Status
Available
Genres
Publication
Brooklyn : Melville House, [2018]
Description
"When Tom's heavily pregnant girlfriend Karin is rushed to the hospital, doctors are able to save the baby. But they are helpless to save Karin from what turns out to be acute leukemia. And in a cruel, fleeting moment Tom gains a daughter but loses his soul-mate. In Every Moment We Are Alive is the story of the year that changes everything, as Tom must reconcile the fury and pain of loss with the overwhelming responsibility of raising his daughter, Livia, alone. By turns tragic and redemptive, meditative and breathless, achingly poignant and darkly funny, this autobiographical novel has been described as 'hypnotic', 'impossible to resist' and 'one of the most powerful books about grief ever written'."--Publisher's description.
User reviews
LibraryThing member susan0316
This is an intense fictionalized autobiographical novel that will pull you in from page 1. At times it reads like a hospital drama but with added feeling and humanity. The book provides a gamut of emotions - at times the main character is confused, grief stricken, selfish and full of love. It is
Karin is 8 months pregnant when she passes out and Tom takes her to the hospital. After tests, the doctors determine that she has an acute type of leukemia and they need to deliver the baby as soon as possible. Tom spends his days overwhelmed with grief over Karin's illness and hoping for recovery and overwhelmed by the needs of his newborn baby. He never really has a chance to properly grieve because he has to be mother and father to the baby.
This is an interesting well written story of life and death.
Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
Show More
written in a style that takes a bit of getting used to - the author is a poet and it is apparent in his use of language but he moves back and forth from past to present often and the reader needs to really pay attention to his words.Karin is 8 months pregnant when she passes out and Tom takes her to the hospital. After tests, the doctors determine that she has an acute type of leukemia and they need to deliver the baby as soon as possible. Tom spends his days overwhelmed with grief over Karin's illness and hoping for recovery and overwhelmed by the needs of his newborn baby. He never really has a chance to properly grieve because he has to be mother and father to the baby.
This is an interesting well written story of life and death.
Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Cherylk
I agree with other readers that this book lacked feeling and the writing was choppy. Not to take anything away from Mr. Malmquist's story as it is a sad one but it felt like I was on the outside looking in. Which I never "got in". This type of book, is one where I want to experience everything as
Where it came to the choppiness; the chapters and writing were short with little details. Don't get me wrong as I am not saying that the author had to give us the readers all the details but a little more detail or at least a little more insight into Mr. Malmquist's life before meeting his wife would have helped. I do applaud Mr. Malmquist for sharing his story. In my case, I just craved more.
Show More
if it was personally my story. Where it came to the choppiness; the chapters and writing were short with little details. Don't get me wrong as I am not saying that the author had to give us the readers all the details but a little more detail or at least a little more insight into Mr. Malmquist's life before meeting his wife would have helped. I do applaud Mr. Malmquist for sharing his story. In my case, I just craved more.
Show Less
LibraryThing member techeditor
As fiction, this book probably would not work. However, the truth of Tom Malmquist's experiences could well make you love him.
You may hear that IN EVERY MOMENT WE ARE STILL ALIVE is Malmquist's story of the death of his long-time girlfriend and his learning to become a single father. But it's not
He also describes, in great detail, staying by his girlfriend's side; dealing with the bureaucracy of Sweden's healthcare system, courts, social services, etc.; reminisces; and his father's death so soon after his girlfriend's. It may be more then you want to know.
And if you care about readability, Malmquist, apparently, doesn't. That is, he doesn't use quotation marks and his paragraphs are long, sometimes pages long. More often than not, whole conversations are in a single paragraph, with no quotation marks. So it's difficult to know who is talking when. I don't think this can be blamed on the translation from Swedish to English.
Even so, you can't help but love this guy. He was so devoted to his girlfriend and, now, to his baby girl.
You may hear that IN EVERY MOMENT WE ARE STILL ALIVE is Malmquist's story of the death of his long-time girlfriend and his learning to become a single father. But it's not
Show More
so simple as that.He also describes, in great detail, staying by his girlfriend's side; dealing with the bureaucracy of Sweden's healthcare system, courts, social services, etc.; reminisces; and his father's death so soon after his girlfriend's. It may be more then you want to know.
And if you care about readability, Malmquist, apparently, doesn't. That is, he doesn't use quotation marks and his paragraphs are long, sometimes pages long. More often than not, whole conversations are in a single paragraph, with no quotation marks. So it's difficult to know who is talking when. I don't think this can be blamed on the translation from Swedish to English.
Even so, you can't help but love this guy. He was so devoted to his girlfriend and, now, to his baby girl.
Show Less
LibraryThing member oldblack
After a great start this book disappointed me somewhat. Sure, the failure to show speech clearly and to distinguish between different speakers, and the unheralded time jump, were all off-putting. But even more off-putting was the feeling that after his wife died the narrator didn't really have a
Show More
story to tell. Show Less
LibraryThing member bobbieharv
As I read I assumed I was reading a memoir, but it's classified as "literary fiction." It is so authentic, though, so wrenching, there's no way it's anything but true.
I loved this book, painful as it was to read. The style reminded me a little of Karl Ove Knausgaard, whose books have also been
Other reviewers commented that there was very little feeling in the writing; again I disagree. It felt as if it was poured out from Malmquist's heart and soul.
I loved this book, painful as it was to read. The style reminded me a little of Karl Ove Knausgaard, whose books have also been
Show More
termed autofiction. Some reviewers disliked the literary flourishes: running conversations together in one paragraph so that it was difficult to figure out who was talking; shifts in tense and time periods. To me, this was its beauty. It's the way one's brain works after horrific tragedy. Other reviewers commented that there was very little feeling in the writing; again I disagree. It felt as if it was poured out from Malmquist's heart and soul.
Show Less
LibraryThing member kakadoo202
Couldn’t get into the writing style
LibraryThing member ShannonRose4
An autobiographical love letter written in breathless and tragic prose, this novel is as powerful and raw as it is tender and beautiful. Full of humanity and hypnotic in its telling, it is one of the best books of love, loss, resilience and hope I’ve read in a very long time.
LibraryThing member ShannonRose4
An autobiographical love letter written in breathless and tragic prose, this novel is as powerful and raw as it is tender and beautiful. Full of humanity and hypnotic in its telling, it is one of the best books of love, loss, resilience and hope I’ve read in a very long time.
Awards
Nordisk Råds litteraturpris (Nominee — 2016)
The New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Fiction — 2018)
Language
Original language
Swedish