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The Long Take
The Long Take: A noir narrative | Robin Robertson
59 posts | 30 read | 56 to read
From the award-winning British author--a poet's noir narrative that tells the story of a D-Day veteran in postwar America: a good man, brutalized by war, haunted by violence and apparently doomed to return to it, yet resolved to find kindness again, in the world and in himself. Walker is a D-Day veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder; he can't return home to rural Nova Scotia, and looks instead to the city for freedom, anonymity and repair. As he finds his way from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco, we witness a crucial period of fracture in American history, one that also allowed film noir to flourish. The Dream had gone sour but--as those dark, classic movies made clear--the country needed outsiders to study and to dramatize its new anxieties. Both an outsider and, gradually, an insider, Walker finds work as a journalist, and tries to piece his life together as America is beginning to come apart: riven by social and racial divisions, spiraling corruption, and the collapse of the inner cities. Robin Robertson's fluid verse pans with filmic immediacy across the postwar urban scene--and into the heart of an unforgettable character--in this highly original work of art.
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review
BaBaBaBillyAndTheBooks
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Mehso-so

In The Long Take, U.S. cities have no past. Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco are constantly tearing down their histories. The root of a city‘s evolution here is destruction—whether by bulldozer, by law, by violence, by poverty, or by earthquake. Our lives, too, can age like the faded signs of a storefront. Our redemption lies in destroying our foundations and rebuilding again.

review
erzascarletbookgasm
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Pickpick

3 cities, an ex-soldier. NY to LA & SF, post war America of those cities is seen through the eyes of a WW2 veteran haunted by its past, trying to live in civil society. Powerful imagery of the sordid cities..the isolation & desolation of the homeless, the casualties of war; the evolvement, corruption & brutality of the cities & its people. The flashback of war scenes are vivid. Plenty references to noir films. Beautiful & haunting novel-poem.

batsy Lovely review ❤️ 5y
Leftcoastzen I love this book 5y
BarbaraBB Great review! 5y
83 likes2 stack adds4 comments
blurb
erzascarletbookgasm
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He looked up the ceiling.
Laughed out loud:
‘It‘s like someone shook the map of America
and all the crap that wasn‘t bolted down
ended up here, in Los Angeles.‘

Billy‘s (an ex-soldier) unsparing observation.

(Internet photo of a crowd listening to a presidential address in 1950s).

#currentread

BarbaraBB I enjoyed this one a lot. 5y
Kalalalatja What do you think, so far? ☺️ 5y
erzascarletbookgasm @Kalalalatja it‘s brilliant! But sad. 5y
Kalalalatja Couldn‘t agree more! 5y
55 likes4 comments
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erzascarletbookgasm
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‘People come to Los Angeles for refuge, sanctuary, but what they get is this massed, mechanized population moving in a confined space almost without collision or accident. The sounds, the movement of war: a ballet of battle without the guns.‘

(Internet photo of downtown LA in 1950s)

#currentread

Leftcoastzen I loved this so much! 5y
Cathythoughts Great picture. I never think of LA as a real city ... I should learn more about it 5y
71 likes2 comments
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charl08
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...but nothing about ex-servicemen.

30 likes3 stack adds
review
TrishB
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Pickpick

Mostly a long narrative poem, interspersed with wonderful photographs. Sad, haunting tale.
@Lindy does the best review - I‘ll borrow her statement - ‘jaw dropping word smithery‘ .
Probably won‘t appeal to you if you don‘t like long poems or just poems in general!
Thanks Caroline 😘

Lindy I‘m glad you enjoyed this. I think it will appeal to readers who don‘t usually read poetry, as long as they are fans of literary prose. 6y
TrishB @Lindy true 👍🏻 6y
Caroline2 Glad you liked it Trish! 👍🏻 6y
See All 6 Comments
Cathythoughts Sounds beautiful ♥️♥️ 6y
Kalalalatja One of my faves last year ❤️ 6y
TrishB @Caroline2 @Cathythoughts @Kalalalatja an engrossing read 👍🏻❤️ 6y
115 likes3 stack adds6 comments
review
Lindy
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Pickpick

Verse narrative in shifting timelines tells the story of Walker, Canadian soldier, shell shocked after his experiences in France during WWII, who feels unable to return home to his girlfriend: “Her clean eyes could not see this, what he has become.” Instead, he finds fellowship amid homeless veterans in Los Angeles, a city that is continually being torn down & remade. 40s film noir aesthetic; inhumane violence; jaw-dropping word-smithery.

batsy Lovely review. 6y
Lindy @batsy 😘 6y
Tanisha_A 👌👌👌! 6y
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Lindy
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We love nature because it dies and then comes back to life. A resurrection we can believe in.

