I'm sleep walking today as I ended up sucked into this book all night long and ended up with maybe an hour of sleep. A sleep filled with images from the book. Which is really appropriate given that I'm in a similar state to the main character of this book, Arvid.

"Wake" can refer to three things, and all are fitting for this novel by the Norwegian writer Petterson. First, it can mean wake as in not asleep, awake: which is something that happens fairly rarely as the protagonist is sleepwalking through his days haunted by both memories and dreams that seem to keep him out of a fully awake coherent state. It can also mean a vigil held over a corpse before burial, and this fits too: the main character has lost most of his family to tragedy at sea and the remainder of them to divorce and an attempted suicide. He is unable to bury his family, so to speak, as his memories of his father keep pressing at him. Lastly, wake can represent the wave that spreads behind a boat, or the consequences of an event (what is left behind spinning out of control). This again fits as the tragedy at sea is from a burning ship.

All of these forms of "wake" fit into the puzzle of the novel without being overly clever or trite. The character Arvid is complex, and Petterson fills him out into a human that fascinates me yet still leaves me questions unanswered.

For one thing, there's no seeming explanation for the distance from Arvid and his brother throughout their childhood, both emotionally and geographically. Additionally, his relationship with his father seems based on pleasing his Dad even to the point of his own suffering. What does he get out of that? He doesn't seem to care for his Dad, and acknowledges in several places that at his father's many requests, he could have declined at any time. He didn't. He pushed himself to live up to his father's expectations, and yet seemed to have no discernable love for him. Towards the end he concludes that if he knew some of his father's own struggles, revealed after his death, it might have made him closer to him in life.

Another big question for me was why, after his divorce, did he spend so little time with his daughters? He mentions that maybe he's had enough of family and family connections, yet he chides his suicidal brother for not considering what his son would have felt had his suicide succeeded. Throughout the book Arvid goes through his fog of memories (literal fog too) and nearly kills himself numerous times in different ways, albeit without the conscious decision. I wonder if he intentionally tried to dissolve his own role as father so as not to traumatize his daughters with his own death, one that seems lurking behind every corner.

I really liked this book, and the character is someone I could see having coffee with. It asserts that everyone grieves differently (no kidding) but also that grief never fades. It may move into another corner of the mind, as if in a spare room with the door shut, but it is still in residence.

One thing that sort of rattled me was that this book was a translation from Norwegian, and there were a few phrases that seemed really out of whack. I know nothing of language or translation, but I'm curious if that was an intention of the author or a glitch in the translation. ( )

One of my favourite books,m fantastic translation by Anne Born. I prefer it to Out stealing horses, another of his which won the Dublin Prize, where both author and translator are honoured. I think. SHall double check these facts and get back. Not today. ( )

I was surprised that I did not find this novel very interesting. The reviews called it "beautifully enlightening" and "a novel of the highest caliber." Perhaps it needs a second reading for a full understanding. It is a fast read. I am also surprised because Petterson's later book, "Out Stealing Horses," is one of my favorite books of all time. ( )

About [In the Wake], it has kind of a chaotic beginning in that the main character, Arvid, is pounding on the door of a bookstore that is not open and in which it later turns out that he has not worked in three years. He has busted ribs and a black eye and really doesn't remember how it happened. The next scene is later, in his house, after his ribs have been bandaged. Then there is a conversation with his brother on the phone, and flashbacks about a trip he took with his older brother to the flat and then the cabin of his parents, which happened after his parents and two younger brothers died in a ferry boat fire that happened in 1990. In between the flashbacks, a Kurdish neighbor who speaks only a few words of English is locked out of his apartment with his family, and wakes him in the middle of the night to let him in. This neighbor has also experienced something distressing, but we never learn what it is, we only see his distress in a lit up room at night through the window as Arvid does. And we witness the two of them, Arvid and the Kurd, together, when the Kurd brings a gift to thank him for the middle of the night, and in one later encounter, in which they are able to share and commisserate without the use of language. We learn that Arvid is divorced during the conversation with his brother, which happens in the middle of the night, and also by references that he makes to his daughters moving out of his flat.

The first 80 pages, which also includes the attempted suicide of his brother and Arvid, after visiting his brother in the hospital, falling asleep and nearly freezing to death, seemed to me to be in the spirit of the title of the book - In the Wake - or in the turbulence of something that has motored through your life and left a wake behind. In addition to the scenes I've mentioned, and other scenes, mostly remembered, involving his family, he also recounts many of his dreams, which also include members of his family.

