Publishers Weekly
02/14/2022
“Things coming to an end, artists’ last works,” and “time running out” are forthrightly probed in this soulful meditation. Novelist and essayist Dyer (Otherwise Known as the Human Condition) surveys a multitude of gifted people as they edge toward quitting time, including the long twilight of tennis great Roger Federer, Nietzche’s collapse into madness just when his philosophical ideas were catching on, Jack Kerouac’s descent into lifeless writing after On the Road affirmed his greatness, and Bob Dylan’s endless touring with a voice that’s been “shot to hell.” Dyer also explores his own experiences slouching into his 60s—slowing down, suffering injuries that dampen his tennis game, and, on the upside, smoking psychedelics with an aging surfer buddy. Dyer’s musings unfold in a loose-limbed ramble of bite-size biographical sketches, artistic and literary appreciations, and wry reflections. (“It’s not just that time passes more quickly as you get older; life becomes progressively less eventful.... For the young a year lasts for ages, and a night in—a night spent not getting wasted—feels like a wasted life.”) Dyer’s mix of sparkling prose, rich insight, and mordant wit suggests that a well-lived life is worth even the bitterest of endings. It makes for a smart, memorable take. Photos. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency. (May.)
From the Publisher
"A masterful, beautiful, reluctantly moving book—that is, moving despite its subject being naturally moving, courting no pathos, shrewd and frank—and Dyer’s best in some time. Indeed, one of his best, period . . . [The Last Days of Roger Federer], if it heralds a late style, promises [this]: a powerful and funny mind, ranging across the canons of both art and experience, cutting closer toward deep truths, telling us what things are like when time is shortening." —Charles Finch, Los Angeles Times
"The capaciousness of Dyer’s themes allow him to roam widely . . . [Dyer] has a joyous appreciation of the transcendent and the triumphant . . . Like Federer, it is a reserve of flair, touch, timing and a keen eye that keeps him in the game." —Nicholas Wroe, The Guardian
"Affirming and moving . . . [Dyer's] wit, a distinctive and delicious blend of salty, sweet and snarky, is on frequent display in his wonderful book." —Troy Jollimore, The Washington Post
"Dyer, having set out to write a book about endings, is drawn to endlessness, to the way that one thing leads to another . . . There are some gorgeous passages in The Last Days of Roger Federer, some marvelous bits of criticism, some enthralling descriptions of psychedelics." —Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times
"Calling a book a 'tour de force' almost certainly means it isn’t, but this book…is a tour de force." —Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution
"The Last Days of Roger Federer speaks from within the finitude that holds sway over every human attempt to defy the odds and make a success of one’s life or art . . . Memorable." —Robert Pogue Harrison, The New York Review of Books
"[Dyer is] a writer who loves to frolic in the field of ideas as freely as Federer deploys his unsurpassed array of shots . . . Reading this book is a joyful experience . . . Dyer’s exploration into mortality is often propelled into the sunlight." —Joel Drucker, Racquet
"Dyer’s mix of sparkling prose, rich insight, and mordant wit suggests that a well-lived life is worth even the bitterest of endings. It makes for a smart, memorable take." —Publishers Weekly
“Tennis, jazz, Dylan, movies, drugs, Nietzsche, Beethoven. So why am I laughing? Because Geoff Dyer once again melds commentary and observation with intellect and wit. Bouncing between criticism and memoir, Dyer is one of the few writers whose paragraphs I can immediately reread and get more from. The twists, turns, and delights abound, and when you finally put the book down you think, 'Oh, yes, I’ve always been this smart, haven’t I?'” —Steve Martin
"More than its title would suggest, The Last Days of Roger Federer is an engaging series of meditations on mental and physical sunsets in the lives of painters, musicians, philosophers, poets, boxers, and of course tennis players. Dyer the stylist is at the top of his game here, serving up conundrums, paradoxes, logical binds, and other cerebral delights. Even his syntax is witty. This generous offering of Dyer’s insightful, often hilarious, take on art, life, and sports is a feast for his readers." —Billy Collins, former United States Poet Laureate
"Just like Roger Federer's backhand Geoff Dyer's swing is a thing of beauty, complete with his signature follow through. He captures so much, touches so much and amuses the while. This form-blending book is extremely smart, wise, and simply plain fun. I am smarter for having read it. This is a great book." —Percival Everett, author of The Trees