MrBook Beautiful! 6y
Lindy @MrBook Thanks! 6y
Tanisha_A Picture and the quote - 😍👌! 6y
batsy Yeah, love this 😊 6y
Lindy @Tanisha_A @batsy Thanks. Scrolling through my photos makes me wish I was back in Banff. Except my brother said it was -34 there yesterday. (It was only -24 in Edmonton.) 6y
53 likes5 comments
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Lindy
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As he lay in bed, he saw that
trying to forget was the same as trying to remember. A lifetime‘s work, and damn near impossible.
He pulled out a smoke,
swallowed what was left in the heel of a bottle.
In Cape Breton there was just the past.
Here in California, they‘re only thinking about the future—
the past is being torn down every day,
so there‘s no past here to remember.
He stubbed out his cigarette, lay back down in the dark.

TrishB I have this on the pile and it seems to be calling me and then I scrolled past your post.. 6y
Lindy @TrishB It‘s powerful. And sad. 6y
TrishB 👍🏻 reading on kindle for a couple of days as got a bit of travelling with work so is on the pile a bit longer. 6y
Lindy @TrishB All the sweeter to come home to. Safe travels. 6y
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Lindy
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It‘s like someone shook the map of America
and all the crap that wasn‘t bolted down
ended up here, in Los Angeles.

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Lindy
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That‘s what they do here—demolish houses and build freeways.
It‘s the only city-planning there is—segregation.
And greed, of course.

(Photo of Angels Flight in Los Angeles)

rather_be_reading wow! 😍 6y
40 likes1 comment
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Lindy
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In the last splinter of sunlight allowed between the skyscrapers
an old lady is sitting with a book,
moving her chair every quarter of an hour
a little further down the alleyway.

(Internet photo. I‘m not suggesting Hayden Panettiere is old.)

Hooked_on_books Disappointing to see her with a cigarette. 6y
Reggie I‘m not disappointed, but more shocked to see the cig. 6y
Lindy @Hooked_on_books @Reggie Your comments had me googling this morning to learn more about Panettiere. That has been quite a rabbit hole! I confess I hadn‘t even heard of her before finding the photo of her reading. 6y
42 likes3 comments
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Lindy
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The German planes came over and the bullets were raking the hull like hail on a tin roof and we took a hit and the boxes in back of the LST broke open, and out came a spill of white wooden crosses. Grim laughs about that from the boys: how the top brass planned for everything.

(Internet photo)

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Lindy
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Always closer to the exit than the altar, or so my mother said. And now I have cast myself out: into the wilderness, into this city and its rapids. What enormous energy it takes, to fling yourself out of the nest.

tpixie 💙💙💙💙💙 6y
gradcat Ooh, pretty! 😍 6y
gradcat And plus, how very true you words are...very much so for me, at least! 6y
See All 7 Comments
Lindy @tpixie @gradcat Thanks. I took this photo in my garden last summer. One unhatched egg left after the fledglings had left the nest. 6y
tpixie @Lindy great photo! And how fun in your garden!! ( poor little bird/egg). 6y
Bibliogeekery Beautiful! 6y
Tanisha_A 😍 6y
47 likes2 stack adds7 comments
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Tonton
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Always such a thrill to get a package sent via Royal Mail! Love Book Depository, and so anticipating a leisurely deep read of this.

