6 Comments
User's avatar
Jake Casson's avatar

This is the level of dysfunctional that I enjoy. Plus your review's lyrical wizardry has me wanting to read it even more!

Expand full comment
Yevgeny K's avatar

“These are the bits that set my brain tingling with its masochistic fetish for foulness. I gorged on the grime and uneasiness...”

Lol!

You read it, Adam! This makes me very happy and I’m glad that you liked it even though you found some parts boring. I liked it from begging to end but maybe it was because I had listened to it.

Try listening to the second book. The narrator, Edoardo Ballerini, is fantastic. By far my favorite narrator and I listen to a lot of books. I wouldn’t be surprised if my enjoyment of these books wouldn’t be diminished if I had to read them instead of listening. Ballerini is that good.

Expand full comment
Adam Beckett's avatar

Haha! Grime and anxiety are like a drug to me in literature.

I will try the audio for book 2, thanks for the tip.

The boring bits were oddly not off-putting, they just threw me off because it took so long to get to the point of the book.

Expand full comment
Yevgeny K's avatar

Yes, it’s a lot of musings. Which I love if they’re coming from someone worth listening to, and Knausgaard is, imo. I remember really liking Book 2. Book 2 and 4 were my favorite.

Book 6 is good too if you’re into history, psychology and WWII. Book 6 is very long. There is a 400 page essay, pretty much, just on Hitler. His take was fresh and very interesting, and even though I thought I had heard everything that can be said on the subject, I found Knausgaard’s take enthralling.

Expand full comment
Hayden Moore's avatar

I like to imagine her as a female Charles Bukowski after he's become too old to pick up chicks: Brilliant.

If you were to ask me about this book, ten times a day, I'd give you a different answer, every time.

Expand full comment
Adam Beckett's avatar

I changed my mind about it several times while reading it. It's a difficult one to categorise. I wonder how it'd read in the original Norwegian text.

Expand full comment