That lived up to my worst fears. Barely past the introduction I knew it wasn’t keeping my attention. The story is ridiculously farfetched, needing farThat lived up to my worst fears. Barely past the introduction I knew it wasn’t keeping my attention. The story is ridiculously farfetched, needing far more acrobatic suspension of disbelief than I could manage. Basically just a bunch of awful characters, lying, cheating and killing each other. ...more
An entire family's dirty laundry is carefully washed by hand in this endlessly meandering book. The "present" plotline is that Joy Delaney disappears An entire family's dirty laundry is carefully washed by hand in this endlessly meandering book. The "present" plotline is that Joy Delaney disappears and her four children and husband don't know what to make of it. Eventually she is reported missing and detectives show up.
The "past" plotline is a year back, when a strange girl just happened to fall upon Joy and her husband late one evening. They let her in and let her stay, to the grown-up children's chagrin. Who is this Savannah and what does she really want? And what really happened to Joy?
If you, like me, are at the start of the book and wondering whether it can possibly be worth it, then the answer is "yes". Not unequivocally so perhaps, because the story meanders and loops and repeats - but still, you do get into it eventually. Definitely not a favorite book of the author by any means, but interesting enough for the plot to linger a bit.
Manuel gets the kind of visit from the police no one ever wants to get. His husband Alvaro has been killed in a car accident while visiting his estranManuel gets the kind of visit from the police no one ever wants to get. His husband Alvaro has been killed in a car accident while visiting his estranged family. Manuel travels down and stumbles across suspicous circumstances. He also discovers he is the sole heir of his deceased husband's expansive estate and that his in-laws are the worst. Little by little, and with the help of a retired police officer, Manuel begins to unravel the family secrets.
This is a beautifully written, captivating book. It's much more than the usual "whodunnit" or domestic noir, although it bears elements of both. While Manuel delves into the aspects of Alvaro's life that were kept of of his sights, he also makes an internal journey across his own landscape of failures. The elements of love in this book run deep. Definitely reocmmended!...more
Den här boken handlar om aktieboomen och fastighetsmarknaden på det glada 80-talet. Om Palme mordet, så klart. Den är ganska underhållande, speciellt Den här boken handlar om aktieboomen och fastighetsmarknaden på det glada 80-talet. Om Palme mordet, så klart. Den är ganska underhållande, speciellt i hur tidningen Expressen blir fullständigt sliten i stycken. Författaren måste vara ute på en riktigt saftig hämndaktion, det gör mig en smula nyfiken. ...more
"One afternoon on a weekend in March, Dewi Ayu rose from her grave after being dead for twenty-one years."
This is the sentence that had me buy the boo"One afternoon on a weekend in March, Dewi Ayu rose from her grave after being dead for twenty-one years."
This is the sentence that had me buy the book and stay with it for 70%. I could almost stay with it just to figure out why Dewi Ayu decided to die for 20 years. However, I simply cannot survive anymore bestiality. There have been so many murders, deaths and rapes in this book already. Original and allegorical for sure, but enough is enough....more
This is a story that mainly revolves around Sunja and her family. Korean Sunja ends up as a minister's wife in Japan. The Koreans there suffer a lot oThis is a story that mainly revolves around Sunja and her family. Korean Sunja ends up as a minister's wife in Japan. The Koreans there suffer a lot of discrimination and this continues even as the decades pass. The plot moves mostly around family dynamics - parents, husbands, wives, lovers, ex-lovers and children. It's deeply human, with great insight and very well written.
I've been an immigrant of sorts all my life myself. My passport country has been the most discriminating and hateful - because of the wrong language and accent - other than this, I have not suffered anything remotely like the Koreans in Japan. No wonder some of the offspring of Koreans tried to pass of as Japanese. That they could is at testimony of how much they actually look alike. Discrimination comes in many uninspired forms....more
En lite småtråkig bok om notarierna Eriks vänsterprassel på 70-talet. Visserligen var hans övertagande av sonen en rafflande historia, men i övrigt vaEn lite småtråkig bok om notarierna Eriks vänsterprassel på 70-talet. Visserligen var hans övertagande av sonen en rafflande historia, men i övrigt var detta nog så lättförglömligt. ...more
I feel rather crappy for giving this book 2*. It's not for the quality of the writing or the themes or the characters, it's because at no point did I I feel rather crappy for giving this book 2*. It's not for the quality of the writing or the themes or the characters, it's because at no point did I actually feel compelled to continue reading. I finished it tonight so that I wouldn't have to continue at breakfast. Like with "All the light we cannot see", I read and understood what the author was trying say, but I could not feel it. Books like these make me feel like a psychopath, like I can't connect, even though I know perfectly well that I can bawl my eyes out over books. Once every few years at any rate.
