A review by bookwormlukas
Here We Are by Graham Swift

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

#BookReview📚 - ‘Here We Are’ by Graham Swift - ⭐️ ⭐️ 

I truthfully don’t have a lot to say about ‘Here We Are’, my first (and maybe last) Graham Swift. It’s not that it’s a terribly written novella or anything like that, but I do wonder exactly what the *point* of it all was, as for me, it definitely left me feeling empty.

Telling the story of a love triangle that takes place between three stage performers on the Brighton pier, ‘Here We Are’ has all the hallmarks of a novella that has been stretched out from a short story. It’s all tell - and that’s it’s biggest problem. 

The structure of it is that we see the three of them meeting for the first time and then flash forward to when the woman (Evie) is older as she looks back on her life and the decisions she made. Sadly, it’s all just rather uneventful - and with such a short page count, the author struggles to wrangle any emotion out of the characters. The only successful part for me was an admittedly very short look at how one of them was a London evacuee as a child - and the relationship he forged with his minders (which in itself, also felt a rather an optimistic take).

Overall, ‘Here We Are’ was a very short and easy read, but it certainly won’t stick with me and didn’t convince me to add anymore Swift to my TBR.