The Girl in a Swing
by Richard Adams
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Description
Alan Desland, who feels himself to be an ordinary and unremarkable man, falls passionately in love with the beautiful but mysterious German stenographer, Karin, who is sent to assist him during a business trip to Denmark. To his astounded joy, she returns his love - but their courtship and marriage will shake his life to its very foundations and test him to the limits of sanity.Tags
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saltmanz These are two drastically different books, and yet oddly they share so many little details.
Member Reviews
By the title you’d think this was written recently what with Girl this and the Girl that in just about every book title these days. Nope, it came out in 1980 and is one of those books that makes you wonder if you missed something along the way. So much is left up to the reader to decipher and interpret that I actually questioned my reading comprehension at the end. Never fear, it’s deliberate. Nothing is said plainly, plenty is hinted at. Obliquely. And before you decide that it’s authorial laziness I’m here to disagree. I’ve read Watership Down a couple of times and judging by that more famous work I know that Adams can convey nebulous ideas and render unusual scenes in great detail.
That said it’s an interesting book and in show more many ways very English. The landscape and towns, the habits and tea, the attitudes and obsession with the forbidden. It’s very, very sensual. I’d even go so far as to say erotic in spots. The way the women tut-tut over sex on the beach makes me stand up for Kathe in a way I didn’t through most of the story. If those women only knew the desire and fulfillment that she knew, but they couldn’t. Couldn’t even approach it on their most hedonistic day.
Any reader worth her salt will be suspicious of Kathe immediately. She inserts herself into Alan’s life swiftly and surely. He’s so damn helpless that it’s no wonder (can’t cook, can’t type, can barely use a phone) and sex is such an unknown so when she introduces him to it, he falls into it headlong, losing himself, reason and caution. She brings evasion to an art form, dodging questions and changing the subject. But over time her actions and reactions speak of a past full of upheaval and death. She is fascinated by religion, afraid of children and the dark. She’s too much a product of wish-fulfillment to be believable; she’s a sex machine, has to be cared for and coddled thus making Adam feel more alpha-male, wants to learn at the feet of her man, etc. The capper for unbelievably is when Adams has her say to Alan “And then you came round the corner like a sort of human goat and just raped me - it was sheer heaven, even by our standards…”). Um, I don’t think that word means what you think it means.
It’s a very dream-like novel even with gaffes like that. A reader who needs concrete information and everything spelled out for them won’t like this. You have to have imagination and intuition. Alan himself is baffled much of the time so he’s no help, you’ll have to figure it out and go with your instinct. Some say there’s too much information about ceramics and porcelain, but I didn’t find it so. show less
That said it’s an interesting book and in show more many ways very English. The landscape and towns, the habits and tea, the attitudes and obsession with the forbidden. It’s very, very sensual. I’d even go so far as to say erotic in spots. The way the women tut-tut over sex on the beach makes me stand up for Kathe in a way I didn’t through most of the story. If those women only knew the desire and fulfillment that she knew, but they couldn’t. Couldn’t even approach it on their most hedonistic day.
Any reader worth her salt will be suspicious of Kathe immediately. She inserts herself into Alan’s life swiftly and surely. He’s so damn helpless that it’s no wonder (can’t cook, can’t type, can barely use a phone) and sex is such an unknown so when she introduces him to it, he falls into it headlong, losing himself, reason and caution. She brings evasion to an art form, dodging questions and changing the subject. But over time her actions and reactions speak of a past full of upheaval and death. She is fascinated by religion, afraid of children and the dark. She’s too much a product of wish-fulfillment to be believable; she’s a sex machine, has to be cared for and coddled thus making Adam feel more alpha-male, wants to learn at the feet of her man, etc. The capper for unbelievably is when Adams has her say to Alan “And then you came round the corner like a sort of human goat and just raped me - it was sheer heaven, even by our standards…”). Um, I don’t think that word means what you think it means.
It’s a very dream-like novel even with gaffes like that. A reader who needs concrete information and everything spelled out for them won’t like this. You have to have imagination and intuition. Alan himself is baffled much of the time so he’s no help, you’ll have to figure it out and go with your instinct. Some say there’s too much information about ceramics and porcelain, but I didn’t find it so. show less
This was quite a surprise, especially since I've read Watership Down and this is nothing like that one. I believe you can see the latter as a horror book of sorts; even if the horror is felt within a community of rabbits, it's nonetheless frightening. I've alway looked at the bunny story as like Orwell's Animal Farm.
Anyway, [The Girl in a Swing] is much more obviously a ghost story, and a supernatural story, very gothic in nature, and slow to the point of terror. There is a lot of classical illusions, most of which were lost on me. What wasn't lost on me is the very lengthy and carefully crafted narrative of Alan Desland's life. His life is upended when he meets and quickly falls in love with a German girl in Copenhagen. Alan sees her, show more and Adams purposely writes her, as the perfect woman. But then he tosses in, like a grenade, these events around the woman that make your teeth itch - something is definitely wrong with her. Without giving away the ending, what's interesting to me is that the main character struggles with his responsibility for the final results without ever realizing he is absolutely responsible, based on an offhanded remark to the woman early in the book - but he never is able to see through his glorification of the woman to see what he did.
