by Pers Petterson
This was an uncommonly lyrical book.
Since it was translated from its original Norwegian, I wonder how that is possible. Was the original MORE lyrical, I wonder. Is that even possible? Or perhaps the translator added her own voice. Or maybe translating isn't as hard as I think it is.
Its passages haunt me. The book's subject is an old man, recently moved to the country for solitude. He lives a simple life and at first it seems even his memories are of simple things, with little meaning.
But that's deceiving. Even the title is deceiving. Out stealing horses may refer to a harmless joyriding prank he does with his childhood friends but it's also an expression Norwegians used for resistance activities during Nazi-occupied WWII.
As it turns out, there are very powerful things going on in Trond's life and very powerful things that happened in his past.
But it is unfolded very slowly, very simply.