On the definite upside, a learned a lot about Cuba. Both the Cuba of Fidel Castro's revolution, and the dysfunctional Cuba that he's left us with. I also learned that what the exiled Cubans, having fled when Castro took over, tell each other - "Next Year in Havana". They will go back when Castro is gone, when his disciples are gone. One day.
The book is told on two plot lines. The first is of Marisol, present day. After Castro's death she returns to Cuba with her grandmother's ash in little make-up pots. To find a suitable place, she travels around the island with her grandmother Elisa's best friend Ana's grandson Luis. Of course sparks fly. Dangerous ones.
The other plotline is of Elisa, Marisol's grandmother. It tells of a Cuba in upheaval and how she falls in love with a revolutionary, a man her parents cannot possibly approve of. How the family eventually has to flee.
There isn't anything wrong with this. It's beautifully written and informative. I just couldn't feel anything. The words were not connecting with my emotions.
There is of course, the distinct possibility of some Freudian defense mechanisms going on. I was, like Elisa, raised by a nanny. I was 'exiled' from the country of my childhood when my 'blood' family left and I along with them. Not once, but several times. I lost all my tribal connections and two languages along the way. Although an unfriendly regime did not prevent me from returning the wrong kind of passport and general disapproval of my not letting go, definitely did. Like Marisol, I returned to a country that I had frozen in my imagination and that no longer exists. So yes, there is definitely the possibility of my subconscious putting guards up to not let me feel this kind of book....more
"The shock of standing again under the wide pale sky, completely exposed. This must be what the oyster feels when the lemon juice falls.'
The prose and"The shock of standing again under the wide pale sky, completely exposed. This must be what the oyster feels when the lemon juice falls.'
The prose and the acerbic social commentary works wonders with this book, even if the content itself is rather limited. Nothing much happens.
Upper-class Patrick is 22-years old and spends his days getting wasted. Then his horrible father has died and he has to collect the ashes in New York. Patrick continues to chase the next hit even in New York. There are plenty of descriptions of him chasing the next hit, feeling or not feeling the coke and heroin, looking for a veins.
"Patrick lay in the bathtub, one leg dangling over the edge of the bath, blood trickling from his arm. He'd put all the coke in one last fix and, blasted by the rush, had fallen off the edge of the bath."
This is what you get. It's like watching an exotic animal's antics in a zoo. Or plankton eating each in a drop of water under the microscope. Strange, close and fascinating....more
This book had a very good start. I abandoned it at 164 pages on favor of “ten types of human”. I wasn’t tempted to return, but I read another 50 pagesThis book had a very good start. I abandoned it at 164 pages on favor of “ten types of human”. I wasn’t tempted to return, but I read another 50 pages last night as I couldn’t decide on what to read after “something in the water”. By now I am definitely done.
Erin, the main character, isn’t my friend. Her husband is a stubborn and well educated fool without ambition. He wants to stick with what he knows, whereas she wants greater things. Good luck with that Erin, you go on without me. ...more
Wow, what an amazing ride! I've read a couple of books by Steinbeck before, but none that came even close to blowing me away. This did. It's a sprawliWow, what an amazing ride! I've read a couple of books by Steinbeck before, but none that came even close to blowing me away. This did. It's a sprawling family saga starting in the mid-19th century and ending with the first world war. It's got an amazing set of characters and gives an in-depth analysis of human fallability and resilience. It explores the concepts of good and evil in humans in the most subtle of ways. I'm gobsmacked. Read this, if you haven't!...more
This book follows Ingrid, from the age of about three, and her family. They live a subsistence existence on the tiny island of Barrøy in the north-wesThis book follows Ingrid, from the age of about three, and her family. They live a subsistence existence on the tiny island of Barrøy in the north-west of Norway. The time is somewhere at the beginning of the 20th century, although it is never specified. We follow the lives of people and animals over a good dozen years. It's a surprisingly lovely little read, given that the usual forward tension and plotting are mostly absent. The language is lovely, and for most part, not too flowery....more
Ännu en bok i Jan Guillous romansvit "det stora århundradet". Erik, en av barnbarnen, är huvudpersonen. Han är nytutbildad jurist och socialist. Han dÄnnu en bok i Jan Guillous romansvit "det stora århundradet". Erik, en av barnbarnen, är huvudpersonen. Han är nytutbildad jurist och socialist. Han demonstrerar mot Vietnam kriget. På sitt första jobb så blir hans första uppdrag att följa en rättssak om neurosedyn i Tyskland, eftersom kunskaper härifrån kunde hjälpa den uppkommande rättstvisten i Sverige, de skadade barnen mot läkemedelsföretaget Astra. Saken i Sverige gäller huruvida Astra uppträdde försumligt eller inte.
