Short Story High Dive I Could Do It Again
BookBrowse Review
BookBrowse
Overall, High Dive is a cleverly worked story, full of acute observations of character and punctuated by a dark and enjoyable vein of humor. Fictionalizing events leading up to a disaster about which every reader has foreknowledge, allows Lee countless opportunities for dramatic irony. Some may be frustrated by the lack of a "splash" or any explanation of what happens to some of the characters beyond the explosion. But Lee does tie up Dan's story well and crafts an ending that mirrors his opening in a poignant and impressively satisfying fashion...continued
Full Review (633 words).
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(Reviewed by Kate Braithwaite).
Media Reviews
Financial Times (UK)
Refreshing ...Warm and compassionate ...High Dive is a moving and charismatic novel ... It succeeds, through its multiple sympathies and scrupulous empathy, on its own terms.
The Independent (UK)
Jonathan Lee - a wordsmith of incomparable eloquence - has forged a canny edifice, intricately constructed ...Electrifying ...A work of serious and thoughtful integrity.
The Sunday Times (UK)
Lee's powerful novel is an extraordinary performance: vividly written, painfully human, and fully fleshing the inner lives of its characters.
Literary Review (UK)
Lee writes well about the inner lives of his characters and his sensitivity to the complexity of human motivations shows evidence of an empathetic and forgiving emotional intelligence. The pictures he draws of the apparently unknowable nature of those to whom we are closest are poignant and memorable.
Spectator (UK)
What's clear straight away is how good Lee is on character...He can be very funny too ... Moose is a terrific creation.
The Daily Mail (UK)
Rich in the comedy of the mundane: the hopes and petty quarrels neatly contrasted with the approaching terror
The Guardian (UK)
High Dive is, of course, a historical novel, detailing events that took place more than 30 years ago, yet there is always a sense of immediacy to the prose ...In the mundane, Jonathan Lee finds the deep end, where all are diving for dear life.
The Observer (UK)
Lee dives deep into the minds and hearts of his characters, skillfully shoring up 'the private moments history so rarely records.
Kirkus Reviews
Starred Review. Lee's writing has a marked freshness, his pacing and dialogue are exceptional, and every scene is deftly handled. This is a real craftsman at work.
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Brilliant, urgent, unstoppable ...An incredible novel of rare insight, velocity, depth, and daring.
Booklist
Finding humor in unexpected places and elevating the preciousness of life even in mundane moments, Lee tells a completely absorbing story, finding the humanity in each of his flawed characters.
Alexander Maksik, author of A Marker to Measure Drift
High Dive is both wistful and very funny. It is also genuinely lyrical. But more than anything, what distinguishes it from so many other novels is its rare sincerity.
Ayana Mathis, author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie
In fluent, agile prose Jonathan Lee takes on one of the more famous assassination plots in recent history with striking evenhandedness and depth. His novel offers a funny, gripping, and ultimately tragic view into the life of a young IRA man and the dear price he, and his victims, pay during the dark years of the Troubles.
Colin Barrett, author of Young Skins
Jonathan Lee is a writer of stylish concision, humour, wisdom, and danger.
Evie Wyld, author of All the Birds, Singing
A completely absorbing novel about the lives of people who struggle in small and massive ways. Lee's writing is poignant, fluid, and very funny. Above all else it feels honest - you can see yourself in all of his characters. I really did love this book, and I'm still thinking and worrying about it.
Joshua Ferris, author of Then We Came to the End
High Dive is a fascinating look into a troubled past. In taut scene after taut scene, with a fine style and wit among the carnage, Jonathan Lee does service to history and the novel both.
Lauren Groff, author of Fates and Furies
High Dive is a novel so smart and compassionate and beautifully written that it asks for total immersion. A reader will hold her breath for long, perfectly-paced stretches, and she will surface, dizzied, at the end.
Téa Obreht, author of The Tiger's Wife
With wry wit and profound tenderness, Jonathan Lee's High Dive highlights the tensions - between hope and heartbreak, struggle and surrender - at the intersection of the mundane and the momentous. A bold, thrilling triumph of a book.
Yiyun Li, author of Kinder Than Solitude
Jonathan Lee is a virtuoso storyteller, combining the skills of a historian, a reporter, a criminal psychologist, and most importantly, a close observer of the complexity of everyday life. What a thrilling new novel.
Source: https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/3367/high-dive
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