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Available
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Series
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Collection
Publication
Harvill Secker (2015), Edition: Collectible/Signed
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:The internationally acclaimed author of Blood on Snow and the Harry Hole novels now gives us the tightly wound tale of a man running from retribution, a renegade hitman who goes to ground far above the Arctic circle, where the never-setting sun might slowly drive a man insane. He calls himself Ulf—as good a name as any, he thinks—and the only thing he’s looking for is a place where he won’t be found by Oslo’s most notorious drug lord: the Fisherman. He was once the Fisherman’s fixer, but after betraying him, Ulf is now the one his former boss needs fixed—which may not be a problem for a man whose criminal reach is boundless. When Ulf gets off the bus in Kĺsund, on Norway’s far northeastern border, he sees a “flat, monotonous, bleak landscape . . . the perfect hiding place. Hopefully.” The locals—native Sami and followers of a particularly harsh Swedish version of Christianity—seem to accept Ulf’s explanation that he’s come to hunt, even if he has no gun and the season has yet to start. And a bereaved, taciturn woman and her curious, talkative young son supply him with food, the use of a cabin deep in the woods, a weapon—and companionship that stirs something in him he thought was long dead. But the agonizing wait for the inevitable moment when the Fisherman’s henchmen will show—the midnight sun hanging in the sky like an unblinking, all-revealing eye—forces him to question if redemption is at all possible or if, as he’s always believed, “hope is a real bastard.”.… (more)
Media reviews
Utmerket same-western «Mere blod», den andre romanen i Jo Nesbøs smusslitteraturunivers fra 70-tallet, holder stilen.
Boken er preget av overskudd, det virker som forfatteren har kost seg med materialet. Troverdigheten kan man naturligvis stille spørsmål ved, men jeg velger å skrive dette
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på kontoen til hyllesten av den løsslupne smusslitteraturen, der det meste er lov.
«Mere blod» er gøyalt lesestoff, en fin tur med berg-og-dal-banen, for alle som ikke tar krim så altfor alvorlig.
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Helt OK fra Vidda
I sin andre spenningsbok for året velger Jo Nesbø å holde seg i 70-tallet og lar oss møte nok en leiemorder fra Oslos narkotika-miljø, men på Finnmarksvidda. Det er velskrevet og litt spennende, men historien har vi lest før – mer enn én gang.
Språklig overskudd og fortellerglede preger den andre boken i Jo Nesbøs kriminelle sjangerlek.
User reviews
LibraryThing member atticusfinch1048
Midnight Sun – Blood on the Snow #2
If you are hoping this is part of Jo Nesbo’s highly successful Harry Hole series this is not part of that series but a new one, but this story is completely different from the first, so can be read as a standalone book. Like previous books this is set in the
Jon is on the run trying to hide from his former crime boss in Oslo, better known as The Fishman, a man who is not to be crossed and always finds those who have crossed him. Instead of trying to hide in Oslo Jon gets on a bus and heads north and flees to an isolated part of Norway, where in summer the sun never sets, but night time can be an eerie dusk. It also does not help that Jon does not have any faith in anyone or anything which is not a help when he finds sanctuary in the church of a Christian sect.
Given sanctuary the Priest’s daughter Lea and her son Knut advises Jon where best to stay, in a hunter’s cabin and gives him a rifle and ammunition. Her son Knut guides him to the cabin and is constantly talking and asking questions, a welcome distraction. The longer he stays in this quiet corner of Norway the more his sanity is tested by the ever present light, the loneliness. He soon realises that the person that really stands between him and certain death is Lea and Knut.
He realises that he is in love with Lea and there is not much he can do about that, especially as her husband is recently dead. Lea is also Jon’s opportunity at redemption, a new life and avoiding certain death at the hands of The Fisherman and his men.
Midnight Sun for me delivers on every level in that it is still the dark Scandi Noir that we have come to expect from Jo Nesbo, but at the same time there is a Biblical theme of redemption and that we all have an opportunity to do the right thing. The only thing that stops us is ourselves and what we actually want. A great read great characters and some wonderful twists in the final chapters of the book.
