Swimming in the Dark: A Novel
- ISBN-10
- 0062890026
- ISBN-13
- 9780062890023
- Category
- Fiction
- Pages
- 224
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2020-04-28
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Author
- Tomasz Jedrowski
Description
Named A Best Book of 2020 by NPR! “Imagine Call Me By Your Name set in Communist Poland and you'll get a sense of Jedrowski's moving debut about a consuming love affair amidst a country being torn apart.” — O, The Oprah Magazine “Captivating both for its shimmering surfaces and its terrifying depths. Tomasz Jedrowski is a remarkable writer.” — Justin Torres, bestselling author of We the Animals Set in early 1980s Poland against the violent decline of Communism, a tender and passionate story of first love between two young men who eventually find themselves on opposite sides of the political divide—a stunningly poetic and heartrending literary debut for fans of André Aciman, Garth Greenwell, and Alan Hollinghurst. When university student Ludwik meets Janusz at a summer agricultural camp, he is fascinated yet wary of this handsome, carefree stranger. But a chance meeting by the river soon becomes an intense, exhilarating, and all-consuming affair. After their camp duties are fulfilled, the pair spend a dreamlike few weeks in the countryside, bonding over an illicit copy of James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room. Inhabiting a beautiful, natural world removed from society and its constraints, Ludwik and Janusz fall deeply in love. But in their repressive Communist and Catholic society, the passion they share is utterly unthinkable. Once they return to Warsaw, the charismatic Janusz quickly rises in the political ranks of the party and is rewarded with a highly coveted government position. Ludwik is drawn toward impulsive acts of protest, unable to ignore rising food prices and the stark economic disparity around them. Their secret love and personal and political differences slowly begin to tear them apart as both men struggle to survive in a regime on the brink of collapse. Shifting from the intoxication of first love to the quiet melancholy of growing up and growing apart, Swimming in the Dark is a potent blend of romance, postwar politics, intrigue, and history. Lyrical and sensual, immersive and intense, Tomasz Jedrowski’s indelible and thought-provoking literary debut explores freedom and love in all its incarnations.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2020-02-06
- 257 pages
- Paperback
- Bloomsbury Publishing
Similar books
-
Swimming in Darkness
By Lucas HarariGorgeously illustrated, Swimming in Darkness is an intriguing, noirish graphic novel about uncovering the powerful secrets of the natural world.
-
The Night Swim: A Novel
By Megan GoldinIt was impossible to know exactly what had been discussed when Judge Shaw finally ordered Quinn and Alkins to step away from the bar and return to their seats. Mitch Alkins's shoulders were hunched and he scratched the side of his ...
-
Splash!: 10,000 Years of Swimming
By Howard MeansUnique and compelling, Splash! sweeps across the whole of humankind's swimming history--and just like jumping into a pool on a hot summer's day, it has fun along the way.
-
Swimming with Seals
By Victoria Whitworth... just as a kitten stops fighting when its mother picks it up by the scruff, or a sheep enters a quasi-catatonic state when the shearer pulls her into a sitting position, or a shark turned over on its back goes into tonic immobility.
-
Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight
By Riku OndaA psychological thriller by the Japanese author of the highly acclaimed The Aosawa Murders, selected by NYT as one of the most notable books of 2020.
-
Swimming in Sky: A Novel
By Inman MajorsWe've moved from rented den to rented den to rented den, with the same accoutrements, the same ragged couches, music posters, mismatched assortment of lamps and bookcases and end tables,...
-
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and...
By George SaundersPaired with iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, the seven essays in this book are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it’s more relevant than ever in these turbulent times.
-
The Night Swimmers
By Peter RockConsonant with other Sebaldian re-inventors of autobiographical fiction, this novel is an exploration of unrelenting meaning.
-
American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI
By Kate Winkler DawsonFrom the acclaimed author of Death in the Air ("Not since Devil in the White City has a book told such a harrowing tale"--Douglas Preston) comes the riveting story of the birth of criminal investigation in the twentieth century.
-
These Violent Delights: A Novel
By Micah NemereverUnfolding with a propulsive ferocity, These Violent Delights is an exquisitely plotted excavation of the depths of human desire and the darkness it can bring forth in us.