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TrishB
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Thank you Caroline for the lovely gifts and books ❤️🎁 I LOVE them all, the socks 🧦 are awesome!! And indulging my thing for leather bookmarks!
Have a wonderful Christmas 🎄 here‘s to another year of pen-pals 😁

JSW The socks!!!! 6y
TrishB @JSW they‘re awesome aren‘t they 😁 6y
Caroline2 Whey, I‘m so glad you like it all! 😃Merry Christmas!! 🎄⛄️🧀😘 6y
See All 8 Comments
TrishB @Caroline2 and you 😘 hope you and the family have a lovely time. 6y
LeahBergen That bookmark! 😍 6y
TrishB @LeahBergen ❤️ it‘s amazing too! 6y
tracey38 Love the Dobby socks! 6y
TrishB @tracey38 they‘re very cool 💕 6y
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review
Leftcoastzen
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Pickpick

Wow.Walker makes it through WWII, going back to his small Canadian home town seems impossible.He struggles with PTSD,roams from New York , to LA & San Francisco,horrified by McCarthy witch hunts & haunted by skid row vets not cared for .The author did an incredible job researching places in each city,I knew of most, above postcards of Angels flight & 1 of the Clifton cafeterias ,LA. & Card from SF Chinatown bar Li Po,still in business today.

andrew61 One of my highlights of the year 👍 6y
Leftcoastzen @andrew61 The same for me, so atmospheric,I felt immersed in Walkers world. 6y
37 likes2 comments
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Kalalalatja
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Walker feels #screwed - screwed by a country that sends its young men off to war, that doesn‘t take care of its weak and wounded, that cares more about its politics than its people.

#NoFemmeber

Cinfhen I started this one last week but it wasn‘t clicking for me, so I put it aside. Will try again (edited) 6y
Kalalalatja @Cinfhen it took the right kind of mood, and some pages, before I got into the style. It does take some getting used to 6y
Moray_Reads That book looks weirdly huge...I loved it. 6y
Billypar Sounds like a sad story, but one that is all too common 😔 6y
68 likes4 comments
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Redheadrambles
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#octoberwrapup

A big month for me - admittedly I snuck Snap in on the 1st of Nov but that finally allowed me to sign off on my #manbooker2018 reading! That was a long and somewhat painful project:) Slowly chipping away on #Readharder2018 with 5 books to go and two months to do it in.
Stand Out Reads - The Long Take and Milkman ( mainly because I thought I would hate both ...)

Emilymdxn Great selection! I agree that long take and milkman were breathtakingly good! 6y
ClairesReads Awesome month for you. Would you believe that I ordered The Great Believers on the 16th and it only dispatched today! I‘m looking forward to catch up with you about that, and Crazy Rich Asians soon! 6y
27 likes2 comments
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GuiltyFeat
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Pickpick

Read it this morning in one go. The first of this year‘s Booker shortlist for me. Reminded me of James Elroy in its noir descriptions of 1940s LA... with extra poetry. Unusual, but successful, it‘s dark and it‘s about PTSD post WWII. But it‘s also about creeping fascism and the horror of McCarthyism and it felt urgent and contemporary without laying it on too thick.

Let me know if you want to borrow it @Cinfhen

Cinfhen I absolutely do!!! Thank you for the offer 😍and I like your lovely model. I‘m glad you enjoyed this book, as I recall you were not looking forward too much. 6y
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Moray_Reads
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1. Visit to the lovely Golden Hare Books in Stockbridge
2. Trying to deal with the frustration of work colleagues ignoring telephone calls and emails 😠
3. The brilliant The Long Take
4. A pot of tea
5. There's not much I don't like!
@MinDea #humpdaypost

review
Moray_Reads
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Pickpick

I should have known that the one book on the Booker shortlist (so far) that had truly moved me is also nominated for the Goldsmiths prize. Robertson's quietly, inescapably devastating poem needles the consequences of WW2, seen the through the eyes of Walker, a Canadian D-Day veteran equally haunted by visions of war and home. His experience in New York, San Francisco and Chicago reveal a world with no place for those who fought ⬇️ #goldsmithsprize

