News of the Swimmer Reaches Shore

by Gregory O'Brien

A travel book, an autobiographical novel, and a free-floating meditation on Europe and the Antipodes, this personal memoir begins with its narrator suspended in the salty, tideless waters of the Mediterranean. Adrift on an ocean of art history, literature and music, memories and a dream-like present, modernism, the politics of French nuclear testing, swimming, drowning, and underwater explosions are twined together with the life of a family in an innovative and engaging exploration.

160 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2008

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

quite a lot better than the book of o'brien's from the 80s that i read a while ago, mostly this is pretty engaging digressive meditations on the loose theme of the 'subaquatic', inspired by a period spent living on the mediterranean coast of france. takes in topics as diverse as french nuclear testing and the bombing of the rainbow warrior, modernists like blaise cendrars and le corbusier and jacques cousteau's love life. it feels a bit too short to rate very highly but it's nice to spend some time with a new zealand writer who is both non parochial and can write a decent sentence.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing sort of poetic notebook memoir of a New Zealander in the South of France, making connections, exploring depth, walking, swimming, observing... and dealing with the psychic reverberations of the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior. By the purveyor of (New Zealand) artistic and literary forms, Greg O'Brien, whose work continues to inspire. That visionary ending!