Books319 entries

Per Petterson - I Curse the River of Time

Released: 01/07/2010 Harvill Secker

Arvid Jansen is struggling to adjust to the changes he's subject to. He's going through a divorce when his mother is diagnosed with cancer. Set against the backdrop of European communism's fall, Prize-winning Norwegian writer Per Petterson's new novel is a moving depiction of life's quiet complexities. For more information visit: http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=1… Buy: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1846553008?ie=UTF8&tag=cultur00-21&linkCode=as2&ca…

90%
The Boston Globe“Petterson’s sentences can stop your breathing...” Petterson offers no moments of mother-son reconciliation, no sudden, tear-filled epiphanies. Petterson’s readers will find that they’re in the hands of a master whose quiet, unforgettable voice leaves you yearning to hear more...
 
.
80 %
The New York Times“Clear, colloquial and unadorned...” Where a lot of American prose seems fizzy and over-rich, the sentences in this book go down like an eye-watering shot of aquavit. They evoke a landscape, mental and otherwise, that while a little wintry and severe, is appealing...
 
.
80 %
The Independent“Ought to make clumsier authors weep with envy...” As it switches between daily life and haunting memory - "one now and many thens" – the novel abounds in Peterson's delicate dialogue between present and past selves. A masterclass in the alchemising of time and loss into the gold of art...
 
.
90%
Financial Times“Scenes of incomporable beauty...” Petterson's last book was a powerful, perfectly wrought metaphor for problem-ridden attainment of male identity, and this is no less an achievement. He stands unsurpassed among contemporary writers for existential truth-telling...
 
.
80 %
Guardian“A work of blackest tragicomedy...” Petterson's writing has returned to its artistic "home", and what's more returned to it with greater maturity and confidence. It is a novel as cold and scintillating and desolate as the northern winter landscapes that are its setting...
 
.
80 %
Publishers Weekly“An emotional sucker punch...” Thankfully, there is neither overt sentimentalism nor a deathbed declaration of love between mother and son, but Petterson blends enough hope with the gorgeously evoked melancholy to come up with a heartbreaking and cautiously optimistic work...
 
.
 
The New Yorker“Not yet reviewed”
 
.
 
The Scotsman“Not yet reviewed”
 
.
 
The Telegraph“Not yet reviewed”
 
.
 
Economist“Not yet reviewed”
 
.
Review and recommend 
Reviewing: Per Petterson - I Curse the River of Time

You need to be logged in to write a review on CultureCritic, or sign up now.




characters left. All HTML will be stripped from your review.

Yes? No?

CultureCritic gives you all the latest arts and entertainment reviews. Write a review, set up your critic circle... Sign up now.
Critometer
Ads 
  • RichMixMAY
  • CSm Job Ad
  • CC Twitter 10.09
  • fox & squirrel
  • Art House Holidays
  • Love Art London