An Open Swimmer cover art

An Open Swimmer

 Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

An Open Swimmer

By: Tim Winton
Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £15.99

Buy Now for £15.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

 Tim Winton's classic first novel, full of wonderful characterisations and rich and evocative language.

Jerra and his best mate Sean set off in a beaten-up old VW to go camping on the coast. Jerra's friends and family want to know when he will finish university, when he will find a girl. But they don't understand about Sean's mother, Jewel, or the bush or the fish with the pearl. They think he needs a job, but what Jerra is searching for is more elusive. Only the sea, and perhaps the old man who lives in a shack beside it, can help. An Open Swimmer is a remarkable first novel by award-winning author Tim Winton.

©2003 Tim Winton (P)2007 BolindaBolinda Publishing Pty Ltd Coming of Age Fiction Friendship Literary Fiction
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Riders cover art
Swallow the Air cover art
Minimum of Two cover art
Dirt Music cover art
Rhubarb cover art
How to Gut a Fish cover art
Dark Neighbourhood cover art
Zed and the Cormorants cover art
Agents of Dreamland cover art
Salt Water Tears cover art
Salvage cover art
The Runaways cover art
To Charles Fort, with Love cover art
The Whale Tattoo cover art
No Sharks in the Med and Other Stories cover art
Still Water cover art

Editor reviews

Narrator Humphrey Bower's moody, lyrical performance is shot through with nervy energy as teenaged protagonist Jerra Nilsam comes to grips with the bittersweet moments of adulthood. Jerra's family wants him to finish university and settle down with a girl, but Jerra has dark shadows in his conscience, and a camping trip with his best friend Sean brings them out into the light. Bower's voice wraps itself around the rich language of the story as the two friends encounter an old man whose conscience is even more burdened than Jerra's and find the tight knot of their friendship unraveling. Listeners will be haunted by Bower's vivid evocation of the story's painful yet cathartic climax.

Critic reviews

"Amid brooding images of mutilation and guilt, awakening sexuality and displacement of ideals ... Winton draws together a delicate pattern of images and tensions and energy. His first novel, it is a work of energy and restraint." (The Good Reading Guide)

What listeners say about An Open Swimmer

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.co.uk reviews

Amazon reviews
Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for John

Poetic.

Poetic and dreamlike. At times hard to follow. It worked best to listen to it as a dream.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!