Literature and Fiction · Hardback

Blackberry Path

Norwegian title: Bjørnebærstien

Eskil Skjeldal

Blackberry path is Fight Club meets life in a Norwegian satellite city.

In 1971, a massive development project was begun in Rykkinn, half an hour outside of Oslo. Tower blocks, terraced houses and green spaces emerged, all with picturesque names like Lingonberry path, Raspberry path and Blackberry path. It was a social experiment and the residents on benefits all lived on Blackberry path, all the cases, as they used to be called.

Fast forward to the eighties: Johannes lives in one of the tower blocks. His father is a violent drunk, his mother keeps to the background and his little brother hasn’t developed language yet. And then there’s Karl, Johannes’ mate. The two of them sell a little weed, party, cause trouble and love getting into fights.

Johannes is a caring and responsible older brother and does everything for Magnus. This is a far cry from the Johannes that buries his fist in faces, stashes weed and money in the woods and breaks into his childhood friend’s home. I grew to love Johannes, but by the end of the novel I’m afraid of him too.

Eskil Skjeldal has written compellingly about violence before, and this is no exception.