4 1/2 bones!!!!!
Highly recommended, but forewarned, it's not hit you over the head horror, it's long-building and subtle. show less
Anyway, [The Girl in a Swing] is much more obviously a ghost story, and a supernatural story, very gothic in nature, and slow to the point of terror. There is a lot of classical illusions, most of which were lost on me. What wasn't lost on me is the very lengthy and carefully crafted narrative of Alan Desland's life. His life is upended when he meets and quickly falls in love with a German girl in Copenhagen. Alan sees her, show more and Adams purposely writes her, as the perfect woman. But then he tosses in, like a grenade, these events around the woman that make your teeth itch - something is definitely wrong with her. Without giving away the ending, what's interesting to me is that the main character struggles with his responsibility for the final results without ever realizing he is absolutely responsible, based on an offhanded remark to the woman early in the book - but he never is able to see through his glorification of the woman to see what he did.
4 1/2 bones!!!!!
Highly recommended, but forewarned, it's not hit you over the head horror, it's long-building and subtle. show less
"Only your image trembles in my heart".
Richard Adams-Girl in a swing
I love that quote. This book has become a part of my heart. Oh my. I can confidently say once read, this is a book one will never forget reading.
I do not want to say to much. I do not think one should know to much when going in. This is a compelling and utterly bewitching book.
Richard Adams, who also wrote "Watership Down" created a masterpiece with "The Girl in a swing".
Alan is a shy awkward young man. He has a passion for Ceramics. He also has some Psychic ability. Alan has never been in love.
Alan is a character whom the reader will instantly love. He could be your best friend, so down to earth and free of pretense he is. And even though he has never loved deeply, he show more is in his own way happy.
Then he meets Cathe. Cathe is as different from Alan as one can possibly be. She is beautiful, mysterious and the personification of just about everything Alan has ever wanted. He falls hard and he falls deep.
He cannot believe she may feel the same way about him. He quickly asks her to marry him and when she says yes, Alan feels complete.
It would not be in the reader's interest to know anymore going in. This is NOT a love story in the conventional sense. If I had to categorize it, I would call it a Gothic Mystery that also contains many Super Natural elements, a character study and yes, somewhat of a love story.
Suffice to say, this book touched me deeply and and quickly landed on my favorites list. Actually I read it long ago, before Goodreads even existed. What a book! This is one I have reread many a time.
The writing here is incredible. The book is ethereal and shrouded in mystery while the prose beguiles the reader. I had never read anything remotely like it the first time I read this. I still haven't.
The whole book is unforgettable. It is told in a way that is utterly enthralling and before I say anymore more and spoil my own review I just have to ask the reader to give this one a chance. show less
Richard Adams-Girl in a swing
I love that quote. This book has become a part of my heart. Oh my. I can confidently say once read, this is a book one will never forget reading.
I do not want to say to much. I do not think one should know to much when going in. This is a compelling and utterly bewitching book.
Richard Adams, who also wrote "Watership Down" created a masterpiece with "The Girl in a swing".
Alan is a shy awkward young man. He has a passion for Ceramics. He also has some Psychic ability. Alan has never been in love.
Alan is a character whom the reader will instantly love. He could be your best friend, so down to earth and free of pretense he is. And even though he has never loved deeply, he show more is in his own way happy.
Then he meets Cathe. Cathe is as different from Alan as one can possibly be. She is beautiful, mysterious and the personification of just about everything Alan has ever wanted. He falls hard and he falls deep.
He cannot believe she may feel the same way about him. He quickly asks her to marry him and when she says yes, Alan feels complete.
It would not be in the reader's interest to know anymore going in. This is NOT a love story in the conventional sense. If I had to categorize it, I would call it a Gothic Mystery that also contains many Super Natural elements, a character study and yes, somewhat of a love story.
Suffice to say, this book touched me deeply and and quickly landed on my favorites list. Actually I read it long ago, before Goodreads even existed. What a book! This is one I have reread many a time.
The writing here is incredible. The book is ethereal and shrouded in mystery while the prose beguiles the reader. I had never read anything remotely like it the first time I read this. I still haven't.
