Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson is one of the books recommended by staff at Green Apple. Me + Bookstores = Dangerous. The number of unread books I have continues to grow. I’ve still got Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro from Green Apple and I just picked up The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman from the Books Inc on Haight. I also picked up the most recent issue of the Harvard Review plus I have two book club books to read before all of that! Can I become a highly-paid professional reader?
Out Stealing Horses is a Norwegian book translated into English by Anne Born. This book is similar to reading Walden Pond because the narrator decides to take up residence in the deep forest away from people. Sadly this book is unlike Walden Pond because it is straight up depressing. Whereas Thoreau wanted to suck all the marrow out of life, the main character here named Trond, has practically had the marrow sucked out of him and, in my opinion, he’s distant and apathetic. So he complements the cold Norwegian weather. Trond did not resonate with me at all. Gawd, I felt cold reading the book.
This book has won a handful of prestigious awards. I can understand why as it’s beautifully poetic albeit depressing. Less dialogue, more description. Little action, but at times, a page-turner.
Onto the two book club books.
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