Literature and Fiction · Hardback

The Lives of Others

Norwegian title: De andres liv

Ida Fjeldbraaten

The Lives of Others is a merciless description of a society where everyone wants to be seen and heard, and where people will do anything to stand out from the crowd.

A young woman previously worked on a reality show that ended up never airing. She isolates herself at home while scrolling endlessly thought the anti-social corners of the web. While the bills pile up and social security makes their demands, the protagonist escapes into other people’s lives. But what is real, and what is staged? What was it that went so terribly wrong during the recording of the reality show, set in an old asylum, that filmed five contestants left to their own devices?

The Lives of Others is a poignant satire about the total domination of the reality genre, about loneliness, and about who will remain in the audience as everyone is clamoring to stand on stage. The novel ruthlessly depicts our contemporary times, where the need to be seen leads people into bottomless decay and total humiliation.

«… a raw illustration of reality-TV’s dark side. … Reading this book was like therapy for us internet addicts. I want to throw my phone in the sea and take a long shower.»FRAMTIDA, six/six stars

«Ida Fjeldbraaten manages to let the reality characters both amuse us and make us wiser. That's a tried-and-true recipe for a good book.» MORGENBLADET

«The Lives of Others drips of bitter satire. Occasionally, the observations are funny and precise.»DAGBLADET

«The novel is too credible to be pure satire and stretched too far to be pure realism. It is elegantly balanced …»DAG OG TID

«… a piece of well-written, entertaining gluttony in misery and suffering.»KLASSEKAMPEN