If you are hoping this is part of Jo Nesbo’s highly successful Harry Hole series this is not part of that series but a new one, but this story is completely different from the first, so can be read as a standalone book. Like previous books this is set in the
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late 70s in a world that is fighting hard to fight back progress, with the added problem that the sun does not set in summer. So it can be permanently light and play with your mind during the summer months and this book uses it to great effect.Jon is on the run trying to hide from his former crime boss in Oslo, better known as The Fishman, a man who is not to be crossed and always finds those who have crossed him. Instead of trying to hide in Oslo Jon gets on a bus and heads north and flees to an isolated part of Norway, where in summer the sun never sets, but night time can be an eerie dusk. It also does not help that Jon does not have any faith in anyone or anything which is not a help when he finds sanctuary in the church of a Christian sect.
Given sanctuary the Priest’s daughter Lea and her son Knut advises Jon where best to stay, in a hunter’s cabin and gives him a rifle and ammunition. Her son Knut guides him to the cabin and is constantly talking and asking questions, a welcome distraction. The longer he stays in this quiet corner of Norway the more his sanity is tested by the ever present light, the loneliness. He soon realises that the person that really stands between him and certain death is Lea and Knut.
He realises that he is in love with Lea and there is not much he can do about that, especially as her husband is recently dead. Lea is also Jon’s opportunity at redemption, a new life and avoiding certain death at the hands of The Fisherman and his men.
Midnight Sun for me delivers on every level in that it is still the dark Scandi Noir that we have come to expect from Jo Nesbo, but at the same time there is a Biblical theme of redemption and that we all have an opportunity to do the right thing. The only thing that stops us is ourselves and what we actually want. A great read great characters and some wonderful twists in the final chapters of the book.
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LibraryThing member Twink
Midnight Sun is the second book in Jo Nesbo's Blood on Snow series.
What ties these two together is The Fisherman, crime kingpin of Oslo. Jon worked for The Fisherman selling drugs and other 'special' jobs as needed. Except Jon couldn't do it - he couldn't kill. So now he's run to a remote village
A local woman, Lea, and her son Knut, give Jon shelter in an old hunting cabin. But after a few days of the sun never setting, the flat unending landscape and being alone in the small cabin, he craves people - and alcohol. So he heads to the village....
Nesbo's description of the village and the landscape creates an sense of otherworldly isolation that mirrors what Jon is feeling. The eclectic residents and their behavior keeps both Jon and the reader wondering what could happen next.
Even though Jon, aka Ulf, is a 'bad' guy, he's a bad guy with a good streak and a conscience. The reader can't help but hope that he escapes those after him and that maybe, just maybe, he's got another shot at a good life. Sami culture and the Laestadian religion are woven into the story - redemption is a major theme and plays a part in more than one character's life.
I love the noir, staccato pace of Nesbo's writing - think of a Tarantino movie put to print. For me, another great read from Nesbo. (I have no idea if Nesbo will ever resurrect Harry Hole - but I do miss him.)
What ties these two together is The Fisherman, crime kingpin of Oslo. Jon worked for The Fisherman selling drugs and other 'special' jobs as needed. Except Jon couldn't do it - he couldn't kill. So now he's run to a remote village
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at the top of Norway where the sun never sets. And he took along drugs and money that weren't his to take - and The Fisherman wants it back....A local woman, Lea, and her son Knut, give Jon shelter in an old hunting cabin. But after a few days of the sun never setting, the flat unending landscape and being alone in the small cabin, he craves people - and alcohol. So he heads to the village....
Nesbo's description of the village and the landscape creates an sense of otherworldly isolation that mirrors what Jon is feeling. The eclectic residents and their behavior keeps both Jon and the reader wondering what could happen next.
Even though Jon, aka Ulf, is a 'bad' guy, he's a bad guy with a good streak and a conscience. The reader can't help but hope that he escapes those after him and that maybe, just maybe, he's got another shot at a good life. Sami culture and the Laestadian religion are woven into the story - redemption is a major theme and plays a part in more than one character's life.
