Mysteries: A Novel
by Knut Hamsun
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Book Summary Information
Author: Knut HamsunTranslator: Gerry Bothmer
Introduction: Sven Birkerts
Afterword: Isaac Bashevis Singer
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-08-08
ISBN: 0374530297
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Book Reviews of Mysteries: A Novel
Book Review: A peculiar book from the hands of Norway's biggest author
Summary: 5 Stars
The book is about a young man; Johan Nagel Nilsen, that for reasons unknown, steps off the boat that is in the harbour of a small and sleepy Southern-Norwegian town. In the course of a few weeks, this man sporting a totally yellow suit manages to turn everything around in the small community, with the help of his surreal ideas, his money and the help of an evil midget. The book is quite typical of Hamsun's earlier work, with surreal situations and peculiar conversations. Mr. Nilsen is extremely bi-polar, going from the blackest of moods to the highest peaks of joy, and this drives the novel onwards. It's a real page-turner, because you always want to know a little more of what is actually going on. (Not that I felt I learned very much at all, but it does reveal parts of the "mystery" in the end.) I'm not going to say much more about the book, since I don't want to ruin the "surprises". The book is very existentialist, and a fine piece of Norwegian literature. I loved the book, and the fact that it's written by a "right-wing" anti-modern conservative, makes it even better. Hamsun got the Nobel Prize for his later work "The growth of the soil", but this is not too far from that book in quality. Just great!
(I read another edition of the book)
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