Jonathan Mirsky

Going under

issue 02 February 2013

As someone slightly older than Al Alvarez, and also a regular swimmer — although not in the ice-edged Hampstead Heath pools into which he dived for over 60 years — I was initially disappointed by this book. For the first half it repeats too often the pleasures of extremity-numbing, cold, outdoor swimming when one is old.

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Disagree with half of it, enjoy reading all of it

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