Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski
What's it about? (No Spoilers)
The book opens with a prologue where the narrator, Ludwik, hears a radio newsflash stating that martial law has just been declared in his native Poland. He then writes the following
I don't know whether I ever want you to read this, but I know I have to write it. Because you've been on my mind for too long. Ever since that day, twelve months ago, when I got on a plane and flew through thick layers of cloud across the ocean. A year since I saw you, a year that has felt like limbo - ever since then I've been lying to myself. And now that I am stuck here, in the dreadful safety of America, while our country is falling apart, I am done pretending that I've erased you from my mind. (page xii)
The rest of the book is the narrative of the last couple of years of Ludwik's life in 1980s Poland and his illicit love affair with another man.
What do I think of it?
This is a beautiful, bittersweet, melancholic story and is a book that will stay with me for a very long time. It is one of those authorial magic tricks where clear simple language vividly describes the action and the narrator's feeling with a depth and clarity that belies the simplicity of the writing.
Here is an example to illustrate this:-
The bus was almost full now, and the driver climbed in, cigarette glued to his lips, and off we went. We vibrated with the rhythm of the clattering engine. Sun streamed on to my face and, outside, the spire of the city's symbol - Stalin's Palace of Culture - reached so high into the soft-blue sky it made your neck hurt to look at it. I was strangely elated. I had always liked the act of leaving, the expanse between departure and arrival when you're seemingly nowhere, defined by another kind of time. (page 17)
The book is written in the first person and as direct speech to Ludwik's lover, thus the reader is addressed as "you." This gives the book an immediacy as well as allowing you to easily imagine yourself as either the narrator or his lover or even both at the same time.
The setting of communist era Poland is fascinating and plays an important part in the story. Lots of little details flesh out a world that was unknown to me. For example at one point Ludwik hitchhikes, when he gets out of the car he tears out a coupon from his hitchhiking booklet and gives it to the driver saying "I hope you send it in and win something useful like a hairdryer."
The book has an extra resonance for me as I have spent the last 8 years working remotely with a team of developers in Poland based in the city of Wrocław which is where Ludwik grew up and is one of the locations of the action.
It left me wondering how I would have coped growing up in a place where the freedoms I take for granted are severely curtailed. Doubly so for a gay man. How would I react and behave? In short how would I have a life?
Who would I recommend this book to?
My first reaction is to say I would recommend this book to anyone with a heart.
If you read contemporary fiction you will find this a compelling and beautiful story. If you've never read anything set in communist Poland you will find it enlightening and intriguing.
The language and style of the book is open to all and is capable of being read as a simple love story / coming of age story but if the reader chooses to reflect there are a wealth of themes to explore.