Moray_Reads Post-War America is re-evaluating it's social fringes, pushing more people into them and ruthlessly expunging the politically and socially unacceptable. It's a bleak, gritty story full of the grim glitter of the noir films it mentions. The atmosphere grows increasingly oppressive, brilliantly shot with lyrical passages on Walker's rural home. It paints a bleak picture, unsettling in its familiarity, the laying of roots we sadly see flowering today 6y
Cathythoughts Great review.. on my TBR & now I want to read it more than ever 👍🏻❤️ 6y
Moray_Reads @Cathythoughts it's astonishingly good, even more impressive considering that it's better rather than straight prose 6y
See All 20 Comments
saresmoore Wow, brilliant review. 6y
TrishB Makes me want to read it 👍🏻 6y
JaclynW Nice review! I am curious. 6y
batsy Oh, you do make it sound so good. 💜 What @Cathythoughts said! Hope I can get to it sooner rather than later 6y
Simona Good book with a very complementary review! 6y
BarbaraBB Beautiful review. My favorite this year. 6y
Moray_Reads @BarbaraBB @simona @batsy @saresmoore @jaclynw @TrishB I think it's fantastic. It's beautifully written, form-defying, ambitious and meaningful. And it also reminds me that the Goldsmiths shortlist is out and I find it far more challenging and reliable than the Booker 6y
BarbaraBB I have to check out that list, I don‘t know it! 6y
Moray_Reads @BarbaraBB it focuses on experimental writing so there's lots of originality form-wise. I love it 6y
andrew61 It is a brilliant book. This form is one i really enjoyed, i will have a look at goldsmiths prize now. 6y
Moray_Reads @andrew61 if you like this sort of experimentation Goldsmiths is for you. Lincoln in the Bardo won last year and Solar Bones the years before, both of which I loved 6y
andrew61 @Moray_Reads i also loved solar bones but have yet to try Lincoln.... But will do soon- Have you tried it is the only other poem novel ive read (save Eugene onegin this year) 6y
Moray_Reads @andrew61 I haven't but I'll be adding it to my list! I love Onegin and Paradise Lost is a personal favourite 6y
andrew61 @Moray_Reads Thanks i will try and find it ☺ 6y
JaclynW @Moray_Reads I've never heard of that list either. I will check it out. Thanks! 6y
batsy The Goldsmiths list always looks hella exciting compared to the Booker. Just saw that this year it includes a book that didn't make the Booker shortlist (Guy Gunaratne). I'm looking forward to that one too, it's got some lovely reviews. 6y
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review
Kalalalatja
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Pickpick

In this poem/novel Robertson shows that just because we win a war, it doesn‘t mean we live like victors. Through the observations and experiences, trauma and struggles of Walker, a D-Day vet, Robertson paints a picture of a “glorious” America, with all its cracks showing and growing larger and larger.

I wouldn‘t mind if this wins the #ManBooker prize, because it is a powerful epic that still feels relevant in spite of it being set 70 years ago

Cinfhen Great review!! Hope to get to it this year 💋nice choice 6y
Kalalalatja @Cinfhen once you get into the verse/poetic writing, it is a really powerful and moving story 👌 6y
BarbaraBB Excellent review. I hope it‘ll be the winner. 6y
Kalalalatja @BarbaraBB me too! This was the last of the shortlisted books I needed to read, and it is a clear fave imo! 6y
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Kalalalatja
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Saturday morning reading in bed 👌

I‘m home alone until tomorrow afternoon, and I plan on reading all day, and maybe a bit into the night as well 📖

#currentlyreading

Rissreads Bliss! 6y
BarbaraBB Lucky you! 💕 6y
JennyM Enjoy lovely xx 6y
Pamwurtzler Have fun! 6y
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review
Redheadrambles
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️

A stunning bit of work and especially so as it is a kind of narrative poem and that is not normally my jam. This book is so many things - a primer on late 1940s early 50s noir film and a beautiful evocation of cities in a state of flux. It‘s about one man‘s descent into post war despair. It is melancholy and achingly sad with a great line in describing shadows.
I would be happy to see this one take out the Man Booker.

