The Sweet Shop Owner
1 journaler for this copy...
The elusive first novel by one of my fav authors - from Oxfam :)
(24/07) The Sweet-shop Owner…is Willy Chapman, a man of habit, living a quiet steady life of compromise, duty and service. Swift gets into his stride very quickly, the master of the middle-aged Englishman at home and at work, glimpses of Last Orders and Waterland? The reader is invited to feel pity for Chapman, but his sadness, his estranged daughter, sick wife etc. is balanced by a man in his element, in control in the army stores, and behind the counter of his shop. Maybe a life of few expectations, a victim – and beneficiary – of circumstances can be fulfilling? Beautiful writing, a strong sense of post-war London, like a time and a place caught in a museum.
(24/07) The Sweet-shop Owner…is Willy Chapman, a man of habit, living a quiet steady life of compromise, duty and service. Swift gets into his stride very quickly, the master of the middle-aged Englishman at home and at work, glimpses of Last Orders and Waterland? The reader is invited to feel pity for Chapman, but his sadness, his estranged daughter, sick wife etc. is balanced by a man in his element, in control in the army stores, and behind the counter of his shop. Maybe a life of few expectations, a victim – and beneficiary – of circumstances can be fulfilling? Beautiful writing, a strong sense of post-war London, like a time and a place caught in a museum.