Ever After [Paperback]

Graham Swift (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 1993

Dazzling in its structure and shattering in its emotional force, Graham Swift's Ever After spans two centuries and settings from the adulterous bedrooms of postwar Paris to the contemporary entanglements in the groves of academe. It is the story of Bill Unwin, a man haunted by the death of his beautify wife and a survivor himself of a recent brush with mortality. And although it touches on Darwin and dinosaurs, bees and bridge builders, the true subject of Ever After is nothing less than the eternal question, "Why should things matter?"

"Ever After is explicitly concerned with historical investigation, love, death, family affairs.... It moves quickly, and it vibrates with feeling and thought."--Wall Street Journal

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Musing on a set of Victorian diaries and reminiscing about his own life, the quirky academic who narrates Swift's latest novel fails to capture the reader's imagination. A BOMC alternate selection in cloth.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

While struggling to reconstruct his life after an unsuccessful suicide attempt, middle-aged narrator Bill Unwin confronts his inescapable past. Numbed by the deaths of his wife and his mother, Bill had become a reluctant and skeptical academic researching notebooks written by a Victorian ancestor named Matthew Pearce. These notebooks provide a narrative vehicle for traveling backward and forward in time, giving Bill abundant opportunity to expound on such diverse topics as academia, dinosaurs, Darwin, railroads, death, and, ultimately, the enduring and life-sustaining power of love. Swift, the talented author of Waterland (Pocket Bks., 1984) and Out of This World (Poseidon Pr., 1988), has created a marvelous character whose wry humor and perspicacity uncover the elusive relationship between history and fiction. Poignant, astute, heartwarming, and welcome. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/91.
- Jacqueline Adams, Carroll Cty. P.L., Westminster, Md.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (March 2, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679740260
• ISBN-13: 978-0679740261
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #735,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ... and Even Beyond, October 16, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Ever After (Paperback)

What a poignant and eloquent account of life (or at least the illusion of being alive) by an obviously seasoned and sensitive artist! Swift describes the sublimely vivid yet hazy realizations about a bookish yet intuitive academic's quest for the pure meaning in his life. Delicious portraits of life in Paris, recollections of finding and losing true love and friendship, and a yearning to prove or disprove the validity of doctrinized religion are blended amidst the collage of dabbles with sexuality, betrayal, perceptions of human nature, and the tragic Hamlet condition of jealousy pangs for a mother who, upon close character inspection, has even further muddled the once secure ideals regarding family and lineage. There is hardly any well-defined escape out of this complicated entangling, but the seemingly nonexistent resolution may actually shed an enlightening view upon the meaning of existence... if you read closely enough between the lines. Savor this one and enjoy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant writer, February 12, 2011

By 

Nemen M. Terc (usa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ever After (Paperback)

This is a true masterpiece, subtle, profound, exquisitely written. Among the best in modern literature. The writer offers insights into romantic love, and into the minds of scholars and actresses. It deals with the impact of Darwin's ideas on religious minds. The elegant and precise prose reminds me of the witty twists of Nabokov,and the ironic satire of Italo Svevo. A must read for those who appreciate literature.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An allegory with a twist, August 1, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Ever After (Paperback)

Graham Swift is the last great story teller-- a combination of Ernest Hemingway and Aesop. By juxtaposing the first person narrative of a disenchanted college proffessor (sp?) and the diaries of an early believer in the evolutionary theaory of nature (Darwin), Swift spins a tale of morality without a moral, and draws paralells between the two protagonists and their respective searches for the answer to one untimelly question- does anythnig really matter? Swift's vivid yet spare prose mirrors the paradoxical nature of both his main characters. Each is at once vulnerable and cynical, courageous but exhausted, afraid to be alone, and afraid of intimacy. Swift could have ended by providing a clearly defined answer to his own characters question thus weakening the realistic tone he had set throughout. However, he refuses to tie such a neat bow. Swift merelly aknowledges that asking the question "is anything divine?" is more important than finding a concrete answer. Swift supposes finally that life is a journey made of questions and we can either rejoice in the precarious nature of such a subjective path, or allow it to cause us to despair. On the way from page one to the last paragraph, the reader is made to sift through interesting musings concerning Shakespeare, Darwinism, Paris, male/female relationships, suicide, and academic politics. Graham Swift is possibly the finest modern English writer, and this is quite possibly his finest novel to date.