Abailliekaras Now I feel like I have to read it! 6y
Redwritinghood So glad you liked it! This is one of my favorites from the list. 6y
BarbaraBB Yay! Completely agree. All the love for this one ❤️. @Abailliekaras You must 😀! (edited) 6y
ClairesReads @Abailliekaras absolutely! It‘s wonderful! 6y
21 likes5 comments
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Kalalalatja
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#bookmail 👏👏👏 I‘m so excited for both of these, and I‘m pretty sure the tagged book will be my next read once I finish Les Mis. I also got the books for #MyFavoritePoetSwap and will be sending my package out next week 👍

@Cinfhen I‘m all set for the #HELLoween party 👻

erzascarletbookgasm I‘ve heard much good things about the tagged book 🙂👍 6y
Cinfhen Yes @erzascarletbookgasm I‘ve also seen great reviews on that #ManBookerShortList (edited) 6y
BarbaraBB I so hope you‘ll love The Long Take 🤞 6y
Kalalalatja @erzascarletbookgasm @Cinfhen me too, especially @BarbaraBB ‘s review made me really excited! 👌 6y
Cinfhen It‘s not even available in the US until November so I may have to pick up a UK edition 6y
83 likes5 comments
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AnneCecilie
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Books read in September. I just managed to do a #BookAWeek, so I‘m happy about that.

I‘m happy about reading 4 books while at the same time reading Les Miserables. This book will show up on my statistics for October.

Kalalalatja 👏👏👏 6y
47 likes1 comment
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ClairesReads
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September was another weird reading month for me. It was slow and arduous and much of my reading was distracted. That being said, I read two books from the Man Booker Longlist, both of which I enjoyed, got back on the #readharder2018 buzz which I‘ve neglected recently, and read an interesting crime novel. It wasn‘t all together bad, but I‘m heading into October hoping to get back in the zone.

ClairesReads Tagged title of course, the standout read of the month. 6y
BarbaraBB I agree on that one 💕 6y
Redheadrambles Cool Claire - I just about to start The Long Take tonight and I need to get that crime novel back from my mother in law ! 6y
See All 7 Comments
ClairesReads @Redheadrambles yay- I hope you enjoy them both- especially The Long Take- you deserve a good reading run! 6y
Susannah I love how the design of your La Brea Tar Pits mug is a variation on the California state flag! What is the animal? I can't quite tell. 6y
ClairesReads @Susannah it‘s a Sabre toothed big cat! It‘s a neat mug hey? 6y
Susannah Yes! Very neat. I really like it. (edited) 6y
36 likes1 stack add7 comments
review
AnneCecilie
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Pickpick

This novel/ prose poetry is about Walker, a former D-day veteran. He has escaped to the big America cities after the war, NYC, LA and San Fran. Even if Walker moves around the focus is the same: the treatment of veterans, the demolition of the inner city, society‘s focus on making money.

There is a lot of references to movies and Walker stumbling of film sets, and I loved those parts.

This is my 3rd book finished for #BookAWeekChallenge

AnneCecilie This is also my first book read from this year‘s Man Booker list 6y
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AnneCecilie
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Isn‘t this what we all want to do? Discover favorites in an others book shelf

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AnneCecilie
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Ready to start my first book from this year‘s Man Booker list.

This will also be my third book for the #BookAWeekChallenge

TheNeverendingTBR Sounds good! 🙂 6y
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ClairesReads
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Pickpick

The Long Take is so deserving of its place on the 2018 Man Booker Shortlist.
This book is about many things: post-war America, the veteran experience, isolation, poverty, and most interestingly to me, the life of cities. It was the analysis of the cities which spoke to me most. This is a story about how crumbling and failure. But in spite of this, in the end I was reminded that it is in being broken and failing the we truly know ourselves.

mklong Lovely review! I‘m so glad you liked it. 6y
Redwritinghood Great review! 6y
ClairesReads @Redwritinghood thanks Jerrie! 6y
See All 6 Comments
ClairesReads @mklong thanks Katie- it really was wonderful 6y
Redheadrambles Ahhh your so right this is so good Claire. It‘s moving right to the top of my Booker list I think. I love as well as you say in your review it‘s very much a story about cities 6y
ClairesReads @Redheadrambles Yass! So glad you‘re enjoying it! I‘d hate for this to have been a divergence of our tastes. So much city love. 6y
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ClairesReads
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Cities, my love.

