The Night Swimmer, Matt Bondurant's utterly riveting modern gothic novel of marriage and belonging, confirms his gift for storytelling that transports and enthralls.
In a small town on the southern coast of Ireland, an isolated place only frequented by fishermen and the occasional group of bird-watchers, Fred and Elly Bulkington, newly arrived from Vermont having won a pub in a contest, encounter a wild, strange land shaped by the pounding storms of the North Atlantic, as well as the native resistance to strangers. As Fred revels in the life of a new pub owner, Elly takes the ferry out to a nearby island where anyone not born there is called a "blow-in." To the disbelief of the locals, Elly devotes herself to open-water swimming, pushing herself to the limit and crossing unseen boundaries that drive her into the heart of the island's troubles—the mysterious tragedy that shrouds its inhabitants and the dangerous feud between an enigmatic farmer and a powerful clan that has no use for outsiders.
The poignant unraveling of a marriage, the fierce beauty of the natural world, the mysterious power of Irish lore, and the gripping story of strangers in a strange land rife with intrigue and violence makes The Night Swimmer a novel of myriad enchantments by a writer of extraordinary talent.
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"As you navigate the pages of Bondurant's work, you become enchanted with both the nostalgic beauty of Ireland and horrified by the ruggedness of a culture lost in time. Bondurant does a fantastic job at balancing the idealistic quintessiential Irish pub and folk, but then takes the reader through twists and turns introducting you to the underbelly of an Irish culture not welcoming to newcomers, or as he refers in the novel "blow-ins". The authors ability to capture the peaceful monotony known to any distance swimmer is exquisite, and his description of Irish gales literally teleports you into the storm in your mind. I agree with some of the reviews in which some of the characterization could be more in depth and I found myself struggling to get a "real grasp" of characters beyond Elly (the heroine. I found myself extremely disappointed at the ending, not becuase I was unsatisfied with the book, but more I wanted to hear more of the story behind all of the characters and felt the end came a little to bluntly! And example of this is I'm still left hanging about Miranda's role, a mysterious creature developed by Bondurant who seems to serve the role of island "watchdog". However, the integration of John Cheever's work and the backstory of O'boyle's schizophrenic mother and her last etchings is wonderful foreshadowing to "what is to come". Overall, this was a fantastic read, and wonderful prose written in only a way a true storyteller can. If you want to crawl and bed at night and be transported to a foreign land, where your imagination will build beauty and angst - this is the novel for you! By far Bondurant's best work to date!"
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Amber (5 out of 5 stars)