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Loading... Out Stealing Horses: A Novelby Per Petterson
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. A damn good read - not usually a fan of concise prose, generally prefer the long-winded wordy stuff, but I'll never look at a bunch of nettles the same way again. Thanks, Pers!  egb9h2 | Jan 6, 2010 |  I found the writing excellent and the story very interesting, but somewhat difficult to follow-- I think that was intentional by the author. I liked the characters and the setting. (  ) Peterabun | Dec 31, 2009 | This book was given to me by my nephew. It probably isn't a book that I would normally pick to read, but I am glad I did. The authors style of writing was very descriptive and each scene that was described was easy to imagine. However it was difficult to follow along at times when the author would jump back and forth from the present time and the past. Sometimes I was unsure which time period the character was in. I wish the ending would have been more "tidied up" and resolved some relationship issues as there was a lot left unsaid. But, the story was intriguing and left me wanting to keep reading. My favorite passage was this..." I want to use the time it takes. Time is important to me now, I tell myself. Not that it should pass quickly or slowly, but be only time, be something I live inside and fill with physical things and activities that I can divide it up by, so that it grows distinct to me and does not vanish when I am not looking." (  ) Staciele | Dec 30, 2009 | I highly recommend this book, if, like me, you like your space and solitude and can relate to someone seeking actively seeking it. The main character, Trond, is in his 60's, reliving his teenage experiences with his Dad. So it hops back and forth in time, seamlessly, and shows this incredible bond between father and son. The bond is so strong that events that come along are not easily understood at first. They don't always fit in with the first perception of the close familial bond. The location, Norway, is fascinating: Petterson spends much time discussing the geography, botany, and farm activities of Norway. The weather, with the short days and long nights then is shifted to long days with short nights, and this seasonal shift seems to be reflected in the character's choices. I don't want to say much else, as to ruin it for someone else, but do curl up with this on a quiet afternoon, with a pot of hot coffee. Have your dog at your feet and a blanket to curl up with, as inevitably you'll soon feel chilly. One thing that astounded me again, in reading this, has been my noticing of late that many books involving older people seem to have all of them reliving their childhood moments, specifically their teen years. I don't know why I hadn't noticed that before. Maybe it wasn't my time to notice those things. It made me wonder, does my dad, at roughly the same age, think about his father in most waking moments? I think I should ask. Because in my life it seems I'm so occupied with just the here and now, I don't have time to look back, and can't really think of a single teenage experience significant enough to ponder in the future. (  )1  BlackSheepDances | Dec 24, 2009 | The story is a good one - but it is the writing that makes this a spectacular book. The prose is smooth and simple, but very evocative. I knew I was in a Scandinavian country - many of the books I've read by Scandinavian authors have a similar style. The reader feels the extremes of weather and of solitude. The characters are clearly drawn. You know who they are in just a few well chosen words. This is just a beautiful book. ( ) dablackwood | Nov 16, 2009 | 
 Here is a remarkable novel, one which appears to be about nothing in particular, featuring barely half a dozen characters, several of whom have no names. Hardly anything happens. A boy dies, a man gets shot, another boy is given a new suit, and that, more or less, is that.  Le Norvégien Per Petterson signe un magnifique roman sur les saisons de la vie, sur ces moments qui font que l'on n'est soudain plus le même.