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ClairesReads
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The meditations on the lives of cities are 🔥

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ClairesReads
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❤️ 🌊

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BarbaraBB
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The Man Booker shortlist. Disappointing.... two I read and liked, two I didn‘t like and two I didn‘t read yet and that don‘t appeal to me at all.

However my favorite is among them and I really hope it will win this year‘s #ManBooker2018 price!

Leftcoastzen Which was your favorite? (edited) 6y
2BR02B At least Snap was weeded out. 6y
Cinfhen Spill more.... 6y
See All 21 Comments
Bklover Favorite?!!? 6y
BarbaraBB @Leftcoastzen @Cinfhen @Bklover The tagged one, The Long Take. Yours? 6y
BarbaraBB @2BR02B I did like Snap, although I didn‘t think it fit for the Man Booker! 6y
Cinfhen I only read Mars Room and didn‘t like it much & I bailed on 6y
BarbaraBB @Cinfhen I didn‘t like it either. I think you‘d like The Long Take too! 6y
BookwormM I managed to predict 4 out of 6 and personally I think these are strongest of the list 6y
Leftcoastzen I ordered the Long Take because it‘s not out in the states till January.I loved The Overstory but I am exceptionally fond of the author and trees !Now I have that brick of a Knausgaard , bookish problems!😝😄 6y
Leftcoastzen Have not started The Long Take , reading too many at once. 6y
Bklover Thanks! I‘m going to have to get The Long Take! 6y
BarbaraBB @Leftcoastzen I‘d stick with the Knausgaard 💕 6y
Leftcoastzen Heavenly 6y
BarbaraBB @Bklover It is quite special! 6y
BarbaraBB @BookwormM I agree that The Overstory and The Mars Room deserve their place on the shortlist but personally I didn‘t enjoy them. What is your favorite for the Price? (edited) 6y
Redheadrambles Well I know we disagree here but I loved The Mars Room and am very happy to see it here. Less so almost everything else on that list but especially Washington Black. I haven‘t read The Long Take yet but suspect it might be a favourite as well. Sad for Mad and Furious / From a Low and quiet Sea and also Warlight - so all the men :) 6y
BarbaraBB @Redheadrambles I was so sure about Mad & Furious... I‘m also sad for Normal People. Washington Black I haven‘t read yet, partly due to your review :) 6y
emilyhaldi Very interesting... I would love to get through some of these. I read Mars Room and I did like it but am surprised it made the short list. And I loved Warlight 🖤 6y
Kalalalatja I‘m bummed Milkman is on it, tbh. But I still need to read three of them, and I‘m thinking Long Take might end up being a fave for me. 6y
Redheadrambles @Barbarab ah ! But I could be wrong - I just am not the ideal historical fiction reader 6y
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review
andrew61
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Pickpick

Told in 200 pgs of poetry we follow Walker a ww2 veteran over 12 yrs as he moves between NY, LA, + san fr, whilst working as a journalist + reporting the homelessness of fellow vets. The writing is stunning, as he poetically describes the city, its people, and the horror of war. It is the loneliness of a man haunted by things he has seen and done, & his lost life in Canada which dominates this incredible bk and i will definitely buy it to reread

BarbaraBB Such an impressive book. 6y
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ClairesReads
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When the realities of 1948 ring true

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ClairesReads
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This is so astute

mklong Oh I loved that last line. So much love and repressed emotion in one simple line. 6y
ClairesReads @mklong yes Katie! It says so much, although literally, is says so little. 6y
24 likes2 comments
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ClairesReads
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Already stunning p.9

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andrew61
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After Eugene onegin i wasn't sure if i wanted to read another novel in poetic format but this is so good. So far each stanza is evocative of place and memory.
So my third read from the booker longlist is going well.

