Long Take

Having committed myself to reading the entire long list I came to this, the penultimate book on my list, and forced myself to take on a novel written in verse. I am delighted I did. It is a powerful story, beautifully depicted and written. It's filled with colours and sounds and smells and yet I felt I was watching the narrative unfold in a silent, black and white film. I loved this book. It will stay with me for a very long time

A gripping, troubling narrative written with lyric intensity, The Long Take is an excellent book. If you are familiar with Robin Robertson’s poem, you’ll of course want to read it. Set largely in Los Angeles during the 1950s, The Long Take tells the story of a traumatized Canadian WWII vet who becomes a reporter who focuses on, among other things, the plight of the homeless. If you were captivated by Matthew Desmond’s Evicted, you will find in The Long Take another book that takes a worried look at how the United States fails its people. If you enjoy watching film noir, the places you where many of the scenes were shot. And you’ll be reminded how the McCarthy era foreshadowed our own.

W.H. Auden's book-length poem, The Age of Anxiety, was a post-WWII elegy and philosophical assessment of our era, narrated by the voices of Lower East Side barflies in the most exalted thrice-alliterative lines of free verse. With the thunder of the 3rd Ave El rumbling down upon us, Robin Robertson's The Long Take also begins. Set in the decade after WWII, our protagonist, Walker, a Nova Scotia native returned from war-torn France, lands initially in NYC, but finding no haven, treks cross-country to Los Angeles where he finds work as a newspaper reporter at the LA Press. He falls in with other veterans, all homeless and shell-shocked, eventually getting an assignment to cover the homeless problem in San Francisco, but the nexus of his story is in the Bunker Hill district of Downtown LA.There are shattering reminiscences of battle, horrors even to read; remembrances and nostalgia for his Canadian small town life, serendipitous meetings with real-life filmmakers of the time and resonances of the great contemporaneous noir films, and the decimation and destabilization of whole populations out of the newly developing downtown area, bulldozers as explosive as those French memories of war, PTSD in exquisite free verse.Certainly the best poetic L.A. noir ever, and perhaps the most beautiful book of 2018.Thanks to Stona Fitch as always, for the great recommendation.

There are those of us who still read Homer and Tennyson. It takes a certain mindset to write in this genre, and an open mindset in which to read it.Once I got into the pattern of the words, half read, half recited aloud, I found it mesmerizing.

Tough subject matter - the trauma of military combat - but written with such grace that it reminds you at once of the wonderful things humanity is also capable of.

really a beautiful look at war and the effects it has on service men, mental health, and isolation. Beautifully written.

Amazon asks "What did you use this product for?". Well, since I didn't have any tables with one short leg, I decided to read it. It was well-crafted, internally consistent, and a thoroughly enjoyable narrative poem.

If you love noir, if you love poetry, if you love LA you will really enjoy this book. Part prose and part poetry the story jumps back in forth in time all the while telling the story of the down and out veterans of post WW2 as they try to find their footing in a new society that doesn't have a place for them. These days we would call them PTS victims, in The Long Take they're just bums, veteran's who left it all on the beaches of Normandy only to be forgotten when they got home. This is an old tale told with a great voice and a gutsy creative approach. No wonder it was a finalist for the National Book Award.

