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This was a gorgeous book. Jedrowski manages to invoke the aura of Giovanni‘s Room without being tedious or derivative. The writing is incredibly sensitive to the complexity of the characters‘ relationships, and is full of poignant descriptions of the MC‘s internal life. The author chose to write in English, not his first language, because it allowed him to channel his own voice and not feel like his parents were speaking through him. ⬇️

Set in socialist Poland in the height of uncertainty and political strife, this is a gay romance which is very tender & beautifully written. It explores themes of youth, love, choices, social climbing, and living an authentic life under totalitarian regimes. The language is stunning and visually evocative. A gem.

“I thought of the photographer and his courage, imagining how the photo had made it out of the country: a roll of film smuggled into West Germany… Anonymous figures trapped on the wrong side of history, compressed and rolled up inside a stranger‘s pocket. No matter what happens in the world, however brutal or dystopian a thing, not all is lost if there are people out there risking themselves to document it. Little sparks cause fires too.”

Polish!!

I am pulling together my 2023 favorites and just realized that 2 of the 10 are Polish. This is a total shock I have never searched out Polish books.

So I guess give me your favorite modern Polish authors!
I have read or own all of Tokarczuk's books. And as far as I can tell this is the only English language book by Jedrowski.

#FavBook2024 I read 195 books this year Swimming In The Dark made my top 10.

A boy grapples with being gay in 1980's Poland, but it is so much more

I had this idea to do mood boards for my top favorite books read in 2024.

I am still new at this, but it was so good to think about the elements and the feeling of the books and come up with something. Hoping my boards get better as time goes by because this doesn't do this gorgeous book justice.

Utterly gorgeous and heartbreaking. Perfect for sad girl summer.
*LGBTQIA
*1980s Communist Poland
*Giovanni's Room influence

I absolutely loved this book. The writing is exquisite, and the heavy Baldwin influence is perfect for the vibe and era this is set in.

I am also a bit swooning over Jedrowski who is gorgeous, speaks 5 languages and writes like a dream. I will be watching for his next book.

"I avoided you, so that you couldn't avoid me. I didn't want to be in the field of your power."

Gorgeous lines.
This is a library book, and someone has underlined these lines, I always find interesting what people choose to focus on. It is so far the only annotation made.

#weeklyforecast I started the tagged and absolutely love it, but they keep talking about Giovanni's Room and I had this pulled as a 2023 reread so think I will read that first and then read Swimming. Heatstopper season 2 is out on Netflix in the US this week! So excited and am going to reread the book - though I think season 1 went about half into book 2.
So close to finishing Amber and think I can do it by end of month for #bookedintime

Couldn‘t have chosen a betterbook toread when recovering from covid and feeling grottyThe 80s is such a short time ago and we all forget sometimes how much in Europe and the world(thankfully)has changed,so when we feel the world is going to poo right now remember what was happening in the 80s it wasn‘t all royal weddings streetparties and great music. People were
Living under communism,the party
Homosexuality was illegal,love is love inmy opinion.

What a wonderful book , I‘m finding the history and information about Poland in the ‘80s under soviet rule fascinating I didn‘t know that even only in the 80s the “party” turned on their Jewish citizens and drove them out ! And yes it‘s Nearly 11am on a coronation bank holiday day off and I‘m still in my pjs - my excuse is I am recovering ❤️‍🩹 from covid , again !! But must admit I‘m enjoying being lazy 🥰😆

Poignant and compelling, I read it in a day. There were a lot of references and parallels to Giovanni‘s Room so I am curious if it might be tedious for someone who hasn‘t read it first?

Wow. The writing is perfect (clean and simple yet packed with meaning), the characters wonderfully developed, and this short little book had me hooked. The descriptions of the landscape and the journey of the main character Ludwik were so vivid.

A fantastic book. Bittersweet. Told in first-person, stream-of-consciousness; sometimes you think the narrator is getting off topic, but then ties it all back in. And now I want pierogi. 🥟

#lgbt
#GirlsOnTheLanai book club

Such a lovely story. Highly recommended!

Very, very good novel about forbidden love, and the struggle to acknowledge and accept one‘s own identity. The claustrophobic background of communist Poland really serves this novel well, as an element of plot, but also a setting which actively builds uncertainty, isolation, and fear throughout this novel. Beyond the odd patch of what felt to this reader like overwriting, this is an exceptionally accomplished debut.

In the genre of sad gay Bildungsroman, this definitely is among the absolute best. Highly recommend

I don't want this novel to end! No! Finally, I found a book that easily lands on my top reads of all time. Wow! Swimming in the Dark is so poignant that I find myself gasping for breath reading through a beautiful combination of sparse and blisteringly brilliant prose. There were moments that I literally halted reading a fantastic line and thought, "How did he even end up conjoining those words?" This is Tomasz ?

Didn‘t love this one as much as I had thought I would, but it was a good read nevertheless. It‘s a coming of age novel about Ludwik, who is trying to figure out what he wants to do after graduating college in communist Poland. Being gay is still a crime during this time, and Ludwik had to hide his relationship with his lover or fear imprisonments. The writing was great in parts but in others fell a little flat for me. Overall a good book though.

Dropping today! https://lithub.com/20-new-books-publishing-today-for-your-tbr-pile/

This was a love story set in a different place and time, so different from the world that I know today. The world described in this book is so much more unaccepting than what I am used to. This love story also had a history lesson built in. I learned about Poland‘s struggle to become an independent nation. I found this part of the story very interesting. Thanks Goodreads for the ARC.