Det borde kanske ha varit tråkigt, men det var inte det. Rättssaken om neurosedyn/talidomid var rafflande intressant. De svaga mot de starka. Erik är i sig själv en trevlig bekantskap. Det börjar vara svårt att hålla koll på alla personer i klanen, men jag hänger mig inte upp i det. Det blir en lång väntan på nästa bok i serien....more
Holy smokes! Dette var helt fantastisk! Jeg ble dratt til det gruselige bokomslaget, som lovet grøsser atmosfære. Det fikk jeg så det holdt.
Liv er blHoly smokes! Dette var helt fantastisk! Jeg ble dratt til det gruselige bokomslaget, som lovet grøsser atmosfære. Det fikk jeg så det holdt.
Liv er blitt dødforklaret. Ingen vet at hun fins. Hun bor avsides på en øy sammen med sine foreldre. Mor Maria som er blitt så stor og feit at hun ikke kommer seg opp av sengen. Far Jens som alltid vært en manisk samler, men som det slått helt slint for etter en ulykke med Livs tvillingbror Carl. Farmor Else kommer på besøk, det skulle hun ikke ha gjort.
"Det var mørkt i det hvite rommet da far drepte farmor".
Det er åpningssetningen! Fortellingen snur litt frem og tilbake på tidsaksisen. Det fungerer. Det fortelles fra flere personers ståsted, men det er Liv som er hovedpersonen og det meste blir sagt gjennom hennes øyne. Hun som ikke aner hva normalt er.
Dette er en virkelig fantastisk spenningsroman. Troverdig, ekkel - og litt magisk, på grunn av Livs perspektiv. Måtte jeg velge en genre å sette dette i så hadde det vært grøsser. Det er ikke noe overnaturlig her, men menneskelig ondske - også når den ikke nødvendigvis er tilsiktet - er nok. Anbefales!...more
Lorna is getting married to John and somehow decides that Black Rabbit Hall should be the venue. She has some vague childhood memories of having been Lorna is getting married to John and somehow decides that Black Rabbit Hall should be the venue. She has some vague childhood memories of having been there. She is drawn into the derelict mansion and its mysterious owner Catherine.
Intertwined in this story is that of the children of Black Rabbit Hall in the 60's: Amber, Toby, Kitty and Barney. This is told through Amber's perspective. Her mother dies and their father marries Catherine. She arrives with her teenaged son Lucian.
This intertwined present-and-past technique is one I am getting a little tired of for this type of book. However, it has its uses in driving the plot forward. Everything is quite predictable, although the author really stretches her artistic license to throw in some unexpected twists and not just the ones you see coming from the very start.
The book is saved by the last couple of chapters and the epilogue. There is something decidedly satisfying about a book that delivers the results you crave. ...more
The truth is I didn't like it. I've spent several days trying to not read. Yet there's been such spectacular fuss around this book here in Norway - foThe truth is I didn't like it. I've spent several days trying to not read. Yet there's been such spectacular fuss around this book here in Norway - for its semi autobiographical content - that I had to finish. Ugh. I could have just left it after 50 pages, when I first started wondering whether it was worth it, for all it gave me. A waste of time and patience.
The book starts with an argument over the inheritance of two summer cottages and descends into washing the family's dirty laundry so to speak. The main character is neurotic and still suffering after a childhood trauma. The writing moves forward in circles, with endless repetitions. I did not care for the style. I did not care for any of the characters.
