#tomasz jedrowski

[metamorphesque]

This is how I lived back then– through books. I locked myself into their stories, dreamt of their characters at night, pretended to be them. They were my armour against the hard edges of reality.  

― Tomasz Jedrowski, Swimming in the Dark

#reading #tomasz jedrowski #swimming in the dark #quotes #literature #books

[llovelymoonn]

tomasz jedrowski swimming in the dark

kofi

#swimming in the dark #polish lit #polish literature #quotes #quote #fragments #on self #on life #tomasz jedrowski

[birthdaysentiment]

tomasz jedrowski | « swimming in the dark » 

#swimming in the dark #tomasz jedrowski #literature quotes #romance quotes #book quotes #lgbtq literature #lgbt books #historical fiction #reading #books #literature #quotes #dark academia #light academia #romantic academia #chaotic academia #books and reading #cille's random book thoughts

[smokefalls]

Because you were right when you said that people can’t always give us what we want from them; that you can’t ask them to love you the way you want.

Tomasz Jedrowski, Swimming in the Dark

#Tomasz Jedrowski #Swimming in the Dark #quote #fiction #historical fiction #queerlit #2024 reads

[mccoppinscrapyard]

JOMP Book Photo Challenge July

Day 23: Still Not Over This

Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski

(I finished to the audiobook about a month ago and this book has lived rent free in my head ever since so I had to get a physical copy, and I’m in the process of annotating my favorite parts. At just under 200 pages it packs an emotional punch.)

#jompbpc #justonemorepage #swimming in the dark #tomasz jedrowski #lgbtq books #literary fiction #book annotations #historical fiction #short books

[anouchan-jpg]

I'm sorry but nothing and I mean NOTHING can top gay intimacy in literary genres.

#anouchan #STOP AND EXPERIENCE IT FIRST #ugh #swimming in the dark #tomasz jedrowski #the song of achilles #tsoa #anouchan reads

[alittleliterature]

quotes from chapter 2 of “swimming in the dark” by tomasz jedrowski

i urge you all to explore literature from other countries, this book is beautiful

#books #books and reading #books and literature #literature #tomasz jedrowski #queer romance #queer representation #lgbtqia #lgbtq community #lgbtqplus #lgbtq literature

[iambic-stan]

last book read + last stethoscope used, part 23

Gosh, what a perfect pair. But since this Ultrascope teaching stethoscope is so mediocre, I have to ask again if anyone has recommendations for a better teaching stethoscope because I'm going to invest in one at some point.

Anyhow, if you liked Call Me By Your Name, then read Tomasz Jedrowski's Swimming in the Dark, set in late-stage communist Poland during the 80s. Or just read it if you like beautiful, lyrical literature. Ludwik and Janusz are an unlikely pair--one a neurotic outcast and the other far more conventional and ambitious. Ludwik is incapable of playing the necessary games to survive and thrive, while Janusz seems content to wear a mask so he can enjoy a cushy government position. They bond over an illegal copy of James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room and through this novel and each other, come to recognize their queerness. But they strongly disagree about how to handle their romantic attachment in a country where acting on it is a criminal offense. By the middle of the story, I was questioning what Jedrowski would do and how he would resolve it, and then felt oddly satisfied by the ending.

#cardiophilia #teaching stethoscopes #heartbeats #stethoscopes #auscultation #lgbtq #lgbtq+ #queer literature #lgbtqia #lgbtqia+ #Poland #tomasz jedrowski #historical fiction #last book last stethoscope #lbls

[lazzarella]

"And yet, it occurs to me now that we can never run with our lies indefinitely. Sooner or later we are forced to confront their darkness. We can choose the when, not the if. And the longer we wait, the more painful and uncertain it will be."

Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jędrowski

#books #book quotes #bookblr #quotes #queer lit #queer books #tomasz jedrowski #swimming in the dark

[previouslysad]

Some things cannot be erased through silence.

