This is a book laced in mythology and folklore blended with the modern storytelling we have come to expect from Sally Rooney. A strange, mesmerising novel where the reader is never really sure what is going on, there's a tendency to blend the real and the unreal. Sometimes, this is done to great effect, but the majority of the time I wish the characters had been stronger and that the tale didn't being so generic in the end.

I loved Polly, the flawed young woman who narrates this novel. She is staying in Scotland after some foolish, selfish and possibly lethal behaviour back in London, to escape the consequences of her actions. At the centre of this book is a retelling of a supernatural folktale which didn't ultimately work for me as its ending didn't quite make sense in its adaptation to the present day characters. However, the writing was so good and Polly's voice is so authentic and enjoyable that I didn't mind that aspect and look forward to Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott's next novel.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advance copy of this book.
Unfortunately this type of writing is not my cup of tea so I didn't finish it. It reminded me of all the times I have tried to read Ulysses by James Joyce and ended up frustrated and unsatisfied. While I can understand the compelling nature of lyrical text and its musicality, I am an orthodox kind of reader and my brain just didn't follow where this was going.
You may like it if you are into a stream of consciousness, experimental type of read.

Swansong is a fascinating depiction of one man's extreme isolation and oddness; the way it brings out more of Polly's curiosity and determination is what drives the novel. What starts off as a rollercoaster of drink, drugs and endless exploration becomes a tender, heart-breaking love story that is almost unbearably poignant.

An interesting and unusual debut. I can't wait to see what comes next from the author with an innate skill for storytelling.

I picked up this book when it first came out and put it down as I didn't want to read it at that time. I gave it a second go.

However even the second time around i have been unable to finish it. I The supernatural/folklore/mythological elements had appealed to me .
I was intrigued by the death in Polly's past and why she fled the city and by the " bird dismembering" man.

The realism of Polly's life is portrayed well. She is more than open and blunt about sex, drugs etc. This contrasts well with the supernatural elements.

The setting was evocative and I could picture the area from Andrew's vivid. writing

It was the style that defeated me in the end. Andrew has a great use of metaphor, but for me it could have been more effective if used more sparingly. It was like eating too much chocolate because it is delicious and then feeling sick.

This is a book that will appeal to many and Andrew has obvious talent, but was not the book for me sadly

This accomplished debut novel, is set in the Scottish Highlands. Our protagonist Polly, an English student, has fled to a remote location after a drink and drug fuelled night out goes horribly wrong. It’s a great read and I liked feisty, urban Polly who is a fish out of water in this rural setting. My only reservation would be the myth/folktale element of the story. I loved the idea, but I didn’t think it was executed as well as it could have been (for me) and this is where the story felt a little bit clunky. Still an interesting well paced story though. Recommended.

I loved and hated this book at the same time. The main character was not likeable at all but the atmosphere and the way of writing were fascinating.
I cannot say if I recommend it or not, it surely for people who loves myths.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House

I am 22 years old, so I’m probably just a year or two older than the Swansong’s main character and yet, I do not know ANYONE of this age-bracket in real-life who acts like she does. I mean, yeah, maybe in 1998 or 2008, but in 2018? Young adults are just not like this anymore. Because of this, the story felt undeniably dated. The speed at which society changes seems to have grown exponentially since the millennium and sure, keeping up-to-date and creating a depiction of society that 18-25-year-olds won’t sneer at is difficult, but there’s no avoiding the fact that Kerry Andrew REALLY missed the mark on this one.
The main character, aside from all my quibbles about her age characterisation, was just awful. And sure, I like horrible characters but there’s a BIG difference between ones that you love-to-hate and those where you’re like, get-your-shit-together-because-you’re-pissing-me-off. She spends most of her time plastered, high or a bit of both, and every man in the entire Scottish village can’t help but feel attracted to her, and honestly, she just felt like a Mary Sue for the Myspace Generation.
The issue with that is, with the novel being written in first-person, her personality drives the entire plot forward and it honestly got to the point where I dreaded turning the page because I knew that all I was going to hear was more of her bogged-down self-pity. Because even though she’s supposedly “trying to escape the ravaging guilt of a disturbing incident in London”, she doesn’t seem to feel anything apart from worry about the consequences that will ricochet onto her.
This was only compounded by the writing, which was overly saturated in supposedly-clever metaphors and similes that, most of the time, didn’t make an ounce of sense. Honestly, after a while, even reading a few pages left me feeling exhausted and the entire thing became a slog.

This is a dazzling, must-read, book. Polly is a student and a screw-up, who runs away to a remote part of Scotland after something bad happens. She drinks and smokes too much. The Scottish countryside seems to be alive to her, and the book carries a parallel tale, that only makes sense towards the end of the story.
The writing accurately captures what it is like to not know what you are doing when you are that age and fuelled by too much drink and dope. The book gradually evolves from a tale of her messing up to a strange and very satisfying mystery.