I love the noir, staccato pace of Nesbo's writing - think of a Tarantino movie put to print. For me, another great read from Nesbo. (I have no idea if Nesbo will ever resurrect Harry Hole - but I do miss him.)
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LibraryThing member TheCrow2
Another short novel from Jo Nesbo. Well written and entertaining story about a hiding criminal but if one expects another 'regular' crime story probably will be disappointed.
LibraryThing member polarbear123
I like Nesbo thrillers. I must do as I.have read them all. There is lots to like here but when you reach the end of the book you may find liked me that the tight planning and plot twists are not there this time. It almost descends into farce and general hamminess. Has Nesbo gone soft maybe?
LibraryThing member Beamis12
3.5 This is apparently the second in The Fisherman series, I haven't read the first. Though this is lacking the depth of the Harry Hole novels, I enjoyed this one. The spare prose seems to fit perfectly this fast moving story. Had never heard of the Laestradians before, but they and there beliefs
ARC from publisher.
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are a key component of this story. I loved the characters, Ulf or Jon, the reluctant hitman, Lea and her young son and Mattis, a sami priest. A story of retribution, of second chances and difficult choices, not particularly violent, think I will call this series Nordic lite.ARC from publisher.
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LibraryThing member thewanderingjew
I had really looked forward to reading Joe Nesbo's latest book, Midnight Sun, but I was very disappointed. When it started out it seemed to promise to be a thriller about a young "fixer" who could not pull the trigger when called upon, a fixer who could not perform his duty. Unable to do what was
The narrator, Kim Gordon, read with almost no expression or modulation in her tone. As each character came on stage, it was impossible to determine who it was or even at what point the change took place.
In short, I was displeased with the book and the narrator.
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demanded of him by "the Fisherman", a man who dealt in drugs and allowed no tomfoolery whatsoever, he had taken to the road and was on the run; now he was the victim needing "fixing". He had several narrow escapes, but the story never gets very exciting or credible. It soon seems to deteriorate into a not very credible love story. It failed to hold my interest. The dialogue seemed trite, and I couldn't wait for it to end.The narrator, Kim Gordon, read with almost no expression or modulation in her tone. As each character came on stage, it was impossible to determine who it was or even at what point the change took place.
In short, I was displeased with the book and the narrator.
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LibraryThing member delphimo
Midnight Sun opens on bleakness, and the mood does not change too drastically from the opening page. Jon Hansen has left Oslo and arrived in the Arctic Circle in an attempt to hide from the Fisherman. Jon, now calling himself Ulf, meets several people in his quest to hide: Lea and her son, Knut,
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and Mattis. These three people help Ulf in his quest to find peace and happiness. The story unfolds slowly about Ulf's life and his errors, but we also meet Lea, a woman who accepts the decision of her father even though she aches for a better life. I can see this book as a movie done in black and white, but an ending in color. Show Less
LibraryThing member SheTreadsSoftly
Midnight Sun by Jo Nesbø is a very highly recommended novel about a man on the run in this second book in the new series that started with Blood on Snow.
Jon Hansen is on the run from the Fisherman, a powerful crime boss in Oslo. When Jon takes a bus and gets off at Kåsund, located on Norway’s
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far northeastern border in the Arctic Circle, he tells everyone his name is Ulf and he's there for hunting. After spending the first night in the village church, he learns about a hunter's cottage from Lea, the woman who came to clean the church. She loans him her husband's rifle and with the help of her son Knut, a talkative nine-year-old, he finds it and sets up camp.The locals clearly know he's on the run from someone and is not there for the hunting. The area is isolated and dominated by the Laestadians, a strict Christian sect that Lea and Knut follow, and the Sami culture.
After falling into working for The Fisherman as a fixer, Jon's true nature is revealed when he fails to kill the man he was told to fix and accepts from him the money the man owed the Fisherman. Jon is an anti-hero. He needs money to help pay for the cancer treatment for his daughter. He's a small-time drug dealer who has never killed anyone, although the Fisherman believes he has. Now he has Johnny Moe, a ruthless fixer for the Fisherman who has no compunctions about killing anyone, after him.
