Beautiful and poignant writing telling a beautiful and poignant story about relationships:How they shape and un-shape us, how love can be difficult yet desired so desparately, the desire for intimacy And the fear and barriers that prevent the true intimacy that so many of us desire.This is a LAMDA award winner and I am not surprised because the writing is excellent and the story is deeply emotional.Ten years ago Will lost his lover Chad, in a swimming accident. He has had other relationships since then and has tried to move on with his life but the loss has cast a shadow over his life. It is ever present, a shadow that he lives with and which is always there. He meets Sean quite by accident through a mutual friend. Sean has a shadow of his own and immediately recognises that Will is a fellow shadow dweller and so begins a relationship in which the two men try to move towards light and hope, but some how fail to entirely escape the shadows of the past.But this summary does not do this story justice because the emotions of these two men come to life across the pages. Both men have losses and past lives that they need to come to terms with and both of them struggle to do so. Both men try their best to live and love in a new era of increased communication, more openness and freedom and the spectre of AIDS. They embrace the freedom of the clubs, the parties and but recognise the restrictions of love in the time of AIDS. They also begin to heal somewhat and find peace with their pasts as they seek a present and a possible future together but the future kind of eludes them and the story tells of their struggles, desires, dreams and unfulfillment.The story is told from Will's perspective and he tells how he encounters Sean, is immediately attracted to him but also remembers Chad. Along with this are other friends and loves that have ended. Will explores these relationships along with the everyday business of life and being a writer and slowly he finds a kind of peace from the past and perhaps hope for the future even with the shadows.This is a story about life and love and it is real. It is a love story but one that focuses on loves within a young life and how early loves and friendships can shape our future but how present love can help us reshape and understand the past.It isn't a traditional romance with an HEA. In fact there isn't a nice tidy ending just a sense of openness but also a sense of having hope for Will's future.It is a beautiful story, very emotive as we explore the different characters and their lives and loves.
There are many synopsis about the story itself. I wish to focus on the individuals that make up the life of Will Kaplan, and the men he knew. A man who 'literally'and 'figuratively speaking lost his lover 10 years prior when they both went for their ritual night swim. The author captures the emptiness, the anguish,the guilt,anger and utter hopelessness of our main character as he struggles to move on from that fateful night. He moves to the east coast in an effort to establish a realtionship that will be an enduring love. The gay men he meets fail to fulfil and fill the void in himself, as he keeps remembering more about that fateful night. As the years and relationships fall away Will is left with more memories of his beloved Chad. But as the author teases us with Will's memories we are slowly given the whole story of what happened between Will & Chad. Coupled with that, along comes Sean...(the one man Will is told to stay away from!) Sean also suffers deeply with his own loss and his own personal demons. Olsham's style of writing allows the reader to experience the 'here and now' with our characters and also the 'what happened to get them to this place' of heartbreak,emptiness,lonliness,anger, bitterness mixed with the constant yearning and struggle for the love that once was theirs to cherish. Olsham's writing makes one want to find out more about the characters, and at the same time, be almost afraid of what vulnerabilities will be found.
What do You think about Nightswimmer (2000)?
Ten years ago Will lost his lover Chad when he disappeared the night they swam together in the Pacific. Chad’s body was never found, and Will is unable to come to terms with his loss; did Chad drown, or did he just desert him? Now Will looks back on that tragedy as he also recounts the events of the year he meet Sean Paris. Will has recently separated form his lover of four years Greg when he meets Sean. They quickly fall for each other, but it soon becomes apparent that Sean also has a troubled past, not to mention a bothersome stalker.As Will and Sean pursue their passionate and not untroubled relationship, they each begin to come to terms with their past enigmas, even if they are still not able to establish the all the facts.Set in New York and the glamorous Fire Island with all its beautiful pumped up men, Will relates these events addressing them directly to Sean. The result is a beautiful, warm and mellow account that comes across with just a touch of melancholy, and while neither Will nor Sean escape their affair unscathed, they are able to move on.t
—Benjamin
