| Norwegian title: | Rikt er et folk som har skogen |
| Author: | Amalie Kasin Lerstang |
| Binding: | Innbundet |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Pages: | 192 |
| Publisher: | Cappelen Damm |
| Språk: | Bokmål |
| ISBN/EAN: | 9788202802400 |
| Kategori: | Literature and Fiction |
Eva Brattheim lives a normal life in a normal town. One thing she particularly enjoys: Going for walks in the nearby forest. One day Eva reads in the local paper that there are plans to build a motorway straight through the forest where she takes her walks. To Eva it is obvious – the road must be stopped. But how?
With help from her capable sister, Eva attempts to navigate her way through the local government’s bureaucratic structures and the hierarchy of the local community. How does one actually write an opinion piece? And who wants to disagree with people they look up to, who wants to disagree with their handy neighbour who needs a job and who’s also in a feud with the county antiquary? Midway through the process, Eva falls head over heels for a brilliant case manager in the local government. Could she be the one to help Eva stop this motorway?
Rich Are Those Who Have the Forest is a funny and subtle novel about impotence and love, about the relationship between human and nature getting lost, about an all-consuming crush, pine trees, garbage bins, about the fear of having an opinion in the local newspaper, and not least: about standing in the way of development.
... tender and comical ... The forest is kind and smells good, says a friend of mine, and I think that there is something fundamentally kind, a closeness and slightly modest about this novel, which I appreciate. Lerstang does not paint a high sky above her topics, but it is a stroke of heaven that I, as a reader, can thrive under.
Klassekampen
«Veien til den demokratiske offentligheten går gjennom naturskjønn skog i Amalie Kasin Lerstangs nye roman. (..) Skogen er snill og lukter godt, sier en venn av meg, og jeg tenker at det er noe grunnleggende mildt, nært og litt smått over denne romanen, som jeg setter pris på. Lerstang tegner ingen høy himmel over sin tematikk, men det er et himmelstrøk jeg som leser kan trives under. Til tross for det stillferdige og forsiktige ved Eva ledes tankene til Vigdis Hjorths sprakende energiske Leve posthornet! (...) Om skogen blir bevart eller ei, skal ikke avsløres her, men at den retorisk mindre garvede Eva tar ordet, er en demokratisk seier.»
Bjørn Ivar Fyksen, Klassekampen«(...) gir oss en perle om det å om det å miste et stykke nærnatur (...) Eller hun snakker om lokalavisa på en måte som treffer småbyblinken helt perfekt»
«Lest samme uke som man nok en gang har lagt en sosialt gnissende stemmeseddel i kommunevalgurna, er det vanskelig å konkludere med noe annet enn at Lerstangs roman er rett bok til rett tid.»