"Who can make the world new again like Geoff Dyer? For the low low price of a book, he will rearrange the art on the walls of your memory so that you might see it again, as if for the first time. The Last Days of Roger Federer is an inspired cultural and personal mediation as well as an unsurprising delight. To read it is to feel relief that, despite Dyer’s contention that his life’s theme is 'giving up,' he hasn’t." —Sloane Crosley, author of Look Alive Out There
"Sumptuous, wide-ranging, streetwise, and precise, The Last Days of Roger Federer is a glorious ode to tennis, the arts, late style, and life itself. Full of surprises, hard truths, and deep feeling, this is a work like none other. Time remains undefeated, and yet Geoff Dyer's beautiful, unsparing book feels like it can go toe-to-toe with it––from the baseline or the net. An essential read." —Rowan Ricardo Phillips, author of The Circuit: A Tennis Odyssey and Living Weapon
"The Last Days of Roger Federer showcases Geoff Dyer's gifts as one of the most distinctive writers of our times. Whether he's writing about tennis, Nietzsche, Burning Man or growing old, Dyer brings such impeccable observation, original intelligence, and laugh-out-loud wit to the page that you want to keep on reading more—the perfect quality for a book about endings." —Maya Jasanoff, professor at Harvard University and author of The Dawn Watch
"Most authors use language to write about things. Geoff Dyer uses things to write about language. He’s a clever clogs but he’s one of us at the same time. Genius." —Simon Armitage, Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
Library Journal
05/01/2022
This collection of mostly short essays of the author's ruminations on different interpretations of endings offers interesting trivia and thought exercises for readers. Dyer pontificates on his own life's endings, bringing in a memoir appeal, but also relates stories from the sports worlds of tennis and boxing, the music arena from The Doors to John Coltrane, and the lives of various literary figures from Friedrich Nietzsche to Eve Babitz. While structured loosely into three parts, each vignette connects into the next as a kind of meandering train of thought, giving the reader ample room to question how we are remembered and how an ending can be altered and perceived, all while enjoying the commentary. At times the book seems a little random, but Dyer leisurely ties it all together with humor and inquisitiveness and offers a satisfying collection of reflective essays on life and memory that can be read with pauses to think. VERDICT Recommended for general collections, but probably has more appeal for older readers.—Amanda Ray
Kirkus Reviews
2022-01-18
The prolific, award-winning writer reflects on endings, loose and otherwise.
In his latest unique work, Dyer, pondering Federer’s imminent retirement, delves into “things coming to an end, artists’ last works, time running out”—and whatever else strikes his fancy. Now 63, the author’s understated, witty prose, written amid the “interminable Covid moment,” carries him along on a jaunty, wide-ranging, personal stream-of-consciousness rumination as the clock ticks down. Obsessed with the concept of a “magnificent life whatever ruin comes in its wake,” Dyer opines on literature, film, art, philosophy, music, and, of course, tennis in numerous interconnected, journal-like entries. He opens with some riffs on the Doors’ sprawling epic “The End” before moving on to tennis star Andy Murray’s retirement announcement and how it affected him. The author discusses his admiration for Bob Dylan and his voice: “How could it not be shot to hell given what he’s put it through, the unbelievable demands he makes on it”? Then he jumps to Jack Kerouac, Boris Becker, and D.H. Lawrence’s ongoing refusal to confront death; the “dissolution of the physical world” in J.M.W. Turner’s late paintings; and Nietzsche’s life and work. Thinking about how “we love the idea of the last,” Dyer considers how Albert Bierstadt’s painting The Last of the Buffalo led to the end of his career, and a disquisition on attending Burning Man confronts the “indescribable wonders” he experienced. The author worries about going to his grave without ever having read this or that book or seen that film. Then it’s on to writers who wrote one book, found success too soon, or, like athletes, made a late comeback, and John Coltrane’s final phase. Concluding, Dyer turns for help to Louise Glück: “I think here I will leave you. It has come to seem / there is no perfect ending.” Quite true, as the author sometimes loses his way in this maze of wistful meanderings.
A rangy, rambling assemblage that will appeal most to Dyer’s fans.