I wasn't gripped by this book, sadly. I can't recommend it for that reason.

Sadly not for me, I thought based on the setting and the premise, that I would enjoy this, but I did not get on with her writing style and the main characters selfishness.

Polly has escaped to the Scottish highlands following a disturbing incident in London. She has failed her second year at University and is caught up in a whirl of drugs and casual sex. In her new environment Polly still looks for the same thrills and finds them quickly but alongside this something more unusual is happening. Poly is haunted by visions of white shapes and a man that she saw on her first evening, a man ripping a bird to pieces.

This is a debut novel and there is a lot to like about the build up of tension and the floating ideas about landscape, myth and reality. However I found Polly a deeply unlikable character from the beginning and therefore was not engaged with her story as much as I wanted to be.

This book was very odd. I found the main character Polly most unlikable and half the time wasn't that interested in what was happening to her. There are strange things happening to Polly that she can't explain - eerie mists and figures, things materialising - and the explanation for this is most unsatisfactory given the general tone of the rest of the novel. Not my sort of book

I really liked Kerry Andrew's writing. It's beautiful, vivid and atmospheric. I almost felt like I was in the beautiful Scottish highlands smelling the fresh air. There are also lots of metaphors and similes. I also liked the story. There's also a touch of paranormal elements.
The main issue I had was Polly was not likable at all and she didn't develop into anything slightly different from what she was alongside the story.
If you don't mind not to like the protagonist in books, then I would recommend it.

One word review: Audacious 

Rambling review: My first impressions of this book were dark and gritty. My first impressions weren’t wrong.

It’s darkly comic and has a Fleabag vibe to it (if you haven’t watched Fleabag yet, then where have you been and please rectify this).

It verges on a ghost story, as the protagonist – Polly - is haunted by the wrongdoings of her past (and of others’). It’s difficult to say too much more without alluding to the plot twists, but the character developments are really interesting. This book isn’t for everyone as it is a difficult protagonist with a challenging love interest, but I loved it. Polly was audacious and norm-defying, with her tongue in her cheek throughout; the narration style was highly immersive, as well.

There are some really on-the-nose descriptive passages which bordered(!) on poetic. My favourites were:

“I slurped at the tea. A noseful of steaming hay, old flowers and sweat” (this made me reach for the kettle, as a tea addict I can vouch for this statement).

“Glorified perfume oil”, referring to Finn’s cocktail creation, a 14 year old’s idea of what grown women drink: Archer’s, lemonade and mango juice. Yum.

And, whilst one adjective can’t qualify as a passage, referring to songs as “lived”. I like that a lot, my grandfather was a prolific local folk singer (from the Surrey and Sussex area, ironically), and those songs were lived (some even have lives of their own).

Because I was reading an ebook proof, I am not entirely sure how much of the punctuation play was intentional? For example, Polly’s name isn’t capitalised in the version I read. Is this because she doesn’t value herself to consider herself a person of importance, or was it just an error?

I was given this e-book copy by Penguin (via NetGalley) but I loved it so much that I will be purchasing a physical copy as well (also because the cover is gorgeous).

P.S. Polly is from Redhill, which is a town over from where I grew up, and the bulk of the novel is based a stone’s throw from where my partner grew up!

Star rating: *****

Year published: 2018

Publishing house: Penguin, Jonathan Cape

Amazon Summary: In this stunningly assured, immersive and vividly atmospheric first novel, a young woman comes face-to-face with the volatile, haunted wilderness of the Scottish Highlands. 

Polly Vaughan is trying to escape the ravaging guilt of a disturbing incident in London by heading north to the Scottish Highlands. As soon as she arrives, this spirited, funny, alert young woman goes looking for drink, drugs and sex – finding them all quickly, and unsatisfactorily, with the barman in the only pub. She also finds a fresh kind of fear, alone in this eerie, myth-drenched landscape. Increasingly prone to visions or visitations – floating white shapes in the waters of the loch or in the woods – she is terrified and fascinated by a man she came across in the forest on her first evening, apparently tearing apart a bird. Who is this strange loner? And what is his sinister secret?

Kerry Andrew is a fresh new voice in British fiction; one that comes from a deep understanding of the folk songs, mythologies and oral traditions of these islands. Her powerful metaphoric language gives Swansong a charged, hallucinatory quality that is unique, uncanny and deeply disquieting.

