Fire, Teeth, Water, Tongue (Innbundet)
Author:
| Norwegian title: | Ild, tenner, vann, tunge |
| Author: | Nhu Diep |
| Binding: | Innbundet |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Pages: | 320 |
| Publisher: | Cappelen Damm |
| Språk: | Bokmål |
| ISBN/EAN: | 9788202797485 |
| Kategori: | Literature and Fiction |
Overview Ild, tenner, vann, tunge
Fire, Teeth, Water, Tongue is a personal book of memories. Through episodic glimpses and scenes from her own life, Nhu Diep writes about her own complicated family story.
Around 10,000 Vietnamese refugees arrived in Norway between 1975 and 1990. Among these were Ba and Má – meaning mother and father in Vietnamese – and their eleven children. The family was picked up by a Norwegian tank ship in 1978 and later put on a plane to Oslo. Little N was 8 months old at the time.
In a yellow house the eleven siblings grow up. They get rôi (a beating) day and night. Brutal violence, a strict family hierarchy, and high demands and expectations marks N and her siblings’s childhoods, so they all carry with them many wounds into their adult lives.
As a young adult N chooses to move away from her family. She needs to find out who she is, what she’s capable of and what she wants, and what role her family will occupy in her life. But eventually a wish to belong appears, bit by bit. She starts calling home, speaks Vietnamese instead of Norwegian. She gradually finds her way home, back to her own kin.
Then the unthinkable happens. A death occurs in the family, suddenly and brutally. N returns home. When life is at its hardest, they are there, with their black manes, ready to welcome her. Now, her family must find a way to move forward - together.
Fire, Teeth, Water, Tongue is a mature and good debut novel, about finding a place in a very special family, and finding one's own path in life.
NRK
Nhu Diep's intense coming-of-age novel shows the complex art of reconciliation after parental neglect (...) In Diep's account of growing up, there are experiences that are worth taking note of. And the power that lies in being able to reach out a hand to the child in itself - I keep thinking about that.
KLASSEKAMPEN
Our lives are not epic stories from A to Z, most of us do not go through 'a journey', but are left with strong moments, decisive episodes and small details that for more or less understandable reasons have stuck in our memory.
DAGENS NÆRINGSLIV
Reviews Ild, tenner, vann, tunge
«Nhu Dieps intense oppvekstroman viser forsoningens komplekse kunst etter omsorgssvikt (...) I Dieps oppvekstskildring ligger erfaringer som er verdt å få med seg. Og kraften som ligger i det å kunne rekke ut en hånd til barnet i seg – den blir jeg gående og grunne på.»
Silje Bekeng-Flemmen, Klassekampens Bokmagasin«Våre liv er jo ikke en episk fortelling fra A til Å, de fleste av oss går ikke gjennom «en reise», men står igjen med sterke øyeblikk, skjellsettende episoder og små detaljer som av mer eller mindre forståelige grunner har festet seg i minnebanken.»
«den nærmeste slektningen til «Ild, tenner, vann, tunge» er kanskje Karpe-platen «Omar Sheriff» (2022). De kan begge tolkes som et kjærlighetsbrev til foreldrene som måtte rive seg løs fra en verden de kjente, for å starte på nytt i et fremmed land, på et ukjent språk.»Øyvind Holen, Dagens NæringslivForsoning med foreldre som slo 16.08.2023
«... ein moden og god romandebut»
«I tillegg til å vere ei god skildring av ein oppvekst i ein uvanleg stor familie, i spenn mellom to kulturar, er Ild, tenner, vann, tunge ein roman som tydeleg viser at det ein tenker ein veit om eige opphav, eigen oppvekst, ofte endrar seg over tid.»
Gerd Elin Sandve, NRK