The whole book is unforgettable. It is told in a way that is utterly enthralling and before I say anymore more and spoil my own review I just have to ask the reader to give this one a chance. show less
You might know of Richard Adams as the author of Watership Down, the classic tale "about bunnies." Well, this is as far away as you can get from that novel. A blurb in the front cover from the New York Times Book Review calls it a story of "beautiful, haunting erotic love and an absolutely terrifying ghost story." It's not erotica--I'd call it more sensuous than erotic and the sex is rarely in any way explicit and certainly never in a pornographic way. What strikes me most is the gorgeousness of the prose, the lyricism. The first hundred pages or so is particularly slow-paced. The protagonist and first person narrator paints a picture of himself as prosaic, undersexed and unattractive in those first hundred pages, and only the beauty of show more the prose keeps the story from dullness. Alan Desland is an English ceramics dealer, whose passion is reserved for porcelain and pottery--until he meets Kathe in Copenhagen. She's an exquisitely beautiful woman--her almost supernatural beauty is often stressed in the tale, as a gift and a burden--and a sign and perhaps the reason for an intense and pitiless quality in her--like those of the greek goddesses she's compared to in the first pages--Demeter or Hera. Or even more appropriately, as she's compared to in the end, the Hindu goddess Kali. Almost to the end this reads as a romance, except for foreshadowing and periods punctuated by eerie happenings--the inexplicable sobbing of a child, the sound of water. This would have made the perfect Hitchcock film really. This is a haunting and underrated novel worth seeking out. show less
Very different from his other books. Same rich prose style. I did get a little frustrated with Alan, the protagonist, as he seems totally clueless and never stops to question the background or motivations of his wife until it's too late. Are people really this easily captivated by sex? Still, for the most part I enjoyed it. The understated eeriness and dark hints and sensuality make for an immersive read.
Frustrating. Overly verbose. Beautiful. It doesn't really start until 100 or so pages in, and then it had me. Adams goes into so much detail about ceramics and pottery that I found myself glazing over whenever he'd start to describe anything that wasn't directly related to the main characters. The relationship between Alan and Kathe was beautifully done and for me the suspense was in her and her implied secret. At the end I was left wondering if what I read into it all was correct. There are things I will always remember about this story. Unfortunately frustration is one of them.good gothic. Skip the first 100 pages: He's kind of an uptight guy who inherits his family's ceramic antiques business. Then Kathe comes along and he comes alive.
This ia a complex and subtle book. It begins at a leisurely pace, establishing the rather ordinary life of a rather ordinary man; then this amiable but ordinary man finds his life transformed by a whirlwind romance with a woman whom the reader--though not the first-person narrator--will have frissons of chill over. Little by little, the narrator's everyday life becomes less everyday, till an immensely powerful moment when, at least to the perceptive reader, a shocking revelation comes. The protagonist, unattuned to the ways of the fantastic, cannot quite grasp what an experienced reader of E. R. Eddison will have perceived; but soon enough, the narrator's relations with his dream woman begin to take shocking turns even on the mundane show more plane. The reader who absorbs the nuances will find this a more or less literally terrific book. (And, as othrs have noted, about as far from Watership Down as can be imagined.) show less
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Author Information
87+ Works 39,703 Members
Richard George Adams was born in Newbury, England on May 9, 1920. He enrolled at the University of Oxford in 1938, but his studies were interrupted by World War II. During the war, he served with the British airborne forces in the Middle East and India. After the war, he returned to Oxford and received a degree in history in 1948. He joined the show more Ministry of Housing and Local Government and worked his way up over 20 years to a senior post in the clean-air section of the environmental department. He retired in 1974 to become a full-time writer. His first his novel, Watership Down, was published in 1972. It received the Carnegie Medal in Literature in 1972 and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1973. His other books include Shardik, The Plague Dogs, Traveller, and Tales from Watership Down. He also wrote an autobiography entitled The Day Gone By. He died on December 24, 2016 at the age of 96. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- La jeune fille à l'escarpolette
- Original title
- The Girl in a Swing
- Original publication date
- 1980-04-10
- People/Characters
- Alan Desland; Käthe Geutner (1st ed.); Karin Forster (subsequent eds)
- Important places
- Copenhagen, Denmark; England, UK
- Epigraph
- How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do.
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide.
Rivers and trees and catt... (show all)le and all
Over the countryside -
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown -
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. - Dedication
- To Rosamond, with love
- First words
- All day it has been windy - strange weather for late July - the wind swirling through the hedges like an invisible floodtide among seaweed; tugging, compelling them in its own direction, dragging them one way until the patche... (show all)s of elder and privet sagged outward from the tougher stretches of blackthorn on either side.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)What else thus bodies forth the nature of life and manifests, from the finite, the infinite? I have work to do. Somehow, my grief and loss are to enrich the world.
- Original language
- English
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, Horror, Fantasy, Romance
- DDC/MDS
- 823.914 — Literature & rhetoric English & Old English literatures English fiction 1900- 1901-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PZ4 .A2163 — Language and Literature Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction in English
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 910
- Popularity
- 29,468
- Reviews
- 16
- Rating
- (3.55)
- Languages
- 10 — Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 33
- UPCs
- 2
- ASINs
- 13
