Gunner Tate, middleweight. Always pissed. Always late".
Vic Tucker, Funeral Director - "...at your disposal".
Amy Dodds - Jack's wife, More...

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Oct 30, 2010

Kerfe rated it:

"I'd like to be all kinds of people....but I can't because I'm me....I don't want to be like me, I want to be like them but I can't I can't I can't."

It took me about one third of the book to straighten out the characters in my mind. I was thinking I should go back and re-read the beginning, but now I think it was better that all the stories were jumbled and then clarified. Or somewhat clarified. The characters themselves have not sorted out their relationships or their p More...

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Jul 20, 2009

Ruth rated it:

The structure of the book seemed not to suit the novel form so much - there was so much in each short section that it seemed necessary to pause afterwards to think about it, and the way he moved from character to character didn't seem to flow as seemlessly or in as meaningful a way as others have done it. I think it might have been sensible to treat it as a series of poems, or poetic prose, and read a section every night before going to bed. It's quite philosophical and I think that there's a lo More...

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Jan 05, 2012

Frederick rated it:

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 w More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 18, 2010

Mike rated it:

The novel was awarded the Man Booker Prize for 1996, beating out Alias Grace by Atwood, among others. It was Graham Swift's sixth novel.

This story of solemn duty, sprinkled well with farce and painful memories, takes the reader along for a day drive from London to the seaside town of Margate. Four men (or maybe 'blokes' is better), all pub friends of the just-deceased Jack Arthur Dobbs, are faithfully delivering Jack's ashes to the sea as per his last "orders".

T More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 22, 2011

Tony rated it:

This begins: “It ain’t like your regular sort of day.” Not exactly “Call me Ishmael” but you have to start somewhere. A little workshoppy, but there’s some promise there. Perhaps it could turn into a one-day, colloquial journey through themes and characters.

But then again, maybe not. In a few brisk chapters we have encountered (the word met suggests more purchase than we are given) Ray, Jack, Sue, Sally, Vince, Vic, Lenny, Amy, Bernie, Brenda, Joan, Mandy, Carol and Charlie. Was More...

4 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 13, 2011

Jogle rated it:

An apparent homage to Faulkner's 'As I lay Dying', a long drawn out funeral entourage is used to outline in falshback the entangled lives of a group of Londoners and their relationship with the dead man, Jack Dodds, whose ashes they are carrying to be scattered on the sea at Margate.
The writng style is plain, reflecting the austerity of the post war setting of a lot of the reminiscence. The story is engaging and was made into a star studded film and yet someting about the book does not qu More...

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Jan 13, 2011

Heather rated it:

Jack Dodds passed away shortly after closing his family butcher shop. Today is the day appointed for dispersing his ashes, and his son and friends have gathered. If they had awaken this morning thinking that it would be an easy task, just open the jar and pour, then they were mistaken.

While his son Vince, and his friends Ray, Lenny and Vic are on their way to the seaside, his wife Amy is visiting their daughter June to break the news to her.

This day, meant to honour Ja More...

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Dec 10, 2010

Kirsty rated it:

This is one of those odd books that I quite enjoyed despite not really getting on with it. Or perhaps I didn't enjoy it despite finding it quite likeable. Hard to put my finger on my feelings with any degree of accuracy.

Jack's last orders were last his drinking partners from the pub in Bermondsey should scatter his ashes from the pier at Margate. This book is split into short segments narrated by his friends and son, and also his widow who stays at home, as the day goes on.

In some places I fou

More...

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Apr 15, 2010

Ellen rated it:

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 More...

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Feb 24, 2009

Becky rated it:

what's with the booker prize committee and british books about dysfunctional families' funerals? (i'm thinking also of anne enright's "the gathering," which won in 2007.) this one's about a bunch of old guys who set out to take their friend's ashes to the sea for the ritual scattering, and on the way they get in crotchety old-man fights and take sentimental detours, etc. the chapters alternate narrators and there are lots of flashbacks detailing the relationships between these men and More...