I only spent a year in Scotland but I fell in love with its rugged charm and haunting nature. Ever since that year I have been looking for more books set in Scotland, especially because I adore its folk takes and culture. So a folk song adaptation set in the Scottish Highlands? Count me in! Swansong looked to be right up my street so of course I had to check it out. Thanks to Jonathan Cape and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Human life, especially our interior, mental life, is incredibly complex and confusing and it is difficult to encompass that in a straightforward narrative. By weaving magic into their stories, authors are able to explain things that otherwise they could not. Swansong does this, bringing metaphors and folktales to the story of a lost young woman. My eye was immediately drawn by Andrew's use of folk song and mythologies as inspirations for her book. Rife with history and culture, these folk songs, despite their age, still ring true in some way, strike a chord that can't be quieted. Just for this I find it worthwhile reading Magical Realism, to find new words to describe my thoughts, new images in which to capture my feelings. Swansong, with its dark and haunting imagery, does just that.

Swansong is quite a complicated read at times. The novel is a mix between a coming-of-age novel, a mystery thriller and magical realism. On the one hand Andrew's novel is grounded in the relatively realistic troubles of young Polly Vaughan whose life is slowly unravelling, but on the other hand Swansong soars above that, mixing the magical with the realist. Polly is not always a likeable character. Actually, most of the time you want to shake her and tell her to pull herself together. But then I remember myself at university, how terrifying it can be to suddenly have to stand on your own two feet, to deal with all the consequences of stupid actions and to push through it all somehow. So although you can't always empathise with Polly, you can understand her. Polly is just as in the dark as the reader, arriving in a completely different environment where things have been brewing under the surface for a while. As she slowly loses herself in the woods the question becomes, who will she be when she emerges?

Part of what intrigued me about Swansong was Kerry Andrew's writing. Initially I struggled getting into the mood of the novel, as Polly's narration is quite choppy. Her thoughts are quick and jumbled, she is panicking and stressing, torn between regretting the past and trying to forget it. Once I got into it, however, it really started working for me. Thanks to the writing you really get into the main character's head and it contrasted beautifully to the more magical and lyrical moments in the novel. One of the best things about this novel are Andrew's beautiful descriptions of the Scottish Highlands. Having been there, Swansong felt a little bit like a return to that landscape. Andrew takes you on a journey through a ravaged young woman's mind and although it isn't always comfortable or understandable, you do end up caring for her. Aside from her story, an ancient 'whodunnit' mystery pops up, adding to Polly's desire for answers and fear of the past. At time it almost feels like too much, but Andrew manages to strike a good balance.

Although I struggled with Swansong at times, something about Andrew's novel gripped me. Andrew allows you to sink away into her landscape and the drama she creates, until it becomes almost too much. I'd recommend it to those who enjoy Magical Realism and Suspense.

Blog Review to follow.

I can see why people will like this book, it is beautifully written and quite intriguing, but I just could not get into it. I did not like the protagonist at all, I cared nothing for her and the dilemmas she was going through. The way she treated others was horrible and I felt an absolute lack of connection with her at all.
However, the way Kerry Andrew writes is beautiful, I almost felt like I could taste and smell the Scottish air, I felt as though I was standing in the beautiful Scottish highlands alongside Polly.
If you can handle hard to love protagonists then I would recommend this book, it is beautifully written, and I am intrigued by the folk tales woven through, however my dislike of Polly was too strong for me to really enjoy this book.

Sexy, sweary, drug and alcohol-fuelled, and very funny, Polly is a heroine for the 21st century. She’s failed the year at university, slept with her housemate’s boyfriend and thinks she and a friend might have accidentally caused the death of a Spanish student. Police are calling for witnesses so, instead of a holiday sunning herself on a beach, she’s staying with her mother in Scotland and trying to catch up on her uni work. The weather is terrible, the people worse and Polly doesn’t think she’ll survive a summer there, in spite of access to drugs and porn.
Then everything gets more complicated: there are strange happenings (real or imaginary or too much weed?) and she gradually becomes more and more involved with a local man. 'Swansong' is a fascinating depiction of one man’s extreme isolation and oddness; the way it brings out more of Polly’s curiosity and determination is what drives the novel. What starts off as a rollercoaster of drink, drugs and endless exploration becomes a tender, heart-breaking love story that is almost unbearably poignant.

The language is brilliantly inventive with similes always taken from Polly’s jaded, urban worldview. When she’s walking on the beach the seaweed makes ‘bubble-wrap pops under my hands’. Or a ‘black and white bird with a long, neon-orange beak flew low making little rape alarm calls.’ Or she describes ‘tons and tons of sky, the clouds all whipped up into a TV chef’s best egg whites and moving fast.’
It’s refreshing in a contemporary novel to read what a protagonist would really see, smell and feel. I was less convinced by the italicised passages in the voice of… is it a girl? is it a bird?, which isn’t revealed until the end; but this is a very satisfying story with a tough, flawed heroine. Although we don’t want Polly to change and settle down, we do want her to be happy and by the end of the novel she’s grown up and learned how to love.

Kerry Andrew, a musician and composer, uses myth, legend and storytelling in this innovative literary debut. The language may not be to everyone’s taste but in Polly we have a tough female protagonist to rival any larger than life male hero.