Karolina Ramqvist

In The White City, new mother Karin is clearly depressed. She’s struggling alone, the man she loves is gone. She calls her voicemail at low moments to listen to his final message to her, a suggestion they go kayaking on the weekend and a request to bring his sunglasses. The house is a mess. The snow has not been shoveled from the walkway. There’s no food in the house, she calls for pizza and the delivery guy expects to have sex with her.

What seems at first like postpartum depression and show more grief becomes more complex when two people from the government come by to tell her they are seizing her house and her car. We realize that John was a criminal, someone in organized crime. She suspects that some people owe her and seeks them out, asking them for help and discovers that the friendships built in criminal activity do not last. There is growing menace and danger as Karin seeks help from John’s partners.

I read The White City in one sitting. I was reading away, the recounting in minute detail of a day centered on feeding her daughter, taking a shower, changing diapers, and napping should have been dull as dishwater, but was so rich in mood and detail, so brilliantly written, that I was captured. The pages flew by, there’s a constant tension, a creeping unease.

So much of this story is told obliquely. We learn things by seeing things happen, we are never told, nothing is explained. Ramqvist trusts that we are smart enough to follow the narrative without explanation and she is right. This subtle and slow revelation, as piece by piece falls into place is brilliant and the kind of writing I most appreciate.

This is one of those stories that cannot be described by its plot. There’s no huge, intricate plot full of twists and turns. This is about atmosphere, about her dawning realization that her relationships may not be what she thought, that perhaps she must act. It’s quite wonderful.

The White City will be published February 7, 2017. I received an advance e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

★★★★
http://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2017/01/16/the-white-city-by-karolina... show less

Handling & Tema : 3/5
Karaktärerna: 4/5
Miljöbeskrivning: 3/5
Språk och berättarkonst: 4/5 : En bok om att vara en ung tjej i 90 talet Stockholm. Jag som själv växte upp på 90 talet kände igen mig jätte mycket i Saga. Jag var tonåring under samma period i Malmö och att läsa denna bok var som en minnes flodvåg från min egna tid. Samma funderingar, möte med män , visa viktigare än andra . Var går gränsen mellan att vara en stark kvinna som tar för sig av livet och män till show more att bli utnyttjad och kasserad.
Karolina skriver bra, fokuserar på rätt sak och lyckas fånga en tid när det fortfarande gick att stanna upp show less

In the suburbs of a snow-covered Swedish town, the life of a young mother is falling apart: her partner - a criminal of an unspecified nature - has disappeared and the authorities, following the movements of money, arrive at her, who is in danger of losing everything. She turns to her husband's companions, to the women she believed to be friends, but finds only closed doors, turned backs and betrayal. With her insistence, however, she finally manages to break through to the heart of one of show more her old friends, who decides to stop being the plaything of a criminal and, in the name of solidarity between women, will help the protagonist to take her life back in her hands in a Bonnie & Clide ending.
A strange novel, which at first seems like a typical Scandinavian noir but doesn't leave you disappointed when you realise it isn't, and which you can't help but keep reading until the last page. show less

Jag gillar inte sättet boken är skriven på, handlingen hade kunnat vara bra, det var ju därför jag började läsa boken för det lät intressant en flickvän till en kriminell man, hennes sida av historien. Tyvärr har Karolina Ramqvist krånglat till det, gjort att det är svårt att hänga med i berättelsen. Det gick att läsa men jag hade inte rekommenderat flickvännen till någon.