Katarina Mazetti (1944–2025)

This book begs the question, do opposites attract and if so, can it work? That seems to be the theme of this book. Or is it, do two lonely people who are completely opposite fall for each other just out of need?

Frankly, I loved this book. It was a fast read, passionate and left me wondering about Benny and Shrimp's relationship. I wasn't sure what I wanted from them. I wanted Benny to find a wife. I wanted Shrimp to be that wife. However, at the same, I didn't want Shrimp to be that wife. show more Contradictory, huh? On the other hand, I wanted Benny, the lovable farmer, to enjoy the culture that Shrimp wants to share but at the same time I wanted Shrimp to adapt to farm life. Sigh. Tis love, I guess.

Sometimes books that were popular in their native language, doesn't translate well into English but that doesn't seem to be an issue here. From Swedish to English, the point, the prose and the love came across. Give this a chance, I am disappointed I didn't sooner. This is definitely one I will read again. show less

Benny and Desiree find themselves occupying the same cemetery bench during their weekly visits to commune with their dead. They do not like each other to start, eyeing the graves of each others' family with distaste. Desiree ("Shrimp") has chosen an unadorned, stark stone for her young husband and leaves no plants or flowers on his grave. Benny's mother has chosen an elaborate carved stone for his father and is now beneath the overwrought stone herself. Benny diligently plants and tends show more their graves, overloading it with tokens. But the librarian and the dairy farmer have more differences than just the headstones that transfix them and it is only as they shyly get to know each other and start a relationship that these more substantial differences come to light.

If this makes this book sound like a romance, it should, but not one of the sweaty clinch variety. This is an understated and delicate look at the burgeoning love between two people so diametrically opposite each other. And yet at the start their shared passion seems able to overcome so much. It is only with familiarity that the stress fractures grow. Mazetti has drawn an entirely plausible and charming story of a relationship here. Her characters are completely appealing and I felt an immediate pull into their lives. The over-arching sadness that wrapped each of them individually, seemingly cocooning them from the small joys in life, lifts slowly but perceptibly as they allow love and solicitude into their lives in the person of each other.

And while I thought that the about face of the ending was a bit abrupt, I turned the last page wanting desperately to be able to go on to the sequel that is available in Mazetti's native Sweden. Others have used the descriptors charming and delightful and lovely when describing this slight book and I concur wholeheartedly. There is a very light touch here, even when acknowledging the difficulties that love can present and sometimes cannot overcome. Putting the book down was never an option and I finished it in one sitting. Now I feel like I should go back to it and savor the sweetness, the clumsiness of Benny, the cautiousness of Shrimp, and the whole arc of the enchanting story. In case you hadn't yet guessed, I loved this book and feel I'm on a misson to share it with everyone. show less

Désirée se rend régulièrement sur la tombe de son mari, qui a eu le mauvais goût de mourir trop jeune. Bibliothécaire et citadine, elle vit dans un appartement tout blanc, très tendance, rempli de livres. Au cimetière, elle croise souvent le mec de la tombe d'à côté, dont l'apparence l'agace autant que le tape-à-l'œil de la stèle qu'il fleurit assidûment.
Depuis le décès de sa mère, Benny vit seul à la ferme familiale avec ses vingt-quatre vaches laitières. Il s'en sort show more comme il peut, avec son bon sens paysan et une sacrée dose d'autodérision. Chaque fois qu'il la rencontre, il est exaspéré par sa voisine de cimetière, son bonnet de feutre et son petit carnet de poésie.
Un jour pourtant, un sourire éclate simultanément sur leurs lèvres et ils en restent tous deux éblouis...
C'est le début d'une passion dévorante. C'est avec un romantisme ébouriffant et un humour décapant que ce roman d'amour tendre et débridé pose la très sérieuse question du choc des cultures. show less

This Swedish book in translation has been wildly popular in Sweden. The Times of London calls it "a charming and funny Swedish love story, about two lonely people on the brink of middle age." The description is not far from the mark.

Thirty-four year old Desiree Wallin ("Shrimp") is a childless widow whose husband was hit by a truck two years prior. With Orjan, her husband of five years, there was rarely any arguing, but rarely any passion either. Desiree comes to the cemetery every day show more mostly because she feels she should. But her biological clock is ticking, and what she really feels she needs is a child.

The grave next to Orjan’s is a garishly embellished affair overseen by a man of about her age whom Desiree calls “The Forest Owner” because of all the gardening he does at the gravesite. His actual name is Benny, he is thirty-six, and he calls himself “The Prize Loser of all Sweden.” With his parents gone, he is the only one to take care of the family dairy farm, and he has a difficult time of it. What he really needs is a woman to tend to the house.

Each of them is very lonely. Each tells his or her story in alternating chapters. Often they describe the same event, but from radically different perspectives.

Desiree is a bit of an academic snob and also a pessimist: “My own tendency is to think that a baby’s smile is just wind; a falling star is very likely a TV satellite crashing out of orbit; birdsong is full of territorial threats; and Jesus probably never existed, at least not then and not there.”

Benny, a kind-hearted soul who never had a chance to do anything but work on the farm, is caught in a time warp from when his Mum was alive. He admits: “I’ve got no business being in the twentieth century, at least, not this end of it. And that applies to my image as well as to my way of thinking.”

These two unlikely soulmates fall wildly in love, or at least, in lust, and begin a relationship. Benny calls Desiree “Shrimp.” He explains, “Desiree – I have trouble with that name. It sounds sharp, standoffish and hoity-toity, all those things I thought she was to begin with. I call her Shrimp. It fits her so well it’s almost cruel. Pale, curled around her soft parts, with her shell on the outside. And long feelers.”

The relationship, hot and heavy at first, quickly deteriorates as the two just can’t find anything in common except a deep physical attraction. And yet it is that attraction, unlike anything they are able to experience with anyone else, that keeps pulling them back together.

Evaluation: I liked the snappy observations by Desiree, and Benny’s capacity for devotion. I liked the format; the way the chapters not only alternated, but sometimes recapitulated the same events; the reader could thus clearly see how easily and often the characters misunderstood one another. As the book progressed, however, I liked Desiree less and less; compromise was not in her nature, and she tended to be self-centered and ungrateful. Benny, on the other hand, just took it all like a faithful dog, and kept coming back for a lick on the hand or pat on the head. The last chapter horrified me; my dislike for Desiree turned into resentment and loathing.

This doesn’t mean I didn’t like the book. Much of it is charming and fun, and I thought the character development was well-done for the most part. show less