Jon finds himself becoming increasingly concerned about what might happen to the people who are helping him and befriending him in this new, environment - the land of the midnight sun. He wants redemption, but isn't sure if it is at all possible for him to atone for his actions. He knows that with the Fisherman there is no way to disassociate himself and withdraw from any involvement except through his death.
Nesbø excels at character development and this continues to provide the dark Scandinavian noir that you would expect from him. Although it is still grim, this novel is less dark and violent than previous novels. The novel is set in the 1970's, which simplifies the plot when you subtract our hyper-connected society with computers and cell phones. Nesbø keeps the tension high with this short (for him) novel. As you are reading you will keep expecting something bad to happen on the next page, because, naturally, you know something will happen.
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Knopf Doubleday for review purposes.
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LibraryThing member bookczuk
Nesbo goes short, sparse, somewhat philosophic, and a touch romantic in this second "Blood on Snow" book, set in a remote part of Norway, where Jon is now on the run from the crimelord known as The Fisherman, who will be satisfied with nothing less than Jon's corpse.
Different from the Harry Hole
Tags: a-favorite-author, translated, nordic-noir, rounded-up-in-star-rating, 2016-read
Different from the Harry Hole
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novels, but again with a true sense of place and character. Tags: a-favorite-author, translated, nordic-noir, rounded-up-in-star-rating, 2016-read
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LibraryThing member gmmartz
I've admired Jo Nesbo's series starring his Harry Hole character, but his others haven't been as consistent. I was prepared to treat Midnight Sun with skepticism, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Midnight Sun isn't a long novel, and there's not a whole lot of action. A bungling, drug-dealing hit man
This novel turned into a sort of fairy tale-type story. The characters (other than the bad guys..) are all pretty sympathetic, even if we don't know all that much about them, and the milieu of a really unfamiliar part of Scandinavia is interesting. The bad guys finally show up, but if and how the protagonist (if a drug dealer can be considered such...) survives (or not) is why the book was so interesting.
Midnight Sun isn't your typical Scandinavian mystery/procedural novel but it's very enjoyable. If you like Nesbo, it's definitely not Harry Hole, but it's pretty good!
Midnight Sun isn't a long novel, and there's not a whole lot of action. A bungling, drug-dealing hit man
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who's afraid to pull the trigger heads north (way north....) to avoid repercussions related to his most recent adventure. He finds strange people and strange land awaiting, yet he knows he really can't hide and his time is limited. He 'holes-up' (get it?) in a cabin and spends his time thinking about his situation, why it happened, and how much he enjoys the company of a local woman and her young son.This novel turned into a sort of fairy tale-type story. The characters (other than the bad guys..) are all pretty sympathetic, even if we don't know all that much about them, and the milieu of a really unfamiliar part of Scandinavia is interesting. The bad guys finally show up, but if and how the protagonist (if a drug dealer can be considered such...) survives (or not) is why the book was so interesting.
Midnight Sun isn't your typical Scandinavian mystery/procedural novel but it's very enjoyable. If you like Nesbo, it's definitely not Harry Hole, but it's pretty good!
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LibraryThing member Elleneer
I think Nesbo wrote this one for himself. I could feel he enjoyed writing it. Didn't know he had a romantic streak in him.
LibraryThing member Jcambridge
Not a typical Nesbo story, but I got caught up in it. Having visited the far reaches of Norway and met with Samii people, I found it most interesting. I would recommend it. Unlike the Harry Hole stories, this one can be read in a few hours.
LibraryThing member 66usma
Good, quick read. Particulary interesting strategy using reindeer carcass to avoid detection.
Story about "fixer" relocating to Lapland to avoid execution by drug czar (Fishermen).
Story about "fixer" relocating to Lapland to avoid execution by drug czar (Fishermen).
