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vhlm's review against another edition
4.5
Briefe an eine noch ungeborene Tochter über das Leben bzw. Facetten des Alltags und der Welt an sich, die einen über Mechanismen, Natur und Gepflogenheiten nachdenken lassen. Knausgård schafft es, mundäne Aspekte in einem Detailreichtum einzufangen, was einem die Welt wie durch Kinderaugen erneut mit Faszination erleben lässt.
brunogcarr's review against another edition
1.0
Uma ou outra imagem bem conseguida e tudo o resto é uma banal descrição da banalidade. O texto "Retrete", onde essencialmente se descreve uma sanita, é um dos expoentes máximos desse exercício.
Caro Knausgård, em termos de estações do ano, fico-me por aqui; a tua luta pode ser muito interessante, mas este murro no vazio roubou-me quase toda a vontade de tirar isso a limpo.
Caro Knausgård, em termos de estações do ano, fico-me por aqui; a tua luta pode ser muito interessante, mas este murro no vazio roubou-me quase toda a vontade de tirar isso a limpo.
bittersweet_symphony's review against another edition
4.0
As if Knausgaard couldn't get any more mundane, he compiles a collection of short essays on a wide range of everyday things: apples, wasps, teeth, frogs, piss, blood, limes, plastic bags, cars, tin cans, flies, drums, and toilet bowls. And yet, it's always pleasant spending time with his observations.
The series is loosely—incredibly loosely—an extended series of letters to his unborn daughter because he wants to "show" her "our world as it is now." I appreciate the few pages where he actually speaks directly to his soon-to-be daughter: "That's the experience I've gained from working in the garden; there's no reason to be cautious or anxious about anything, life is so robust, it seems to come cascading, blind and green, and at times it is frightening, because we too are alive, but we live in what amounts to a controlled environment, which makes us fear whatever is blind, wild, chaotic, stretching towards the sun, but most often also beautiful, in a deeper way than the purely visual."
I found his short entry on churches to be particularly worthwhile. He reflects on the churches near his small town: "They were built at a time when each little village formed a separate unit, with the low houses clustering around the church like ducklings around a mother duck, surrounded by fields in every direction, and while this pattern remains the same, it no longer means anything, but testifies to a bygone way of life and thinking...Today the wealth is in cities; out here there are vacant homes for sale everywhere at depressed prices."
During one of my favorite pieces, he touches on one of the more prevailing emotions of our time (albeit quite briefly): nostalgia. It is "the longing for what once was, the shadow sickness. The corresponding natural emotion is the longing for that which still doesn't exist, the future, which is filled with hope and vigor and which is not impossible, not associated with what has been lost but with what can still be gained. And maybe that is why the nostalgia I feel is so powerful, because utopia has vanished from our time, so that longing can no longer be directed forward, but only backwards, where all its force accumulates."
I enjoy the way in which Autumn can function as a perfect nightstand companion. I frequently read a few entries in bed as I waited for sleep to come. Additionally, I envision myself using it as a topical reference for when I'm writing on any of the related subjects. I appreciate his unironic prose. It's not his best writing but worth considering if you can get it in the discount book section (which I was fortunate enough to do).
**2nd Reading: much like the first time. Always enlightening spending time with Knausgaard.
The series is loosely—incredibly loosely—an extended series of letters to his unborn daughter because he wants to "show" her "our world as it is now." I appreciate the few pages where he actually speaks directly to his soon-to-be daughter: "That's the experience I've gained from working in the garden; there's no reason to be cautious or anxious about anything, life is so robust, it seems to come cascading, blind and green, and at times it is frightening, because we too are alive, but we live in what amounts to a controlled environment, which makes us fear whatever is blind, wild, chaotic, stretching towards the sun, but most often also beautiful, in a deeper way than the purely visual."
I found his short entry on churches to be particularly worthwhile. He reflects on the churches near his small town: "They were built at a time when each little village formed a separate unit, with the low houses clustering around the church like ducklings around a mother duck, surrounded by fields in every direction, and while this pattern remains the same, it no longer means anything, but testifies to a bygone way of life and thinking...Today the wealth is in cities; out here there are vacant homes for sale everywhere at depressed prices."
During one of my favorite pieces, he touches on one of the more prevailing emotions of our time (albeit quite briefly): nostalgia. It is "the longing for what once was, the shadow sickness. The corresponding natural emotion is the longing for that which still doesn't exist, the future, which is filled with hope and vigor and which is not impossible, not associated with what has been lost but with what can still be gained. And maybe that is why the nostalgia I feel is so powerful, because utopia has vanished from our time, so that longing can no longer be directed forward, but only backwards, where all its force accumulates."
I enjoy the way in which Autumn can function as a perfect nightstand companion. I frequently read a few entries in bed as I waited for sleep to come. Additionally, I envision myself using it as a topical reference for when I'm writing on any of the related subjects. I appreciate his unironic prose. It's not his best writing but worth considering if you can get it in the discount book section (which I was fortunate enough to do).
**2nd Reading: much like the first time. Always enlightening spending time with Knausgaard.
mollybonovskyanderson's review against another edition
4.0
"Letters are nothing but dead signs, and books are their coffins. Not a sound has issued from this text while you have been reading it."
I don't think you read this to experience some guy ruminating about everything from toilets and thermoses to Flaubert and badgers. You read this to experience Karl Ove Knausgaard specifically ruminating on anything and everything, because in doing so, he effortlessly reveals the profundity and beauty within every seemingly mundane thing in our everyday lives. I feel this first volume of essays is the perfect postscript to the complete volumes of Min Kamp; having read those first, I feel like I know Knausgaard enough to care what he thinks about and why he writes about things like bed, labia, porpoises, loneliness, and pain.
I don't think you read this to experience some guy ruminating about everything from toilets and thermoses to Flaubert and badgers. You read this to experience Karl Ove Knausgaard specifically ruminating on anything and everything, because in doing so, he effortlessly reveals the profundity and beauty within every seemingly mundane thing in our everyday lives. I feel this first volume of essays is the perfect postscript to the complete volumes of Min Kamp; having read those first, I feel like I know Knausgaard enough to care what he thinks about and why he writes about things like bed, labia, porpoises, loneliness, and pain.
ninzlu's review against another edition
5.0
This is now one of my favourite autobiographies. The author talks about his life and his family through sections discussing different everyday objects and topics. I enjoyed the unique formatting of this book.
carlytenille's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit
dietsmarrissjohnson's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0