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Apr 11, 2011

Bob rated it:

Short chapters alternating the points of view of four working class Londoners, spanning the WWII and 60s generation, very slowly revealing the intertwined stories of their lives. Since none are officially narrating (just conversing and musing, mostly while drinking), the overall story emerges slowly and obliquely and the reader's sympathy for and understanding of the characters accrues gradually with it - ultimately very moving.

Reminiscent of the working class novels of the early 60s ( More...

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Jun 14, 2007

Notcathy rated it:

Cathy wrote: "won the Booker Prize the week after I stole it out of a box full of comps." (She was working at the UT co-op bookstore, I think. Or else Borders.)

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 27, 2009

Seth rated it:

This is my first Graham Swift novel. Where the hell has he been? I'm a great fan of contemporary English novelists, and somehow Graham Swift has evaded my radar -- until now. "Last Orders" is a brilliant book. While I may not have gotten the sort of pure enjoyment and pleasure from it that I sometimes get from Zadie Smith or Martin Amis, I did get great pleasure from Swift's command of the English language. In "Last Orders" he's nothing less than a late-20th century James Joy More...

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Dec 02, 2008

Kathy rated it:

Four grown men and the follies of their lives and relationships, and the love that ties and keeps them all together. They carry the ashes around from the bar to the meadows to the cathedral and to the end of a dirty old pier and each tells his own story along the way.

It's an easy read, but read the first 50 pages straight through or else you'll get confused about who's who like I did and have to re-read them. The relationships are complex and interwoven and riddled with deceit and More...

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Mar 26, 2009

Steve rated it:

Although I liked this tale of reflection, bitterness and revelation, unfortunately I found the book via the film.

And, I'm sorry Mr Swift, I admire your work, but the cinematic interpretation ruined the book for me.

I do so wish I had come to this story from the book first, the film diluted too many of the characters; when reading the book, I could see the characters revealing themselves with the inter-twined storylines, but of course it was too late for me, I already knew what was coming.

I' More...

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Dec 16, 2009

carri rated it:

let's stop in for a pint. jack would've wanted it. jack would've expected it.

brilliant.

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Oct 26, 2009

Darryl rated it:

This is a deceptively simple novel. On its face it tells the tale of four Englishmen honoring the last wishes of a deceased buddy. The deceptive part is that through an adroit use of dialect and an insightful presentation of the lives of these men, and their related women, we get a rich psycho-sociological snapshot of the English zeitgeist of the late 20th C. This book apparently caused a stir in some quarters with charges about the author's sources, and some charges of being hackneyed. Don' More...

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May 31, 2010

Bill rated it:

I listened to this book on tape. I think it made the going more difficult, what with the heavy accents and the frequent name references that you can't quickly reference as you can in a book (Amy? who's Amy? Sue?...). That being said, when I settled into the story, I settled way into the story. Taking a ride with these four fellas was a moving experience. Fast, it wasn't. Nor was it adventure packed. But this halting drive to Margate was an insightful, touching, meaningful look into the rich, More...

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Sep 18, 2009

Andrew rated it:

One of the fun parts of reading Last Orders is following the working class British dialect that all of the characters use. Beyond that, the characters themselves are intriguing because other complicated intertwining of their lives.

It is the death of Jack and the casting of his ashes in Margate that brings out each the story of his life and the lives of his friends and family.

Well written, but not that it is a bit challenging, at first, to keep track of who's who. Once yo More...

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Nov 10, 2011

Athena rated it:

Last Orders is a solidly good book. I read somewhere that all good Booker books create their own language to draw you into their world. The unique language is what elevated Last Orders.

The story is a bit depressing (so you know I liked it). Jack has died, and his best friends and adopted son are tasked with the job of fulfilling his final wishes or "last orders." Bonus: this involves a road trip! On the way, the characters (and absent wife) reminisce about their time More...

