Swimming in the Dark

Swimming in the Dark is a beautifully written novel about trying to find love, and a place in society, as a closeted gay young man in Communist era Poland. Written effectively as a long form letter directly to an old lover back in Poland, you are immersed in the narrator’s journey, his secret desires, his frustrations and desire to escape. I’m a sucker for a novel that explores the discovery of sexual identity (see Call Me By Your Name or Lie With Me), and for stories set on the cusp of a failed soviet era state (The Last Hundred Days) and Swimming in the Dark combines these themes with devastating effect. James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room is a recurring theme, with comparisons to events there in the lives of the narrator and his lover. This worked for me having read the novel recently, but it strikes me that something would be lost if you weren’t familiar with the novel (in which case go and read it!).
This is Jedrowski’s first novel and arguably this shows in the somewhat florid similes, but i could feel the pent up desire in the narrator in their use, so on balance this is excusable (intentional?).. It’’s a wonderful debut - 4 1/2 stars more than 5 perhaps - there’s potential for a stunning second novel.

Love in a bleak climate.

Set in 1970s-80s Poland, student Ludwik meets beautiful Janusz at agricultural camp. Over an idyllic summer they swim and fall in love. When summer is over, they return to a Warsaw riven by social unrest, political repression and exorbitant food prices. Ludwik demonstrates against the regime while Janusz seeks security within the ruling elite. As the crisis builds, their opposing political allegiances pull them apart.

Jedrowski brings alive the animal fear of living in an intolerant, corrupt and violent regime. He draws stark disparity between the haves and the have-nots. He skilfully balances the general with the personal. Ludwik has emotional depth and self-awareness. We feel his passion, jealousy, and moral dilemmas.

At times, the imagery is a little conspicuous.

Compelling and heartrending.

My thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the ARC.

TOMASZ JEDROWSKI – SWIMMING IN THE DARK

I read this novel in advance of publication through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

What a fascinating and thought-provoking read this is. Though born in Germany, the author is of Polish descent and divides his time between Poland and England, where he studied at Cambridge. This debut novel is a towering achievement. Not only is it the story of a forbidden romance between two young men but it is set at a time, the eighties, when Poland was undergoing massive political upheaval.

For me it was this background, of which I knew little other than from newspaper headlines, which I found so engrossing. His writing is evocative, whether of the ugly Soviet bloc housing, the countryside where farmers still used horses and carts for transport, the daily queues for essential food, or a system where a bad word about the regime can lose you your home and job. A society where who you know, rather than what you know, will get you the medicine you so desperately need or admittance to a university.

The author uses the main protagonists’ opposite viewpoints to explore the party’s supposed utopia versus the increasing frustration with reality. At times it is difficult to remember that this is set in the eighties, and not at the turn of the last century.

As I say, I found this an absorbing and fascinating book, full of descriptive writing and emotional punch and realistic characters. I can more than understand the bidding war between publishers to obtain the rights to publication.

I thoroughly enjoyed Swimming In The Dark. It tells the story of Ludwik Glowacki, a young man falling in love and coming to terms with his sexuality against the backdrop of 1980s soviet era Poland. He meets Janusz at an agricultural camp and the pair enjoy an idyllic summer romance before having to face the harsh realities of life back in Warsaw.

Tomasz Jedrowski's story surprised me in the best possible way by becoming not just an endearing gay coming of age story but also an insightful and informative account of the social and political climate in Warsaw during the era.

The contrast between Ludwik and Janusz's seemingly carefree existence at the beginning of the story and the pressures they subsequently face back in the city serves to truly emphasise the powerful and destructive nature of the soviet regime.

It is ultimately heartbreaking to read how the toxic political situation seeps into the cracks between Ludwik and Janusz, changing their behaviour and driving them apart.

Jedrowski's decision to write the book in the first person as Ludwik was incredibly effective in transporting me back in time and place in order to feel some sense of the situation he was in.

Swimming In The Dark is a story that will stay with me and has also driven me to learn more about the era and its impact on LGBT people. Highly recommend.