The Long Take is a book that is, for much of its length, written in verse. But is it poetry? And is it a novel?Set in the 1940s and 1950s, we follow Walker a Canadian who has served with the British Army in WW2, as he demobilises in New York and tries to create a role for himself in civil society. He is an acute observer of the world around him. He sees squalor. He witnesses fights, crime, sleaze. He is drawn into journalism but has a fascination with cinema - so it is a logical step for him to relocate to Los Angeles. The Los Angeles he finds is a macroscopic version of his own circumstances, trying to reinvent itself in a changing world. The small-town wild west is being shucked off for organised big business and organised gang warfare. All the time, though, it is haunted by its past.The verse format relies heavily on Robin Roberston finding just the perfect word or phrase to conjure up complex imagery. The writing is very concise and the depth that Robertson creates with so few words is breathtaking. And where it would be too easy for verse to sound stilted, to become inaccessible, The Long Take is actually a pretty easy read that flows naturally. For much of the book, the reader doesn't even really notice the verse form, it just looks like prose that has been arbitrarily chopped into lines. Closer inspection, though, does reveal a consistent meter.My hesitation, though, is in accepting The Long Take as a novel. Robertson creates a vivid world, but then doesn't really do much with it. There are issues - the plight of returned servicemen unable to reintegrate into society; race crimes; police corruption. However, there is no real plot and precious little character development. Walker is just as his name suggests - a man who walks around in order to observe. In this sense, I couldn't help thinking of the Flaneur in the Booker Longlisted Communion Town - although The Long Take provides observations of a far more real and credible place than Communion Town.So rather than being a conventional narrative, The Long Take is really a series of images, places, smells and emotions. It's almost a graphic novel put into words. It does what it sets out to do with perfection, but this reader, at least, was frustrated that Walker didn't seem to have any clear destination to his perambulations.

This marvelous book must have an outstanding chance of winning the 2018 Man Booker Prize even though I still have eight more from the longlist to read.Robertson's stupendous work easily outshines the three that I have read so far.Everything about this book is a gem from the production itself with black and white photos, street plan and film notes at the end all assisting the reader in their reading experience.The sense of atmosphere created by the author is tangible as the reader follows the beleaguered Walker on his travels meeting some great characters along the way.The dialogue throughout is just sublime and it is little wonder that Walker is so damaged through his many brushes with death. There are several harrowing descriptions of death and not just in the sense of human loss but of the authorities clearing away swathes of land, properties and nature purportedly for the betterment of the city.Walker is a heroic figure who, in defying the odds of surviving the war, tries valiantly in the face of constant adversity that seems to beset him from all quarters, to find relief from his anguish and torment.It will take a good book to outdo this one. A truly outstanding piece of work Mr Robertson.

Poetry is not something that I seek out or feel confident with and so wasn’t sure how I would feel about this hybrid novel that combines poetry with prose to explore the experiences of Walker, a Canadian soldier following WWII.Feeling unable to return to his home in Nova Scotia he goes first to New York City then Los Angeles where he becomes a reporter. His pet project there and in San Francisco is to record the experiences of the homeless and later the urban clearing in L.A. .Alongside these poignant stories Walker is fascinated by film noir and the tone of the book reflects this peppered with many references to these films. Robinson includes notes at the end. The book also has some powerful photographs accompanying its sections.While the prose poetry proved no barrier to understanding and I found its imagery very powerful, I did not feel as engaged with the characters as I would with a more conventional narrative. Perhaps that sense of alienation was intentional given its themes.The Man Booker judges said that it is like “a film noir on the page” and that feels a perfect description. Given its unusual format and use of language it would not surprise me if it won the 2018 Man Booker.

Atmospheric? For sure! This book is a true film noir by way of poetry. The topic? Destructive nature of war, of nations and of men.I read the book [almost] in one sitting, how it is recommended to be read. And even though my head understands why I should be moved and impressed with this haunting story, my heart is not.“The Long Take” is, among many other things, about evil and sad reality of how the veterans were (and are, I am inclined to believe) treated by the system after returning from war.Sadly, this work of “thrilling originality” (quote from the flap) failed to thrill me. I recognise it is special, but not for me.Will it win the booker prize? Perhaps. It is something unusual.You know what this reminded me of? Of Bob Dylan winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016…

Don't listen to Peter Mackey (another reviewer). This is an excellent read and one that really brings to life the horrifying conditions faced by soldiers in WW2, and the effects that PTSD can have on someone.I've never read a book in poetic format like this, but I thought it was beautifully written. Perhaps my most startling observation though was Robin Robertson's ability to bring even the most mundane of surroundings to life. Every single time, I felt like I was in 1950's Los Angeles, following Walker on his path of despair and regret.I really, really enjoyed this book. Well worth a read 👏