Writing about last things and the concept of lastness is a simple concept but one that works because Dyer is a thoughtful and insightful writer who chooses his subjects mostly well. I liked the literary parts, learning about cultural artefacts I wasn’t aware of before, some of the tennis stuff, and the biographical aspects of the jazz parts, but got quite bored with hearing about jazz in general, some of the tennis stuff, and most of the drug parts.

The best way I can describe it is via Cioran's wise observation that the further one advances in life the less there is to convert to. Some writers are so strong with such distinct and profound a vision of the world as to affect you in the psychic space where that urge - to convert - once had resided. You respond to that power even as you know that conversion would be a regression, a stupid insult to the writer in question." (77) Dyer even does reflect upon reading authors late in his life, or the ways that writers he's read in his 40s haven't changed him: As tennis expanded, coaching and players improved,media exposure increased along with rewards. All of this means that high achievement in sports requires a huge set of additional skills, none of which Federal had any prior experience. This is not discussed.

His subject is one of the greatest sportspeople to have ever lived, a tennis player who has inspired and thrilled like no other. And yet Clarey writes about him in the jaded tones of a reporter who doesn't really get what the fuss is about and kind of prefers other players anyway. The premise is intriguing: focusing on artists and public figures as they approach old age or the end of their career. The book is ostensibly about Roger Federer (Roger to Geoff Dyer), but there is little focus on him besides a few brief chapters. The narrative is cleverly structured but jumps around all over the place, with a big focus on Nietzsche along with a large autobiographical element. Clarey, being a journalist who had covered Roger since his grand debut in 1999 in the French Open, had many insights about Roger's game, personality and matches that were unknown to many.

Lynette is convinced that what got Roger through those first five months was the fact that he had made his own decision to go to Ecublens and hadn’t been pressured into it by his parents. ‘He had made the decision himself,’ says the mother who spent about an hour a night on the phone to her son in those early months, ‘and only became aware later of all the things that the decision brought with it. But because he wanted it himself, he was willing to battle through.’" By far the worst book about Federer ever written in English (and I've read them all). Clarey has zero sense of what makes Federer special. He has no appreciation for what Federer represents. And he has no love for Federer's game. I happened upon this biography just days after Roger Federer retired from playing professional tennis. Lover of a good title that I am, and a good ending, I was immediately drawn "The Last Days of Roger Federer: And Other Endings." Dyer had an event at this year's Hay Festival and I was taken by his humor and the curiosity he expressed about endings because it's one I share.

This is a short book, but while reading it I often wished it would be shorter. But now that I am finished, I wish it would have been longer. Because some chapters are just one paragraph long, and there is so much more to explore. And even with all the footnotes, there was still so much (oh so much) left for me to Google. The risk of these writers’ style, with their short chapters and darting insights, is randomness, and sometimes this book, whatever its thematic claims, seems to consist of what has come under the author’s eye, an arbitrary collocation. (The reflections on Martin Amis are a bit — I permit myself this only because Dyer himself loves puns — Martin Aimless.) But those moments are far fewer and less ongoing than the good ones.

Dieses Buch ist für mich kein Schmöker, den ich in einem Rutsch gelesen habe. Ich habe immer wieder Mal rein gespitzt und ein, zwei Interviews gelesen. Ich finde es auch schwierig, so ein Buch zu rezensieren, da es ja hauptsächlich auf den Inhalt und viel weniger auf den Erzählstil ankommt. Letzterer empfand ich jedenfalls als unkompliziert (auch gerade den Beschreibungen von Ballwechseln konnte ich auch als Laie gut folgen), schnörkellos und dadurch absolut passend. Federer’s impact on the court is well-documented. The 41-year-old, who retired last month after the Laver Cup, has won 20 Grand Slam titles, 103 titles worldwide, the Davis Cup and Olympic gold medal in doubles. Dies ist ein Buch mit über 40 Interviews von Wegbegleitern Federers. Es ist in 4 Untertiteln unterteilt: Vorbild, Rivale, Freund, Gamechanger. In den jeweiligem Untertitel werden diverse Personen befragt und diese Interviews sind wirklich interessant und lehrreich. Man erfährt viel über die Sportikone und sein wirken auch neben dem Tennisplatz.This is a form Dyer has largely devised for himself, a mutable hybrid of criticism, fiction, autobiography and what’s come to be called, regrettably, the “personal essay.” Within this style, he has written about film (“ Zona”), photography (“ The Ongoing Moment”), jazz (the sublime “But Beautiful”) and his global wanderings (“ Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi,” one of this new century’s finest novels in English). Now 63, he has matured into prestige — widely translated, a National Book Critics Circle prizewinner, writer in residence at USC, an influence to younger writers — while remaining impish and unpredictable in his writing. By turns educational, witty, self-indulgent, boring and fascinating, the book is a sampler of the author’s interests, likely to only connect sporadically with the reader’s. If you’re into Beethoven, Nietzsche, Dylan, Turner, jazz, psychedelics and tennis, you’re sorted. Federer playing before empty tribunes does not make sense at all. He could instead organize with Stan or somebody else a private tournament (like Djokovic did 1 year ago) with prize money (would be no problem to get sponsors) interesting for some good players to come. I guess I've never read Geoff Dyer before (seems unlikely but I can't find any evidence on the internet that I've done so...) so am unsure if he *always* spends so much time talking about dudes like Beethoven, Nietzsche, Larkin, Turner, and Longfellow but oh man did my thoughts wander during these parts, of which there are many, in The Last Days of Roger Federer, which consists of a long series of ruminations on the concepts of final works, careers ends, and dying days of, mostly, artists, writers, musicians, and athletes.