Tomasz Jedrowski, Swimming in the Dark

#tomasz jedrowski #swimming in the dark #quotes #love quotes #quote of the day #qotd #life quotes #quotes about life #quotes about love #quotes to live by #silence #queer fiction #lgbtq fiction #lit fic #literary #i love you #gay love #longing #queuth the raven

[smalltownfae]

Books Read in 2023: Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski

Rating: 5/5 ⭐

When everyone you follow gives a book 5 stars in spite of having slightly different tastes, it is a sign that you will most likely love it. I did. I really loved this book.

I almost teared up right from the start just with the dedication page on which it is written "To Laurent, my home" and then in the acknowledgements it appears "Lastly, I want to thank my best friend and husband for all these years of support, and for his beautifully discerning eye, ear and heart: Laurent, je t'aime". I just like to read something that reminds me that this kind of love really exists. It makes me really happy.

Anyway, the book. This is a coming of age story set in Poland during the 80s. It is told in first person by the main character, Ludwik, as he addresses Janusz, his first love. The two start talking during a mandatory agricultural camp in order to finish their studies and through a copy of "Giovanni's Room" both find out about each other and start a romantic relationship. Conflict happens due to different views about how to live their lives: Janusz believes in the government and plays according to the rules and Ludwik wants to leave the country and is angry about the censorship and corruption of the Party.

I loved the writing style. I connected very easily with the characters and there were so many beautiful passages. I really liked that the female characters were presented with respect, which seems to be rare in books like these. I had some issues with how the women were portrayed in "Giovanni's Room" and "Maurice", but here they are complex and likeable.

Very early on Ludwik has a crush on a jewish boy and it is shown the prejudice in Poland and the main character's views on religion:

"Granny said there were families that only went [to church] for the holidays, or never, and I was jealous of the children who didn't have to go as often as me."

After Ludwik finds out about "Giovanni's Room" by James Baldwin, he manages to obtain a copy even though that book had never been translated in Polish due to the content. Ludwik hides the book inside the cover of another book and he feels seen for the first time after reading it. There are some references to that work in this story and some spoilers so I am really glad I read that book last year. I don't think it is necessary to have read "Giovanni's Room" in order to read "Swimming in the Dark", but I do think it is a richer experience if one has done so. Through this book, the reader also gets the first hints about how Ludwik and Janusz behave. When Ludwik reveals to the other boy the forbidden book he is reading Janusz comments that he never suspected that Ludwik was such a rebel. Ludwik comments on how he expected Janusz to have been one.

When Ludwik is a bit older he starts to get an interest in politics after learning the lies about history that were told to him in school (sounds familiar). He gets his news from a radio that his mother and grandmother keep hidden at home and he starts getting angrier about the state of the country. Ludwik and Janusz have different approaches even though both acknowledge the truth about the censorship and corruption of the government. Ludwik wants to leave for America, but Janusz wants to stay and claims that a capitalist society isn't any better than what they have in Poland. The book intertwines a love story with politics and the idea of freedom in simple effective words.

The main character starts to get even more desperate when he realizes that he cannot succeed in the job world without connections. Janusz' rich friends contrast with Karolina's life, Ludwik's friend, and it provides commentary about class. What I found interesting is that Janusz came from a poor family and as a result of that he uses others in order to get what he considers a position of prestige in the eyes of society. Ludwik tries his best to resist this. When a character connected with Ludwik dies there is the following passage:

"But I think it was despair that killed her. Having done only things she didn't believe in, she must have been dead inside for years before her body finally gave up too."

Janusz calls Ludwik a dreamer and with reason because his ideas about America aren't exactly right, but Ludwik still wants to have the freedom to express himself. The book succeeds at presenting enough information to understand when the main character is being idealistic. Karolina even comments on how much Ludwik has changed and is becoming an optimist.

The book could have been more in depth when it comes to the political commentary, but this is a personal story above all and it is perfect at being that. I was expecting it to be really sad, but it ended up being a little hopeful. There is a bittersweet feeling about this story that is exactly my preference when it comes to fiction. I am sure I will reread this one in the future and I am glad I found this book.

"No matter what happens in the world, however brutal or dystopian a thing, not all is lost if there are people out there risking themselves to document it. Little sparks cause fires too."