LibraryThing member jess_reads_books
Ulf finds himself in the remote town of Kasund were he is hiding out from his former boss, Oslo’s most notorious drug kingpin, The Fisherman. Ulf had one job, be a fixer. He was supposed to answer the phone whenever The Fisherman had someone who owed him money or needed to be fixed. Ulf never
While hiding in this tiny town Ulf meets a woman named Lea and her son Knut, who quickly befriend him and help him find shelter and means to live. He also meets the town’s booze dealer and all-around eccentric, Mattis, who he can’t quite figure out. Under the guise of a hunter staying in the town’s hunting cabin, Ulf delicately makes an impression on the people in his newly found home, all while trying to stay as hidden as possible. As the bond between Ulf, Lea, and Knut becomes closer the reader is able to learn who Ulf really is and how he ended up in this line of work. Emotions are brought to the forefront as Ulf realizes he has never found this sense of hope and happiness in his life, until now. All the while the window of being found is closing in and Ulf must determine how he will survive and keep his newly found friends safe.
MIDNIGHT SUN is a roller coaster of emotions that puts the reader in a strange place, cheering along a criminal, who you hope will outrun his murderers. Ulf is a man of many sides and throughout the novel his true character is revealed, leaving you unable to feel anything but hope and despair for his situation. Lea and Knut become the two truest companions he has ever had in his life. How does someone find love and hope while on the run? Kasund is full of a cast of characters with personalities ranging from caring and loving to intense and violent, which sets the stage for a debate on who can be trusted. Nesbø put my heart in a blender and turned it up to the highest setting at the end of the novel. Hands down one of the best books I’ve read this year!
Despite being a follow-up to BLOOD ON SNOW, a new reader can read these in any order. I do highly recommend picking up both!
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really thought the job was for him and when he gets the chance to spare a life in exchange for splitting a large sum of money and a haul of drugs with the target, Ulf takes the deal. This leaves him as The Fisherman’s next victim and now suddenly the fixer is the one who needs to be fixed. While hiding in this tiny town Ulf meets a woman named Lea and her son Knut, who quickly befriend him and help him find shelter and means to live. He also meets the town’s booze dealer and all-around eccentric, Mattis, who he can’t quite figure out. Under the guise of a hunter staying in the town’s hunting cabin, Ulf delicately makes an impression on the people in his newly found home, all while trying to stay as hidden as possible. As the bond between Ulf, Lea, and Knut becomes closer the reader is able to learn who Ulf really is and how he ended up in this line of work. Emotions are brought to the forefront as Ulf realizes he has never found this sense of hope and happiness in his life, until now. All the while the window of being found is closing in and Ulf must determine how he will survive and keep his newly found friends safe.
MIDNIGHT SUN is a roller coaster of emotions that puts the reader in a strange place, cheering along a criminal, who you hope will outrun his murderers. Ulf is a man of many sides and throughout the novel his true character is revealed, leaving you unable to feel anything but hope and despair for his situation. Lea and Knut become the two truest companions he has ever had in his life. How does someone find love and hope while on the run? Kasund is full of a cast of characters with personalities ranging from caring and loving to intense and violent, which sets the stage for a debate on who can be trusted. Nesbø put my heart in a blender and turned it up to the highest setting at the end of the novel. Hands down one of the best books I’ve read this year!
Despite being a follow-up to BLOOD ON SNOW, a new reader can read these in any order. I do highly recommend picking up both!
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LibraryThing member smik
This is the second in the Blood on The Snow series, stories about Norwegian contract killers.
It is a little longer than the first in the series which I reviewed on this blog a couple of years ago.
Jon Hansen is on a bus heading north, as far away from Oslo as he can get.
A small time drug dealer in
And so now The Fisherman is after him and he is on the run. He gets as far as Kasund on the Finnmark plateau and gets off the bus in the middle of the night, spending the rest of the night on the floor of the local church. Saying he is there for the hunting season he takes a cottage some distance out of the village and waits to see if The Fisherman catches up with him.
In some ways this is a story of redemption, even a love story. Something a little different, with some humour, but still noir.
It is a little longer than the first in the series which I reviewed on this blog a couple of years ago.
