''The Long Take, or A Way to Lose More Slowly'', known simply as The Long Take, is a novel in

narrative poetry Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may be s ...

form with noir style by Scottish poet

Robin Robertson Robin Robertson (born in 1955) is a Scottish poet. Biography Robertson was brought up on the north-east coast of Scotland, but has spent most of his professional life in London. After working as an editor at Penguin Books and Secker and Warb ...

. It was published in 2018 by

Picador A ''picador'' (; pl. ''picadores'') is one of the pair of horse-mounted bullfighters in a Spanish-style bullfight that jab the bull with a lance. They perform in the ''tercio de varas'', which is the first of the three stages in a stylized bullf ...

. The story-line is set in

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

post

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Robertson received the Goldsmiths Prize, Walter Scott Prize and was shortlisted for the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

for this work.

Content and publishing

The 200+ page novel is composed of verse and prose. The protagonist is Walker, who is an allied war veteran who served during the

invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...

in 1944. He was born in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, but has hallucinatory memories and does not want to go back home. He instead goes to New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. He heads to New York first and happens to meet

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

director Robert Siodmak at a bar. He sees the making of various noir films and this helps in setting timelines within the novel. He works at docks and later moves to Los Angeles and starts writing for a newspaper. His work takes him to San Francisco where he reports on the situation of homeless citizens. Ironically, when he returns to Los Angeles, his neighborhood is being destroyed to make way for new infrastructure. Various other characters in the novel include Billy Idaho, who is a Utah Beach veteran and narrates the history of Los Angeles to Walker. Another veteran Frank, known as "Glassface", was the victim of torture by Nazi Party's Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth). Pike is a reporter and his character is used to represent the future youth and internet culture of

selfie A selfie () is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a digital camera or smartphone, which may be held in the hand or supported by a selfie stick. Selfies are often shared on social media, via social networking services such as F ...

s. The narrative also brings out references to other historical events like

Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( gd, Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulte ...

and

Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the "Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. As part of the Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, ...

. Before ''The Long Take'', Robertson had published six poetry collections and was the editor for various notable novelists and poets like

John Banville William John Banville (born 8 December 1945) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, adapter of dramas and screenwriter. Though he has been described as "the heir to Proust, via Nabokov", Banville himself maintains that W. B. Yeats and Henry J ...

, Anne Enright, James Kelman, Irvine Welsh, Anne Carson and

Alice Oswald Alice Priscilla Lyle Oswald (née Keen; born 31 August 1966) is a British poet from Reading, Berkshire. Her work won the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2002 and the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2017. In September 2017, she was named as BBC Radio 4's second Poet ...

Review and reception

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''s Sibbie O'Sullivan calls the novel "a propulsive verbal tour de force" comparing it with works of

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

and

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

. John McAuliffe, who teaches poetry at the University of Manchester's Centre for New Writing and writing for ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' appreciates the narrative poetry style for "emphasising intensity and tone with its line-breaks and stanzas".

Rory Waterman Rory Waterman (born in Belfast, 1981) is a poet, critic, editor and academic resident in Nottingham, England. Early life Waterman grew up mainly in a lodge house to an estate near Nocton, Lincolnshire with his mother and grandmother, then in a ...

for ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...

'' calls the novel "immaculately researched in terms of geography, current affairs, and its constant cultural touchstones in the Hollywood films of the time". The novel won the 2018 Roehampton Poetry Prize, organized by

University of Roehampton The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Roehampton was formerly an e ...

. It won the 2018 Goldsmiths Prize with

Adam Mars-Jones Adam Mars-Jones (born 26 October 1954) is a British novelist and literary and film critic. Early life and education Mars-Jones was born in London, to Sir William Mars-Jones (1915–1999), a Welsh High Court judge and a President of the London ...

, who chaired the judging committee, calling it "a film noir verse novel full of blinding sunlight and lingering shadows, technically accomplished, formally resourceful and emotionally unsparing". It was shortlisted for the 2018

, and won the 2019 Walter Scott Prize with Robertson becoming the first Scot and first poet to win the award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Long Take 2018 British novels Narrative poems Walter Scott Prize-winning works Novels set in the 20th century Novels set in New York City Novels set in Los Angeles Novels set in San Francisco Picador (imprint) books Goldsmiths Prize-winning works