#swimming in the dark #tomasz jedrowski #2023 reads

[deardhiarry]

"What i'm certain of is this: my body feels depleted, like a foreign country after a war."

Tomasz jedrowski | Swimming in the dark

#swimming in the dark #tomasz jedrowski #book #quote #poland

[masterkirby]

i loved Tomasz Jedrowski's "Swimming in the Dark" so much

a lot of it happens in my city, so it was amazing to be able to map the characters movements; it made them seem so real, so close

too close

inside my head, having the same _rozterki_ as i

a growing up novel for my own liminal state where i can't seem to find something for myself, something to hold onto, to look forward to, to build towards

my friend lately told me that being angry at the world doesn't mean the world will hear me

and that my sorry, frustrated, anxious, furious, but hardly rebellious state is my own fault

i'm so scared

that i won't find anything for myself here, that i can't be how i like to be and do what i deem worthwhile

that if i stay i'll have to give up any ambitions or dreams and accept normativity

i love my city but i also want to leave, i feel i have to leave, to leave this sad sad country

but i do wonder, why leave all of this?

my navigated neighbourhoods & buildings & alleys & _place_ & streets & parks & trees & my Wisła

the first place i felt is mine, is home

but nothing ever gets better here

does it?

this fragment was strong

but i'm not sure it's about success & fulfillment in the capitalist sense

i think it's more of a looking for understanding & a similar culture, a possibility of community

(especially in these damned end-of-days)

because while i love my city as, as it were, an object

i don't find myself at home with what's prioritized here, the topics, the turns of phrases, the _jest jak jest_ mentality

the hustle and the reverence for the yoke, for the cross we are to bear, for the "natural" order of things, for the we-can't-win-anyway and wouldn't even know where to start with change

there's a beat down people filling these plains

i know i have to leave

even to find out for myself if elsewhere is any better

maybe i could finally learn how to fight for what i believe in

to creatively voice or pen or visualize or otherwise materialize criticism of the status quo and also ideas for change, ideals for change,

sustainably grown potatoes, tomatoes, all kinds of greens, lentils, hemps, hops, a solarpunk utopia

trees and bushes and grasses and flowers and plants and mushrooms and animals and insects everywhere

whatever, whatever till my end,

whatever but be it meaningful so i can stop suffocating, swim up and cough up my lungful of despair

#swimming in the dark #tomasz jedrowski #art confessions #art rant #can't recommend enough #go read this

[birthdaysentiment]

i sat in the hallway and tried not to think of you and me. i tried not to think of us, under the covers of your bed. i tried not to think of your arms or your hands or your eyes. i tried not to think of all the things i had imagined we'd do together

« SWIMMING IN THE DARK » BY TOMASZ JEDROWSKI

#swimming in the dark #tomasz jędrowski #tomasz jedrowski #ludwik x janusz #janusz x ludwik #literature quotes #romance quotes #book quotes #lgbtq literature #lgbtq books #romance books #historical fiction #bookedit #books #quotes #cille's random book thoughts

[smokefalls]

Did you ever have someone like that, someone that you loved in vain when you were younger? Did you ever feel something like my shame? I always assumed that you must have, that you can’t possibly have gone through life as carelessly as you made out. But now I begin to think that not everyone suffers in the same way; that not everyone, in fact, suffers. Not from the same things, at any rate. And in a way this is what made us possible, you and me.

Tomasz Jedrowski, Swimming in the Dark

#Tomasz Jedrowski #Swimming in the Dark #quote #fiction #historical fiction #queerlit #2024 reads

[mccoppinscrapyard]

Read in 2023 (5/?)

Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski

❝ This was how I lived back then— through books. I locked myself into their stories, dreamt of their characters at night, pretended to be them. They were my armor against the hard edges of reality. ❞

#litedit #book moodboard #swimming in the dark #tomasz jedrowski #literary fiction #historical fiction #lit fic #book aesthetic #books #lgbt books #poland #book edit #mystuff #books2023 #read in 2023 #these have no order to them i was trying to go in chronological order but i gave up