The Snapdragon Family (Innbundet)

Author:

Lars Saabye Christensen

Norwegian title: Maskeblomstfamilien
Author:
Binding: Innbundet
Year: 2003
Pages: 285
Publisher: Cappelen Damm
Språk: Bokmål
ISBN/EAN: 9788202231880
Overview Maskeblomstfamilien

´I had a good upbringing. Father died when I was twelve. Mum went to bed early. I was an only child.´

With these words Lars Saabye Christensen opens his novel, a chamber play set in the broad avenues behind the Royal Palace in mid-1960s Oslo. The narrator describes his upbringing from age 12 to 17, in a home thick with secrets, pretence, silence and sins of omissions.

The father, a patent engineer, takes his own life on page one. The mother subsequently goes to bed for good, leaving the young narrator to grow up in the care of his bony aunt, whose outlook can darken even the brightest day. And in one scene, during a summer holiday, one of the father's investors who is visiting, manages to tell him: 'You are indeed your father's strangest patent.'

Saabye Christensen's novel is about identity and shame. It is beautifully written, dark, and different.

"Ghastly good. This is something as rare as a book that really move you, a book that stands out as something truly unique, just like the protagonist also do."
VG

"...a rutheless highlight in the authorship of Lars Saabye Christensen"
DAGSAVISEN

"He is poetic as ever, but reveal a dark dimension that lures us with depths and riddles. We want more of this!"
DAGBLADET

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More books by Lars Saabye Christensen:

Reviews Maskeblomstfamilien

"Uhyggelig bra."

 
Morten Abrahamsen, VG

"... et nådeløst høydepunkt i Lars Saabye Christensens forfatterskap."

Torunn Borge, Dagsavisen

"Han er poetisk som alltid, men avslører her en mørk dimensjon som lokker med dybder og gåter. Dette vil vi ha mer av!"

Inger Bentzrud, Dagbladet

"Maskeblomstfamilien formidler noe tidløst. Den er en stor roman, som fortjener mange lesere. Applaus til Saabye Christensen!"

Maria Gran Hansen, Tønsbergs Blad

"Når så mye er sagt, vil jeg få lov til å gjenta at Saabye Christensen med «Maskeblomstfamilien» har skrevet sin etter min mening beste roman."

Terje Holtet Larsen, Bergens Tidende

"Maskeblomstfamilien har mye driv, særlig siden leseren blir revet med i en frenetisk jakt etter svarene på de mange gåtene. Spennings- og underholdningsfaktoren er stor, selv om den mørke stemningen i boka kanskje vil legge en demper på opplevelsen for noen."

Rannveig Vindingstad, Under Dusken

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Author Lars Saabye Christensen

Lars Saabye Christensen (1953–) has published a number of novels, poetry and short story collections since his literary debut in 1976 with The Story of Gly. His breakthrough came with Beatles (1984), one of the greatest literary sales successes in Norway that, over the years, new generations continue to hold close to their hearts. The author received the Nordic Council Literature Prize for The Half Brother in 2001.

He has also received the Riverton Prize, the Critics' Prize, the Brage Prize, the Norwegian Booksellers' Prize, the Dobloug Prize and the Norwegian Reader's Prize. The author has been published in 36 countries.

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Foreign rights
Croatia
Denmark
Estonia
Germany
Latvia
Netherlands
Sweden

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