In the 120 pages that follow the tone changes for me. It is not that he wakes up and takes things in hand, more that he allows other experiences to touch him that are not the aftermath of the tragedy. The first of these experiences stem from his falling asleep outside, then making it back half-frozen to his flat, and discovering that he does not have his keys. He thinks of waking the Kurd, but that would wake the whole family. He finally settles on a neighbor, a woman he has seen in the store but doesn't know, but her light is on. This encounter, which is awkward as any encounter with a stranger in the middle of the night would be, in which he ends up telling her a story about him and his father, is one of my favorite in the book. The other is later, when he spends a few hours with his daughter.

This book was actually written after, [To Siberia], though translated into English earlier. Both the books were written after the ferry boat fire, a real life even in which Per Petterson's father, mother, one brother and a neice died. Besides that event, the parents of the novel are based on his actual parents. But the novel diverges from his real life in how Arvid of the novel reacts, and in what happens after. As I read about this, I discovered that the main character of To Siberia was also a fictionalized account of the life of his mother beginning with some things that he knew - how she felt about her brother, for instance - and imagining from there. A version of his father also appears in the earlier novel in an encounter with his mother - but they do not marry in that novel. I will want to reread To Siberia with that in mind. [Out Stealing Horses], in contrast, is not based upon anything autobiographical, but arose out of a desire to show a relationship between father and son in which it was clear that the two loved each other.

I am not sure I would rate this book as highly as the other two, which I read first, but I am halfway through rereading it which I felt I wanted to do to get it straight in my mind and go back to the beginning, which I hadn't quite assimilated the first time through. I would definitely recommend it though. ( )

I felt compelled to keep going with this book, partly because of the desire to find out the what had happened to Arvid and his brother to make them both so dysfunctional, but also because of much of the writing - at times quite beautiful. But in the end it didn't work for me. I found the main character annoying and felt at times that it "lost something in the translation". Then again, I might not have been in "the mood" for such a book. You will see from other reviews that it was highly praised. ( )

Long sentences, hard to follow. About man who is mourning the tragic death of his family on a boat fire. ( )

uncomfortable but compelling--like exfoliating burned skin with sand. the descriptions of the landscapes moved me the most, and it seemed very fitting that arvid had a copy of 100 haiku. ( )

Per Petterson’s first published novel, “In the Wake” takes the reader on a journey of grief- related depression with Arvid, a Norwegian stoic with a desire to write novels. Translated by Ann Borne in 2003, the novel’s sentence structure is tortured and the tone is somber and hopeless in the early chapters. The setting is stark but beautiful as the characters move through scenes from fjords near Oslo to the forests of Denmark. The time line is varied with numerous flashbacks, giving the reader quick views of Arvid’s father, a man who is very competitive in physical contests but never seems to be able to finish an event. Arvid’s artistic nature clashes with the masculine bravado of his father, and he gets no paternal support for his creative work. The tragedy that occurs in his family causes Arvid to doubt his writing ability, and he stops writing for some time. Alcohol adds to his depression, but he has an inner resilience that matches the enduring landscape and culture of Norway.

Arvid brings to light his repressed memories and performs the difficult task of self-analysis. The sentence structure becomes more relaxed,and the tone lighter as Arvid gains insight, but not without a cost. He must face his neglect of his brother who was hospitalized for his own suicidal depression. The brothers are faced with the need for reconciliation, and Arvid begins to realize that he was not the only member of the family to suffer from his father’s projected disappointment.

There is a beautiful scene related to a crafts shop owner in the forested country outside of Oslo. A similar artistic scene occurs in the snow-covered hills near the hospital where Arvid’s brother is recovering. The isolated scenes are written in a lyrical style like Petterson’s entire subsequent novel, “Out Stealing Horses.” It may be better to read the latter novel first because the somber mood of the former may give a false impression of the writer’s consistent style. Per Petterson is a talented writer who tells intricate tales with interesting psychological interaction of his characters. ( )

"Per Pettersons roman "I kjølvannet" handler om to menn som savner sine nærmeste. To brødre sørger, men de vet ikke hvordan: Når skal man se seg tilbake, hvor lenge, hvor ofte? Når må man holde opp - for ikke selv å gå i stykker? Hva har aggresjon og sorg med hverandre å gjøre?" Fra http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/kultur/3712...
Vældig stringent fortælling om sorg og krise uden føleri. Flot sproglig beherskelse. ( )

First Line: 'It was something to do with a face'.

Premise: One man's struggle dealing with bereavement in mid-life.