Jon Hansen is on a bus heading north, as far away from Oslo as he can get.
A small time drug dealer in
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desperate need of extra money to save the life of his young daughter with leukaemia, he took a job with The Fisherman as a debt collector and fixer. If he can’t collect the debt then The Fisherman expects him to eliminate the person owing the money. But killing things has never been his strong point and he falls at the first hurdle when the victim offers him money in return for letting him disappear. In addition his finger just won’t pull the trigger.And so now The Fisherman is after him and he is on the run. He gets as far as Kasund on the Finnmark plateau and gets off the bus in the middle of the night, spending the rest of the night on the floor of the local church. Saying he is there for the hunting season he takes a cottage some distance out of the village and waits to see if The Fisherman catches up with him.
In some ways this is a story of redemption, even a love story. Something a little different, with some humour, but still noir.
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LibraryThing member ilonita50
The book is very unusual, not typical for the writer, I actually found it very calm, although the plot suggest the next minute it will build up for a climax and I shall be ready for something...it didn't. Not in a sense of crime, thriller grossness. Its weird, that this second book in the series is
Saying that the book is very different from the first more, does not apply for the topic, there is another new "fixer" who's on run, there still exists this huge drug, smuggling, crime theme, that brings it all together to the part how can it survive? The story is about living a life and facing unpredictable when you are as low as you can be, when one would do anything to believe the "hope" as its the only one that people have got, go against the norms and values, adapting what the new lifestyle takes from you and what it gives.
As every book of the author, this one too, builds the readers knowledge about each and every tragic character slowly throughout the book. I truly had no idea where the book will lead or how it would end up and i surely was surprised by the ending, without saying any spoilers.
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so so opposite to the first one - Blood on the Snow. Somehow I am to believe these two stories will sum up in the third or so and more killing, mafia episodes will share the books. Saying that the book is very different from the first more, does not apply for the topic, there is another new "fixer" who's on run, there still exists this huge drug, smuggling, crime theme, that brings it all together to the part how can it survive? The story is about living a life and facing unpredictable when you are as low as you can be, when one would do anything to believe the "hope" as its the only one that people have got, go against the norms and values, adapting what the new lifestyle takes from you and what it gives.
As every book of the author, this one too, builds the readers knowledge about each and every tragic character slowly throughout the book. I truly had no idea where the book will lead or how it would end up and i surely was surprised by the ending, without saying any spoilers.
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LibraryThing member JBD1
The second in Nesbø's series about "fixers on the run." A good, quick read, full of atmosphere and set in the fascinating Finnmark region of Norway.
LibraryThing member decaturmamaof2
Very different from Harry Hole books, but I love this story of loss and redemption and love.
LibraryThing member Gunnarf
One of the more intresting Jo Nesbo books as it tells about life above the Artic circle, Sami culture and hash Christianity beliefs making the crime theme almost second.
LibraryThing member Brumby18
Quirky with a surprise ending,.. another anti hero with a kind heart.
LibraryThing member Picathartes
This book was something of a pleasure to read. The way the story was written was clever and I found myself really enjoying it, but there were parts I didn't care for, parts that were depressing (e.g. why only 4-stars).
However, I consider this one full of smart, thoughtful writing, but light in its
I liked passages such as these:
"I shut my eyes and concentrated on the sun, and on feeling it warm my skin. On pleasure. Hedon. The Greek god. Or idol, as he should probably be called seeing as I was on hallowed ground. It's pretty arrogant, calling all other gods, apart from the one you've come up with, idols. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Every dictator's command to his subjects, of course. The funny thing was that Christians couldn't see it themselves. They didn't see the mechanism, the regenerative, self-fulfilling, self-aggrandising aspect which meant that a superstition like this could survive for two thousand years, and in which the key--salvation--was restricted to those who were fortunate enough to have been born in a space of time which was a merest blink of the eye in human history, and who also happened to live on the only little bit of the planet that ever got to hear the commandment and were able to formulate an opinion about the concise sales pitch ("Paradise?")."
[And.]
