Karl Ove Knausgaard (Author)
Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle cycle has been heralded as a
masterpiece all over the world. From A Death in the Family to The
End, the novels move through childhood into adulthood and,
together, form an enthralling portrait of human life. Knausgaard
has been awarded the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature, the
Brage Prize and the Jerusalem Prize. His work, which also includes
the Seasons Quartet and the Morning Star series (The Morning Star,
The Wolves of Eternity and The Third Realm) is published in
thirty-five languages.
Martin Aitken (Translator)
Martin Aitken's translations of Scandinavian literature number some
35 books. His work has appeared on the shortlists of the
International DUBLIN Literary Award (2017) and the U.S. National
Book Awards (2018), as well as the 2021 International Booker Prize.
He received the PEN America Translation Prize in 2019.
"In his first work of fiction since the six volumes of My Struggle,
Knausgaard trades his bracingly autobiographical mode for a
ravishing form of theologically infused fabulism. A mysterious
celestial body appears in the late-August sky, accompanied by
Biblical omens, hallucinations, and increasingly uncanny events in
the natural world. Tracing the lives of nine interconnected
characters, Knausgaard sets these enigmatic phenomena against the
minutiae of everyday life. This combination of the universal and
the intimate enables the novel to approach weighty subjects--death
and dying, belief and despair--with both the thrust of a suspense
narrative and the depth of a philosophical inquiry." --The New
Yorker "Knausgaard's sentences, in Martin Aitken's translation, are
both plainly direct and lyrically, emotionally elevated . . .
Symphonic." --Heidi Julavits, New York Times Book Review
"Knausgaard retains the ability to lock you, as if in a tractor
beam, into his storytelling. He takes the mundane stuff of
life--the need to take a leak, the joy of killing pesky flies--and
essentializes them . . . Knausgaard is among the finest writers
alive." --Dwight Garner, New York Times "[Knausgaard's] imagination
functions perfectly. . . . Just as we begin to wonder where he is
taking us, whether he is capable, he gets us there. Actually he
does what we might never have expected of Knausgaard: he carries us
into a Land, like a part-animal or genderless guide." --Patricia
Lockwood, London Review of Books "[Knausgaard] reveals himself to
be a surprise master of the uncanny . . . The storytelling gift
that kept readers enthralled by My Struggle remains powerful. Like
Stephen King, another inspiration here, Knausgaard stays
shoulder-close to his characters, his paragraphs mimicking the
erratic interleaving of their thoughts . . . This is a thoughtful,
highly readable novel, packed with ideas and exciting flourishes."
--Charles Arrowsmith, Los Angeles Times
"Without quite turning into Stephen King, Knausgaard has managed a
page-turner that's recognizably his own. The true sign of the
master's touch: he writes too much but always leaves you wanting
more." --Christian Lorentzen, Air Mail "Knausgaard's first
traditional novel since the 2008 translation of A Time for
Everything offers a dark and enthralling story of the appearance of
a new star . . . Knausgaard wheels wildly and successfully through
various forms. His focus on the beauty and terror of the mundane
will resonate with fans of My Struggle . . . For the author it's a
marvelous new leap." --Publishers Weekly (starred) "Readers hungry
for more of [Knausgaard's] immersive storytelling will burn through
this tome." --Booklist
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