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Jul 03, 2011

Lisa rated it:

This book made me cry. Seriously. So you know that it is going straight to the list of best reads of the year. For real. Which is surprising because the narrative structure of the book is one that I typically don't like. The story is told from a multiperspectival point of view, with chapters being named for the person who is narrating that chapter, or, from where the events in the chapter are taking place, in which case Ray is the narrator. This isn't my favorite narrative style, but for t More...

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Dec 31, 2010

Lisa rated it:

Last Orders is a lovely book. It won the Booker Prize in 1996, and was made into a terrific film with Michael Caine as Jack.

It's a deceptively simple story. Four blokes take a day trip to Margate Pier to spread the ashes of their mate, Jack, to the sea. Multiple narrators carry the story through flashbacks to the past and commentary on present events, gradually revealing a complex network of relationships, misunderstandings and betrayals, a fragile web held together by grudging affec More...

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Feb 07, 2010

Marieke rated it:

Some books need to settle a bit before I can write about them. Graham Swift's Last Orders is one of these -- a quiet story of love and loss, the meaning of family, and the unbreakable ties of friendship.

I love the way the story is structured on a day’s journey made by four old friends to scatter the ashes of their recently deceased pal, Jack. As their journey progresses, we get glimpses into the private memories of each character as they revisit moments from their long acquaintance More...

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Apr 01, 2010

Yofish rated it:

Framed around four guys going to spread the ashes of a dead friend. (It was his 'last orders' to them to do this.) Three are drinking buddies/business friends/army buddies with the dead guy. (The fourth is sort of an adopted son.) Each chapter (short) is told from the perspective of one of them, or sometimes someone's wife. Some are about the actual trip--where they are, why they're there--and some are reminisces about the past. We learn about the conflicts between the adopted son and the d More...

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Aug 05, 2010

Andrew rated it:

In a way, the plot of Last Orders is very simple: a group of friends drive to the coast to scatter the ashes of their friend Jack. Yes, that's it. Along the way they have arguments and fights and endless pints of beer, but none of that is really the point. The real action of this book takes place in the past, appropriately enough for a novel about scattering ashes. These are old men remembering not only Jack but also their own former selves.

There are lots of lies and secrets and betr More...

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Jan 20, 2009

Nancy rated it:

Well, I must say that at first I thought this was going to be an "iffy" book, but I stayed with it and now I'm really happy I did. What a fine novel! What great writing! Now I must find more by this author.

Let me also say that this book is not for everyone. It is not something you can pick up and expect to finish as quickly as, say, a James Patterson novel. It takes time to read and digest, so if you're looking for something quick and easy, forget it. This book has substanc More...

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Feb 04, 2008

S. rated it:

The weird thing about this book is I must have started reading it once before and forget that. Either that or I was having major deja vu, which quite honestly could be the case. I knew so many details that I otherwise can't explain. Maybe I read a review when it was published?

Anyway, the book was enjoyable, but definitely didn't seem to me like a Booker Prize winner. (I preferred Seamus Deane's "Reading in the Dark," which was shortlisted the same year.) Life could be beaut More...

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Nov 15, 2011

Liz rated it:

I love a lot about this book, but I've read it twice now, and both times it ultimately left me unsatisfied. I love (and admire) how dense it is - skim a paragraph and you'll miss at least two important details. But all the way through, I kept waiting for some revelation that would make everything add up, make it all beautiful (or terrible, or both). I guess I have to accept that maybe that's Swift's point: that life isn't beautiful or transcendent, except in its very messiness.

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Nov 21, 2011

Brett rated it:

I've read a lot of British authors works published over the past couple hundred years but this one more than any I can remember caused me issues with the language. I've read Waterland which while quirky and peculiar to the Midlands dialect of the rural Fens - still didn't obfuscate the story the way the vernacular of this story did. I really think there's a great story buried in this book somewhere - I got the gist of it but the subtleties are hidden in the language I'm betting.

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