If it is true that some of this content is from the author's own life, then I am totally creeped out. Who on earth would want to throw their skeletons out in the yard for all to see?! I'm not going to read anything more of this author in a hurry, probably never. ...more
Endelig en verdig avslutning! Jeg var så uendelig skuffet etter "Ligge i grønne enger" at jeg knapt visste hva jeg skulle gjøre av meg. Den var så kraEndelig en verdig avslutning! Jeg var så uendelig skuffet etter "Ligge i grønne enger" at jeg knapt visste hva jeg skulle gjøre av meg. Den var så krampaktig skrevet og sluttet så vondt. Med "Alltid tilgivelse" erklærer jeg Anne B. Radge for tilgitt. Dette var veldig bra og jeg spurte magien fra "Berlinerpoplene", den første boka, igjen.
I den her boken får vi være med når Erlend og Krumme blir foreldrer. Vi blir også med Margido, som prøver å lære opp en helt odugelig etterfølger. Torunn går til slutt lei av sin notorisk utroe Christer og bestemmer seg for å flytte hjem til Neshov igjen. Hurra! En varm og ærlig fortelling med gamle velkjente karakterer. En nytelse fra begynnelse til slutt. Anbefales til alle som allerede lest de tre første, også til de som var skuffet etter tredje bind....more
This was a truly well-spun tale on family history and secrets. The main character Edvard decides to dig in his past after his grandfather Sverre dies.This was a truly well-spun tale on family history and secrets. The main character Edvard decides to dig in his past after his grandfather Sverre dies. When Edvard was a little child, both his parents died in France and he disappeared for four days. No one knows what his parents were doing there, nor where he disappeared to. There is also Sverre's mysterious brother on Shetland, which is the first trail Edvard follows.
The story is layered and the truth of what really happened in France is buried deep, much of the truth can be found in events during the second world war. I did not expect I would enjoy this so much, but it was interesting, unexpected and well-told....more
Read in Norwegian. Marcus Goldman is back and this time he is ready to tell the story of his cousin's family in Baltimore. The golden, rich side of thRead in Norwegian. Marcus Goldman is back and this time he is ready to tell the story of his cousin's family in Baltimore. The golden, rich side of the family. Succesful lawyer uncle Saul, talented doctor wife Anita, their intelligent son Hillel and their sort-of foster son Woody. It ended badly for the lot of them and little by little the story is pieced together through different timelines. There is a lot of hinting at "the tragedy" that eventuallly becomes really annoying. When all is revealed, I'm a little stumped. I never would have guessed. I'm also a little perplexed by the themes the ending throws into the mix. "The snake in the garden", "nature versus nurture" and other things I didn't really think this had been about.
This is no where near the heights of "the truth about the Harry Quebert affair" which was a true master piece. What this book does have is sympathetic, honest characters. There is a richness in the descriptions of relationships that I rarely come across. Other than this, "the Baltimore family" (or whatever this will be called in English) is a fairly run-of-the-mill coming of age story. Except two of three cousins never really come of age, so maybe it's not quite the common variety after all. Anyway, absolutely recommended. Already available in several languages, but not English....more
This not badly written as such. The blurb is promising and the first 200 pages go down well. Then, however, it just goes on and on and on without muchThis not badly written as such. The blurb is promising and the first 200 pages go down well. Then, however, it just goes on and on and on without much substance or need. I could not fathom where the author wanted to go.
A high-profile career couple from Germany arrive at a lonely Yorkshire house they've let for Christmas. They are promptly snowed in, have no food and fight a lot. The woman, Barbara, literally stumbles across a manuscript written by the former owner of the house, Frances. Off we go on a ride through two world-wars together with Frances and her biggest rival, little sister Victoria.
I was led to expect that Barbara would stumble on some great secret. I suppose she does, but it is decidedly underwhelming and an awful long time coming. More than five hundred pages in fact.
After page 200 I was trying to find excuses to not read ALL the time. I should have given up, but no, I thought I needed to practice my German and continue. After all, I enjoyed Charlotte Link when I was 24 years old, why wouldn't I now? Well, for one thing, I am no longer a huge fan of wars or family sagas. Yep, I should've known better but since I didn't, I suffered through 600 interminable pages whose only reedming quality was lovely German prose....more
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