Wish You Were Here

by Graham Swift

Saturday, July 30, 2011

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I loved this - very possibly the best book I’ve read this year.

All the reviews I’ve seen seem to concentrate on it being a story based around the return home of the body of a soldier from Iraq. However I don’t think that’s really the centre of the story. It’s certainly a story with a lot to do with death, dying and legacies left behind, but the return of a soldier is only one part of it and not to my mind the most important part. He’s just part of the story of the end of a Devon farming family.

It’s a really deep read giving you plenty to think about and although there were a couple of places where I thought it went rather off track - possibly to prevent it from being too dark a read - it was still the most interesting book I’ve read in ages. I was rather surprised to find it’s not on this year Booker Prize longlist, so I’m hoping there are some really *really* good books on the list!