"My grandfather drew churches," I said. "He used to be an architect. But he didn't believe in God. He said that when we died, we died. I'm more inclined to believe that."
"He didn't believe in Jesus either?"
"If he didn't believe in God, he was hardly going to believe in his son, Knut."
"I get it."
"You get it. So?"
"So he'll burn in hell."
"Hmmmm. In that case he's been burning for a while, because he died when I was nineteen. Don't you think that's a bit unfair? Basse was a good man, he gave a helping hand to people who needed it, which is more than you can say about a lot of Christians I've known. If I could be half as good a man as my grandfather . . ."
"Grandpa says doing good deeds doesn't help, Ulf. Your grandfather's burning now, and soon it'll be your turn."
"Hmm. But you're saying that if I go to the meeting and say yes to Jesus and this Læstadius, I'll get to paradise even if I do sod all to help anyone else?"
The boy scratched his red hair. "Yeees. Well, if you say yes to the Lyngen branch."
"There's more than one branch?"
"There are the Firstborns in Alta, and the Lundbergians in South Tromsø, and the Old Læstadians in America, and—"
"And they're all going to burn?"
"Grandpa says they will."
"Sounds like there's going to be plenty of room in paradise. Have you thought about what would happen if you and I had switched grandfathers? Then you'd have been an atheist and me a Læstadian. And then you'd be the one who'd burn in hell."
"Maybe. But fortunately you're the one who's going to burn, Ulf."
However, I consider this one full of smart, thoughtful writing, but light in its
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own way. Or, at least, I think so.I liked passages such as these:
"I shut my eyes and concentrated on the sun, and on feeling it warm my skin. On pleasure. Hedon. The Greek god. Or idol, as he should probably be called seeing as I was on hallowed ground. It's pretty arrogant, calling all other gods, apart from the one you've come up with, idols. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Every dictator's command to his subjects, of course. The funny thing was that Christians couldn't see it themselves. They didn't see the mechanism, the regenerative, self-fulfilling, self-aggrandising aspect which meant that a superstition like this could survive for two thousand years, and in which the key--salvation--was restricted to those who were fortunate enough to have been born in a space of time which was a merest blink of the eye in human history, and who also happened to live on the only little bit of the planet that ever got to hear the commandment and were able to formulate an opinion about the concise sales pitch ("Paradise?")."
[And.]
"My grandfather drew churches," I said. "He used to be an architect. But he didn't believe in God. He said that when we died, we died. I'm more inclined to believe that."
"He didn't believe in Jesus either?"
"If he didn't believe in God, he was hardly going to believe in his son, Knut."
"I get it."
"You get it. So?"
"So he'll burn in hell."
"Hmmmm. In that case he's been burning for a while, because he died when I was nineteen. Don't you think that's a bit unfair? Basse was a good man, he gave a helping hand to people who needed it, which is more than you can say about a lot of Christians I've known. If I could be half as good a man as my grandfather . . ."
"Grandpa says doing good deeds doesn't help, Ulf. Your grandfather's burning now, and soon it'll be your turn."
"Hmm. But you're saying that if I go to the meeting and say yes to Jesus and this Læstadius, I'll get to paradise even if I do sod all to help anyone else?"
The boy scratched his red hair. "Yeees. Well, if you say yes to the Lyngen branch."
"There's more than one branch?"
"There are the Firstborns in Alta, and the Lundbergians in South Tromsø, and the Old Læstadians in America, and—"
"And they're all going to burn?"
"Grandpa says they will."
"Sounds like there's going to be plenty of room in paradise. Have you thought about what would happen if you and I had switched grandfathers? Then you'd have been an atheist and me a Læstadian. And then you'd be the one who'd burn in hell."
"Maybe. But fortunately you're the one who's going to burn, Ulf."
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Awards
Lariat Adult Fiction Reading List (Selection — 2017)
Language
Original language
Norwegian
Original publication date
2015 (original Norwegian)
2016-02-16 (English: Smith)
Physical description
6.38 inches
ISBN
184655859X / 9781846558597
Similar in this library
DDC/MDS
| 839.82 |