HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

A Summer of Drowning by John Burnside
Loading...

A Summer of Drowning (edition 2012)

by John Burnside (Author)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
13014208,757 (3.58)3
A young girl, Liv, lives with her mother on a remote island in the Arctic Circle. Her only friend is an old man who beguiles her with tales of trolls, mermaids, and the huldra, a wild spirit who appears as an irresistably beautiful girl, to tempt young men to danger and death. Then two boys drown within weeks of each other under mysterious circumstances, in the still, moonlit waters off the shores of Liv's home. Were the deaths accidental or were the boys lured to their doom by a malevolent spirit?… (more)
Member:Macon
Title:A Summer of Drowning
Authors:John Burnside (Author)
Info:Vintage (2012), 336 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:None

Work Information

A Summer of Drowning by John Burnside

Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 3 mentions

English (11)  French (1)  Italian (1)  All languages (13)
Showing 1-5 of 11 (next | show all)
It is summer time on the island of Kvaloya, the time of the midnight sun. And Mats Sigfridsson has just drowned. Soon after his brother Harald also drowns. How could they both have drowned on such a calm, peaceful sea? And why had they both chosen to steal the same boat. Was it some sort of a suicide pact between the brothers? Liv Rossdal isn’t so sure. And after ten years thinking about the drownings she still isn’t sure.

Liv was eighteen that summer. Finished school and trying to decide what to do with her life. She had lived on the island inside the Arctic circle for as long as she could remember, her father had never been in her life, her mother had made the decision to relocate to focus on painting. They live an isolated existence, although her mother isn’t as much of a recluse as she and the art world sometimes make out. She has her weekly meetings with her “suitors”, and then there is the neighbour Kyrre Opdahl. A strange old man with her stories and tales of huldra and spirits and people who go out one day and are never seen again.

This is one of those books that I really have no idea how to review. Because to give away too many details is to spoil it. And yet the plot isn’t the important thing. It is the writing and the way Burnside tells the story. Liv is our narrator. From a distance of ten years she looks back at that “summer of drowning” and tells us what she saw, and did, and witnessed. What she thought about what had happened. So we have that delicious sense of foreboding all the time. We know from very early on that there will be drownings and mysterious disappearances. And the possibility of a huldra.

The huldra is a wild spirit that appears as a beautiful woman, she lures men to their death.

But the huldra does not exist surely. It is a creature from folklore and legend. But then what possible explanation could there be for the events of that summer in 2001? Before you start to get the wrong impression, this is not a fantasy romance with a new supernatural being at its centre, instead it is a strange dreamlike novel that you are much more likely to find in the literary fiction part of you bookstore than the YA.

The thing about this book that really stood out as I read it was the use of language. It really is a lovely book to just read and enjoy. I found myself noting down quotes almost constantly because both the way Burnside writes, and what he writes about really resonated with me. I loved the character of Liv. I don’t think she would be an altogether pleasant person to know, but I could totally understand and relate to her. Maybe not so much to her mother, although I did like the relationship between the two of them.

And I loved the whole atmosphere of the book, the cover image that I have here in this blog is a lot brighter and clearer than the hard copy one. Which is a pity, because the painting and artist are mentioned in the book, and are important, so it would have been nice to have been able to appreciate it more from the outset. But with the interwebs I was more than able to look the painter & artist up. There was quite a lot in this book that I looked up actually. From Norwegian phrases to artists and paintings, so I guess you could also call it an educational book.

One word of warning though, don’t start this expecting a cut and dried story with a neatly tied up plot, because that isn’t what you are going to get here, instead you’ll get a wonderfully written, atmospheric, and evocative novel. I’ll certainly be investigating more of Burnside’s work, I may even try some of his poetry, we’ll see how that goes though :) ( )
  Fence | Jan 5, 2021 |
Exquisitely written but having just finished reading it I couldn't possibly put into words what it's really about. Need a while to savour it. ( )
  nick4998 | Oct 31, 2020 |
Why do poets think that writing novels has to be hard work? Shakes head....

http://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/a-summer-of-drowning-by-jo... ( )
  bringbackbooks | Jun 16, 2020 |
Why do poets think that writing novels has to be hard work? Shakes head....

http://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/a-summer-of-drowning-by-jo... ( )
  bringbackbooks | Jun 16, 2020 |
Why do poets think that writing novels has to be hard work? Shakes head....

http://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/a-summer-of-drowning-by-jo... ( )
  bringbackbooks | Jun 16, 2020 |
Showing 1-5 of 11 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
John Burnsideprimary authorall editionscalculated
Nilsson, MattiasPhotographersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Among friends I argue that the true inventor of painting was Narcissus, the youth who, according to the poets, was transformed into a flower. And, since painting is the flower of all the arts, this story of Narcissus is most apt. For what is painting, if not an attempt, through the discipline of art, to embrace the surface of the pool in which we are reflected?
Leon Battista Alberti, De Pictura
The study of the visible universe may be said to start with a determination to use our eyes. At the very beginning there is something which might be described as an act of faith - a belief that what our eyes have to show us is significant.
Arthur Stanley Eddington, Science and the Unseen World
Dedication
First words
Late in May 2001, about ten days after I saw him for the last time, Mats Sigfridsson was hauled out of Malangen Sound, a few miles down the coast from here.
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Information from the German Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

A young girl, Liv, lives with her mother on a remote island in the Arctic Circle. Her only friend is an old man who beguiles her with tales of trolls, mermaids, and the huldra, a wild spirit who appears as an irresistably beautiful girl, to tempt young men to danger and death. Then two boys drown within weeks of each other under mysterious circumstances, in the still, moonlit waters off the shores of Liv's home. Were the deaths accidental or were the boys lured to their doom by a malevolent spirit?

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.58)
0.5
1 1
1.5
2 3
2.5
3 11
3.5
4 12
4.5
5 6

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,199,774 books! | Top bar: Always visible