Last Orders

 Graham Swift's Last Orders won the 1996 Booker Prize and was subsequently turned into a film in 2001. The film is notable for David Hemmings' eyebrows. The term "last orders" comes from pub speak for last call, and for a dying man's wishes. Our dead man is Jack Dobbs (Michael Caine in the movie) and our cast is three of his friends and his son, Vince. Several inanimate objects and places are key members of the cast as well.

The shifting narration is unconventional and difficult to get into at first (or ever). The principle narration is from Ray, who is Jack's closest friend (if Jack only knew how close). The plot of the book moves along the group's trip from London to Margate to scatter Jack's ashes. While traveling there are numerous flashbacks that fill in the story and provide detail about the lives of the characters and their relationship with Jack and one another. Each of the group members is scarred and grieves differently.

Being American the English colloquialisms are unique, but build a common man identity for the characters beautifully. At times I felt like the characters where alive and talking right before me.

I found it confusing to have sections from the women's perspective mixed in at times. This problem may be a result of not having a clear understanding of who is who.  I kept forgetting whose daughter was who and whose wife was who. Hint: Vince sleeps with almost everyone's daughter. Needless to say the characters are interwoven in their relationships.

The Booker Prize seems to have an affection for books on grief: The Gathering, The Sea, and The Finkler Question (to some degree) to name some from the past few years. Amy, Jack's wife, appears to grieve the lack of relationship Jack had with his daughter, June, more than him.

This is a book I would strongly recommend to read in a few sittings. It is both a quick read, but by staying immersed in its world you will enjoy the book even more.

In the penultimate chapter we hear Jack's voice sharing the advice of his father:

"You got to keep a constant eye on the wastage, constant.
What you've got to understand is the nature of the goods.
Which is perishable".

This, to me, is that line that ties everything together.