This is not a happy book, but it's an insightful read. Petterson captures the helplessness we can feel in the face of time's unstoppable march. Arvid, often whiny, cowardly, and drinking too much, is not an admirable protagonist. Still, his basic struggle is so naturally human that we can't help ...
Perhaps I was the only person not overwhelmed by OUT STEALING HORSES, which to me seemed to try a little too hard, and to work the history in a slightly cloying way. Not that there weren't beautiful passages.I CURSE THE RIVER OF TIME is a more subtle and static book. I still had a hard time car...
Meester in het onbenoemde….In Pettersons tweede (?) roman met de laconieke titel 'Ik vind het best', hanteert hij al met veel vakmanschap de bedrieglijk eenvoudige stijl die hem zo groot maakt. Geen grein sentiment en toch slaagt hij erin je diep te ontroeren of in enkele zinnen een zo raak beeld...
When they cut Grandfather down they found a scrap of paper in his jacket pocket. He was wearing a white shirt and his best suit with watch chain and waistcoat, his thick hair was brushed back like shining fur, and there was no gray in it, because he had eaten bones and gristle all his life. His b...
The forest was different, and the fields were, and maybe the river was the same, yet somehow altered, and that, too, was how my father seemed to me when I thought of the stories Franz had told me about him and just as much after what I had seen him do on the jetty in front of Jon's house. I did n...
I hear it from the inside of something which is not a dream, which is different from a dream, and the sound gets louder and louder, and I want it to stop, but it does not. A white crack opens and there is light streaming in, and even if I squeeze my eyes shut the light just gets stronger. The roa...
I had just taken the lift from the garage and got out on the ninth floor in the new high-rise in Oslo close to the harbour front. I was still thinking about Jim. The bag. The reefer jacket. The dark woollen cap. Once upon a time his clothes had been so stylish, he was the first to have long hair ...