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Love
Love | Hanne Ørstavik
12 posts | 10 read | 13 to read
A mother and son move to a village in northern Norway, each ensconced in their own world. Their distance has fatal consequences. Love is the story of Vibeke and Jon, a mother and son who have just moved to a small place in the north of Norway. It's the day before Jon's birthday, and a travelling carnival has come to the village. Jon goes out to sell lottery tickets for his sports club, and Vibeke is going to the library. From here on we follow the two individuals on their separate journeys through a cold winter's night - while a sense of uneasiness grows. Love illustrates how language builds its own reality, and thus how mother and son can live in completely separate worlds. This distance is found not only between human beings, but also within each individual. This novel shows how such distance may have fatal consequences.
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review
Twocougs
Love | Hanne Ørstavik
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Mehso-so

I keep wondering if I had read this at a different time if I would have liked it more???🤔

review
Reggie
Love | Hanne Ørstavik
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Pickpick

Jon and his single mother, Vibeke, have just moved to a small, Norwegian town. The night before his 9th birthday, they both find themselves out of their house, on their own, in the cold on their own adventures. This book was short, there is no plot, but there was an eeriness to it that held me captive. Hanne did these unannounced jump cuts between mother and son from paragraph to paragraph that was jarring and effective. Also, it spoke about👇ðŸ¼

Reggie how when one is lonely, imagination can be a blessing and a curse. Pick! (edited) 5y
TrishB That cover is great too! 5y
Centique I know I‘m possibly the stackeriest of the stackers on Litsy - but that‘s a great review and I‘m sold! Eerie sounds so good 😠5y
See All 14 Comments
Reggie @TrishB it‘s by Edvard Munch. It‘s beautiful. 5y
Reggie @Centique Thanks!! This reminded me of what I loved about Rain. You would like it. 5y
Centique @Reggie the cover made me instantly think of Rain. 🙌 5y
TrishB I have Rain on the tbr....just need to get to it!! 5y
GatheringBooks this is in my stack for this week! would you say that it has sufficient women themes as well to make it to #womenreadwomen2019? 5y
batsy Lovely review, Reggie! 5y
erzascarletbookgasm Nice! I remember I stacked Rain because of your review. 5y
Reggie @batsy @erzascarletbookgasm Thanks!! @GatheringBooks no, loneliness is the big theme in here. 5y
BiblioLitten Loneliness is a big theme in Norwegian writing, especially Ibsen, whose writing I love very much. I‘m going to stack this. 5y
Reggie @BiblioLitten I haven‘t really read much from Norway except for the guy who wrote Let the Right One In and Jo Nesbo. 5y
BiblioLitten Jo Nesbo I would like to read! 5y
82 likes7 stack adds14 comments
review
Bookish.SAM
Love | Hanne Ørstavik
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Pickpick

I don‘t even know what to say about this. It was beautifully written, if a pretty stark story. A quick read, the whole thing taking place over about a day. It definitely hit me in the feels.
💔
The mother in this story has an interesting relationship with reading which really resonated.

#booksandtea

review
Redwritinghood
Love | Hanne Ørstavik
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Pickpick

A short book about a mother and son who pass each other through the course of wandering about town on a single night. The son thinks often about his mother, who has other things on her mind. There is also a foreboding sense of danger throughout the story that is subtly created by the author. This is on the NBA shortlist for translated fiction. 3.5â­ï¸

readordierachel The cover is haunting 6y
64 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
Emilymdxn
Love | Hanne Ørstavik
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Part 3/3

The third beautiful book I fell in love with in Foyles while waiting for a train. I adore Scandinavian fiction like this, AND it‘s gorgeous, AND it‘s a slow meditation on love and family in the cold. I hope I manage to track these books down when I have more money.

32 likes1 stack add
review
Settings
Love | Hanne Ørstavik
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Mehso-so

Two viewpoints - a mother's and a son's. The book alternates viewpoints every paragraph or so. Neither is given any freedom, so as self-centered as the mother is, the structure rejects that.

Disliked the message. Society tells women we must always be self-sacrificing too much already.

Think the plot should have been extended a few more days.

RaimeyGallant Nice review. :) 7y
67 likes1 comment
review
shawnmooney
Love | Hanne Ørstavik
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Pickpick

Jon, an 8-year-old Norwegian boy, and his single mom Verbeke are feeling their way into new lives in a new town. Like ships passing in the night, they each wander out and meet new people one night. Why am I sitting on the edge of my seat? Where is this danger I sense? The echoes reverberating between their points of view skew the unease into a rich, ominous blur.

BookTube review: https://youtu.be/xPownS5MuQo

LeahBergen Oh, man! You‘ve hooked me. 😮 7y
erzascarletbookgasm I‘m intrigued! 7y
TrishB Lovely intro â¤ï¸ 7y
Anna40 Beautiful review 7y
40 likes3 stack adds4 comments
quote
jveezer
Love | Hanne Ørstavik
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Written like a writer who is a reader...

review
jveezer
Love | Hanne Ørstavik
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Pickpick

Beautifully written. I loved how the narrative jumped between the characters in such a way that sometimes I was a few words in to a paragraph before I realized it had switched. Ørstavik really evoked the eerie loneliness of the far North where she is from and never dropped the thread of suspense. I give the Mom an "epic fail" in the parenting department. #archipelagobooks #ReadWide

lalatiburona Those moms sometimes... 7y
6 likes1 comment
blurb
jveezer
Love | Hanne Ørstavik
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Interesting how the narrative keeps switching between the internal dialogues of the two main characters, sometimes paragraph by paragraph. Not sure I've read that before. Wonder if this cover is a hint?

Billypar The cover is so cool! And I love the description...looking forward to your review ☺ 7y
5 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
jveezer
Love | Hanne Ørstavik
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All we need is....

2 likes1 stack add
quote
shawnmooney
Love | Hanne Ørstavik
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There is something hypnotic, powerful, vaguely Woolfian, about this prose. The book will be published on February 13th.

#QuoteOfTheDay

saresmoore Wow, yes, this is mesmerizing. 7y
35 likes1 comment