Narrative Non-fiction · Hardback

No One Can Spit at a Smiling Face

Norwegian title: Ingen kan spytte på et smilende ansikt

As long as difference exists, it will always speak with a contradictory tone. Speak over itself. Interrupt, protest and bang its fist on the table. Try to convince the world that it deserves to be heard. At the same time it’s also scared to death and trying to hide under that same table. Tries to muzzle itself. All because it’s scared to be exposed.

In these personal and investigative essays Synne Sun Løes writes about adoption and identity. She bases her writing on her own experiences as adopted, as well as non-fiction, academia and the public debates. The themes being illuminated are widely spread, from xenophobia, racisms, being different, “the trend of diversity”, hysteria around infringement and Korean revenge art, to more psychological topics such as transgenerational traumas, psychoanalysis, and connectional damage.

How can one take ownership of one’s own experiences as adopted and as a ‘’different child’’ without being accused of taking on the role of a victim? How can one adopt one’s own personal identity, as oneself, when one is “different” in present day Norway? How is identity affected by meeting one’s own biological parents? How can one survive in a world which time and time again tries to spit in one’s face? The author approaches these questions both with wonder, humour and seriousness, and she also casts a critical view at the tendency of society to simplify, edit and polarize the stories from marginalized groups.

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