Leftcoastzen It looks so interesting, I ordered it from Book depository but making myself finish something first. 6y
andrew61 @Leftcoastzen i know the feeling, i have so many books at the moment ready to read but not sure what to start next - but so far this one is very good and it is a lovely physical book - i think i will need to reread at mo and as it's a library copy might be one I'd like to own. 6y
Leftcoastzen Love the cover ! It‘s not going to be published in the U.S. till January, can‘t wait that long!😁 6y
Leftcoastzen What were the other long list titles you read? 6y
andrew61 @Leftcoastzen 'everything under' and 'from a low and quiet sea' - i liked them both. 6y
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ClairesReads
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Long list reading to break up the exam grading

BarbaraBB I hope you‘ll love it. It‘s my favourite! 6y
ClairesReads @BarbaraBB I‘m finding it beautiful so far! 6y
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review
JenP
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Pickpick

I thought I‘d hate it but I loved it. Beautifully writing, dazzlingly original, and haunting. A dark book but one worth reading. One of my favorites so far #manbooker2018

Our full reviews are here: https://thereadersroom.org/2018/09/13/2018-man-booker-longlist-the-long-take/

BarbaraBB Yay, we‘re in sync again 😀 6y
JenP Yay! @BarbaraBB (edited) 6y
Emilymdxn I felt exactly the same!! I wasn‘t convinced from the blurb but from page 2 I was in love! 6y
BarbaraBB Hi Jen! You‘re okay? Just checking😘 6y
JenP @BarbaraBB yes. Got a new phone and had problems with my account. I thought i had lost my Litsy account. Eek. I‘m good though and better now I figured it out 6y
67 likes3 stack adds5 comments
review
JenP
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Pickpick

I thought I‘d hate it but I loved it. Beautifully writing, dazzlingly original, and haunting. A dark book but one worth reading. One of my favorites so far #manbokker2018

Our full reviews are here: https://thereadersroom.org/2018/09/13/2018-man-booker-longlist-the-long-take/

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AnneCecilie
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These books arrived in the mail last week.

The top two are long listed for the Man Booker Prize and I‘ve seen some great reviews for these.

Unni Lindell is my favorite crime writer, and I‘m really looking forward to her latest

I‘ve an other book order coming in this week, hopefully

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Emilymdxn
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Pickpick

10/13 for #manbookerlonglist #manbooker2018

I didn‘t know how much I‘d like this one but I absolutely adored it, a clear favourite for me alongside The Overstory and Milkman. The form never felt weird or tiring, the character was so subtle and believable. The discussion of the war was affective but never too in your face or overpowering, it didn‘t disrupt the serene melancholy mood. The cities were flawlessly drawn, felt like dream landscapes.

Simona Look at that! We have the same three favorites❣️ 6y
Emilymdxn @Simona amazing ☺️☺️ I still need to read normal people, Sabrina and in our mad and furious city but I think it‘d be hard to outdo those three! 6y
Simona Normal People was good, but not at the same level as these three. 6y
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Emilymdxn
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Building and demolition seem to happen here within the span of a human life - so citizens can either watch their own mortal decline, or see themselves outliving their cities.

This is why I miss the island. Nature. We love nature because it dies, and then comes back to life. A resurrection we can believe in.

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Emilymdxn
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Thank you so much for everyone‘s good wishes for the interview!! I think I did well, despite being nervous, and I really really want the job so fingers crossed! I did dribble some water down myself cause I was so nervous I forgot to swallow but don‘t think they noticed 😭

Taking myself out to lunch to celebrate surviving. Never been to a restaurant on my own before but feels good and self-care-y to try!

JoScho Yay you! Fingers crossed. Keep us posted ❤️ 6y
Bklover Good for you!!! Fingers crossed for you as well!❤️ 6y
Kalalalatja Hope you get it! 🤞👏 6y
Emilymdxn @JoScho @Bklover @Kalalalatja thanks guys!! Love you all 6y
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Emilymdxn
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On to number 10/14 for #manbookerlonglist #manbooker2018

I‘ve only seen brilliant reviews for this one! So excited. Only read a page so far as I must go to bed but I‘ve got high hopes. I‘ve also got high hopes for managing to get through the longlist before the shortlist comes out, which I should be able to do if I can get my hands on normal people soon.

BarbaraBB This is my favorite so far! I‘ve read 9/13 and am now starting Warlight. 6y
Emilymdxn @BarbaraBB I‘m loving it so far but not sure how anything could beat the Overstory for me! 6y
BarbaraBB That was an easy win for me 😉😘 6y
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