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0312427085, Paperback)NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW Per Petterson, author of In the Wake, has written five novels, which have established his reputation as one of Norway's best fiction writers. Out Stealing Horses has won the Norwegian Bookseller's Prize, the Critics' Award for best novel, and The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. Anne Born, poet, critic, and historian, has translated many works from the principal Scandinavian languages into English, including two previous novels by Per Petterson. Winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award One of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist Trond's friend Jon often appeared at his doorstep with an adventure in mind for the two of them. But this morning was different. What began as a joy ride on "borrowed" horses ends with Jon falling into a strange trance of grief. Trond soon learns what befell Jon earlier that day—an incident that marks the beginning of a series of vital losses for both boys. At age sixty-seven, Trond has settled into a rustic cabin in an isolated part of eastern Norway to live the rest of his life with a quiet deliberation. A meeting with his only neighbor, however, forces him to reflect on that fateful summer. "In this quiet but compelling novel, Trond Sander, a widower nearing seventy, moves to a bare house in remote eastern Norway, seeking the life of quiet contemplation that he has always longed for . . . Trond's recollections center on a single afternoon, when he and Jon set out to take some horses from a nearby farm; what began as an exhilarating adventure ended abruptly and traumatically in an act of unexpected cruelty. Petterson’s spare and deliberate prose has astonishing force, and the narrative gains further power from the artful interplay of Trond's childhood and adult perspectives. Loss is conveyed with all the intensity of a boy’s perception, but acquires new resonance in the brooding consciousness of the older man."—The New Yorker "In this quiet but compelling novel, Trond Sander, a widower nearing seventy, moves to a bare house in remote eastern Norway, seeking the life of quiet contemplation that he has always longed for. A chance encounter with a neighbor—the brother, as it happens, of his childhood friend Jon—causes him to ruminate on the summer of 1948, the last he spent with his adored father, who abandoned the family soon afterward. Trond's recollections center on a single afternoon, when he and Jon set out to take some horses from a nearby farm; what began as an exhilarating adventure ended abruptly and traumatically in an act of unexpected cruelty. Petterson’s spare and deliberate prose has astonishing force, and the narrative gains further power from the artful interplay of Trond's childhood and adult perspectives. Loss is conveyed with all the intensity of a boy’s perception, but acquires new resonance in the brooding consciousness of the older man."—The New Yorker "Among the agreeable surprises of Per Petterson's novel is the misleading suggestion that the modesty of his narrator's voice foretells a tale of minor events, an account of the sort of photorealism that prevents anything from happening. In fact, the book contains some bold, convincingly stated coincidences well outside the range of our highbrow realists . . . The characters living and dead are equally palpable, another small wonder of Out Stealing Horses . . . This short yet spacious and powerful book—in such contrast to the well-larded garrulity of the bulbous American novel today—reminds us of the careful and apropos writing of J.M. Coetzee, W.G. Sebald and Uwe Timm. Petterson's kinship with Knut Hamsun, which he has himself acknowledged, is palpable in Hamsun's Pan, Victoria, and even the lighthearted Dreamers. But nothing should suggest that his superb novel is so embedded in its sources as to be less than a gripping account of such originality as to expand the reader's own experience of life."—Thomas McGuane, The New York Times Book Review "By the time I had finished this novel I knew it for what it is: a triumph of narrative architecture and powerful imagery, and a subtle consideration of identity. It is the story of a life that was pursued one summer in a Nordic world of giant trees and fast-coursing rivers, bloody rivalries, feats of strength, desperate passion, a world where the father-son relationship is elemental and a little dangerous. But then that life, for reasons I shall leave you to discover, veers away toward the modern world, where tragedies are lit by ambulance lights. It has been some time since I have read a novel that pleased me so much in its artistic accomplishment."—Katherine A. Powers, The Boston Globe "Petterson wrings great emotional depth from what seems a bare-bones tale—the decision of a 67-year-old Norwegian man to pass his final years alone in the remote countryside. Escape, especially from his past, proves elusive in an enthralling tale with some distinct prose echoes of Cormac McCarthy."—John Marshall, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer "This is a novel that strikes deep and lingers long . . . like some shattering literary symphony."—The Independent (U.K.) "Out Stealing Horses is tinged with an autumnal sense of loss and the self-examination of an old man looking back on his life . . . This book is a minor masterpiece of death and delusion in a Nordic land."—The Guardian (U.K.) "The genius of this beautiful, candid work lies in its tone of gentle, if at times angry, reflection. There is no sentimentality, no easy nostalgia, only truths and an honest response to experience."—The Irish Times "I was completely taken with Out Stealing Horses from the first page. I found it powerful yet so quietly done I could hear myself breathe and I finished with an exhalation of awe."—Amy Tan "Haunting, minimalist prose and expert pacing give this quiet story from Norway native Petterson an undeniably authoritative presence."—Kirkus Reviews "Award-winning Norwegian novelist Petterson renders the meditations of Trond Sander, a man nearing 70, dwelling in self-imposed exile at the eastern edge of Norway in a primitive cabin. Trond's peaceful existence is interrupted by a meeting with his only neighbor, who
(retrieved from Amazon Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:25:14 -0500) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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