The Book: (**Possible Spoilers)

Anne Born beautifully translates this meditative and heart- rending book from Norwegian. It is the fifth novel by this author - the first to reach an American audience -and explores themes of loss and grieving, and possibly the concurrent insanity, loneliness and alienation that results.

I sometimes stumble through translated works – wondering if part of the beauty of the prose is lost in the process, or the cultural context of the book is misrepresented. This book did not make me feel like an outside viewer and I found the writing crisp and evocative.

The plot centres on the protagonist, Arvid, a 43-year-old divorced male, and is based on Per Pettersen’s personal tragedy - the fire that broke out on the Scandinavian Star ferry on April 7, 1990, killing 159 people, including several members of Mr. Petterson’s family. Yet the autobiographical nature of the book does not deter from its artistic merit.

Arvid is living in a disjointed and befuddled internal state, grief-stricken and guilt-ridden. He was initially supposed to be on the boat with his family. Since the accident his wife has divorced him and he rarely sees his two young daughters.

He demonstrated the depressive, self-deprecatory state of grief, and the numbness of his affect. He struggles to survive his mental anguish, and echoes the theme of drowning with his mental faculties initially seeming to be sinking irrevocably.

“I feel the sun on my neck, it is burning or something is burning, and maybe it is Sunday. I don’t remember. I see only my eyes in the glass and the books beyond, and I don’t know what day it is.”

His writing style is centred in the ‘interior landscape’ of protagonist’s head and has a rather pathetic and ruminative quality, which clears as the character’s lucidity returns and he adjusts to his grief. The atmosphere is one of loneliness and isolation of the characters, with brief episodes of connection quickly lost.

His mind dwells on his failures, flashbacks to his family days, and the socially barren world of his post-divorce loneliness. However, there is some context to his grief when one of the few 'events' in the novel is played out - his brother in hospital after attempting suicide. .

The first chapter is the hardest to read, as the character of Arvid is submerged in his mental anguish and torment. Through the novel we learn about his ambiguous relationship with his father, and his brother’s emotional upheaval in the face of his divorce. His thoughts centre on past encounters with his family, his failed marriage, and his unsuccessful career. His character demands the reader’s sympathy, as he explores the sense of injustice of the world, using the text of the novel to illustrate his existential questions on life and fate. Yet the almost incongruous character of Arvid manages to add humour to the bleakness of his situation.

The scenery of Scandinavia, with its cold icy climes, lakes and forests provides the backdrop for his suffering. He writes in the present tense with frequent lapses into past tense for his memories and reveries. The length of his sentences is often prolonged when the emotional tone of the prose is heightened, giving the effect of thought intrusion and reflection.

Reading and rereading the works of favorite writers and poets starts to heal him, and allows him to move in and out of the real world, to ascribe some meaning to his world, in order to rejoin it. He also gains strength from incidental characters, who listen to his story of loss when he finally finds himself able – the nurse in the hospital and the neighbours, Mrs. Grinde and the Kurd. Naim Hajo

By the end of the book, there is a sense of recovery, but no epiphany or triumph over the desperations of grief, no great new connections to replace the lost, just a regaining of the normal. On reflection, you realize that you have witnessed the thought processes of a mid-life crisis, as well as the more universal crisis of grief and survivor guilt - with the chaos produced‘in its wake.

The premise of “In the Wake” makes me think of Paul Auster, particularly “The Book of Illusions,” in which a man loses his wife and two sons in a plane crash. It can also be contrasted with the chaotic and dreamlike prose of Joan Didion in her book about bereavement, “The Year of Magical Thinking’. ( )

Adapted from a review I submitted to Library Journal:
Award-winning Norwegian novelist Per Petterson makes his American debut with In the Wake, the story of a man struggling with loneliness and grief after the loss of his family in the MS Estonia disaster. Winner of Norway's prestigious Brage Prize, this profound novel is informed by Petterson's own experience losing family in the disaster.
Drowning in grief and self-doubt, novelist Arvid Jansen is unable to write. Besides sporadic contact with his older brother, Arvid's human relationships are restricted to his Kurdish neighbor, with whom he has only three words of shared vocabulary, and Mrs. Grinde, the elusive woman who stares at him from her window.
The few short weeks covered in the novel affect Arvid subtly but profoundly, pushing him to come to terms with his survivor guilt and look outside of himself to recognize the needs of others.
Masterfully written --and adeptly rendered by translator Anne Born-- this novel is both timely and timeless.
Despite a challenging first chapter, readers will discover in In the Wake a beautifully enlightening treatise on grief and identity disguised as a novel.
(16 March 2006) ( )