Last Orders so far seems to be about death and the memories that are left behind. The book starts off with Jack in a small bottle in the form of ashes and his various friends confronted with his funeral and the duty of dispersing his ashes into the sea of his choice. The first member of the gang is Ray. Ray began his journey with Jack in the deserts of Africa during World War Two. Vic, the town undertaker come next because of his shop being located across from the butcher shop of Jack. Vince, the son of jack, and Lenny also follow suit. 

Mr. Swift seems very intent on shifting the characters, and so every chapter is named for the point of view of the speaker. I really like how it feels as if the characters are viewpoints of a camera, yet that is the main difference from other authors. Swift likes to jump from character to character and I don't blame him because he definitely knows how to do so. 

A good majority of authors have similarities between their works. The novel Waterland and Last Orders share this fingerprint that is created from within. First, the characters in both novels share the similarity of seeing war firsthand.The character set in Last Orders met and created bonds during the second World War. Tom Crick, book 1, gained his small-town fame by trampling on the fascist powers overtaking Europe.This only makes sense because Swift was born in the late 40's and was forced to grow up with the iron curtain clearly visible Second, the two book explore the meaning of life, friendship, and family which seems to be a very common topic of Swift's. Lastly, the two books mentioned are set in small towns with the main characters, or the parents of, being middle of the road when it comes to wealth due to working a skilled job.