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wholemilk's review against another edition
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
smusie's review against another edition
4.0
I never thought I would enjoy a book so much in which the main character is wood.
meggytron13's review
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
tosta's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
chrissypink80's review
2.0
Not a page turner. Interesting enough, I guess. The end of the book was......lacking. The whole book went back and forth from past to present. Would never read it twice.
book_concierge's review against another edition
3.0
Book on CD performed by Richard Poe
3.5***
From the book jacket:
Out Stealing Horses tells the story of Trond Sander, a sixty-seven-year-old man who has moved from the city to a remote, riverside cabin, only to have all the turbulence, grief, and overwhelming beauty of his youth come back to him one night while he’s out on a walk. From the moment Trond sees a strange figure coming out of the dark behind his home, the reader is immersed in a decades-deep story of searching and loss.
My reactions:
I remember when this book was launched and all the buzz around it. It’s been on my tbr ever since but somehow, I never got around to reading it … until now.
Petterson has crafted an atmospheric, character-driven story of one man’s looking back on his coming-of-age summer when he was almost 15 and living with his father in a remote cabin on a river in eastern Norway, just on the border with Sweden. The story moves back and forth between the present day, when Trond is a retiree, alone, and facing the last leg of his journey of life, and the summer of 1948 when he was a young man who idolized his father and relished in the joys of nature, exploring with his friend Jon. But as the novel goes back in time to Trond’s youth, it becomes clear that he is facing the truth of those events – events that he was not fully aware of or prepared to deal with as a fifteen year old.
I loved the many literary references, because Trond is quite the reader, and the young Trond is particularly fond of American Westerns. The title refers to the escapades of the horse rustlers of many a Western-genre novel. And both Trond and Jon are eager to give in to their vivid imaginations. But as Trond grows he comes to realize that adventure isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be, and there can be a very real human toll to giving in to desire and youthful exuberance.
A movie was made, though I’ve never seen it. I imagine it was cinematically beautiful, but this is such a contemplative book I can’t imagine it would translate well to film.
Richard Poe does a fantastic job of narrating the audiobook. The shifts in time are not easy to handle, but Poe manages to give the young Trond and the mature Trond different voices, which helped this reader make the transitions.
3.5***
From the book jacket:
Out Stealing Horses tells the story of Trond Sander, a sixty-seven-year-old man who has moved from the city to a remote, riverside cabin, only to have all the turbulence, grief, and overwhelming beauty of his youth come back to him one night while he’s out on a walk. From the moment Trond sees a strange figure coming out of the dark behind his home, the reader is immersed in a decades-deep story of searching and loss.
My reactions:
I remember when this book was launched and all the buzz around it. It’s been on my tbr ever since but somehow, I never got around to reading it … until now.
Petterson has crafted an atmospheric, character-driven story of one man’s looking back on his coming-of-age summer when he was almost 15 and living with his father in a remote cabin on a river in eastern Norway, just on the border with Sweden. The story moves back and forth between the present day, when Trond is a retiree, alone, and facing the last leg of his journey of life, and the summer of 1948 when he was a young man who idolized his father and relished in the joys of nature, exploring with his friend Jon. But as the novel goes back in time to Trond’s youth, it becomes clear that he is facing the truth of those events – events that he was not fully aware of or prepared to deal with as a fifteen year old.
I loved the many literary references, because Trond is quite the reader, and the young Trond is particularly fond of American Westerns. The title refers to the escapades of the horse rustlers of many a Western-genre novel. And both Trond and Jon are eager to give in to their vivid imaginations. But as Trond grows he comes to realize that adventure isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be, and there can be a very real human toll to giving in to desire and youthful exuberance.
A movie was made, though I’ve never seen it. I imagine it was cinematically beautiful, but this is such a contemplative book I can’t imagine it would translate well to film.
Richard Poe does a fantastic job of narrating the audiobook. The shifts in time are not easy to handle, but Poe manages to give the young Trond and the mature Trond different voices, which helped this reader make the transitions.
mrswhite's review against another edition
5.0
Melancholily beautiful, Per Petterson's Out Stealing Horses was widely hailed as one of the best books of 2007, and for very good reason - It was. In simple, unpretentious prose Petterson tells the story of Trond Sander, a elderly man who has purchased an old house in a secluded Norwegian village in the hopes of living out the remainder of his days in quiet solitude. But this isn't to be when Trond makes an unlikely discovery, one that "if this had been something in a novel it would have been irritating;" his nearest neighbor, Lars, happens to be the sibling of his closest childhood friend, a friend who disappeared from Trond's life after a terrible tragedy. Lars's presence sets off a torrent of memories reaching back as far as fifty years, and the novel is revealed through the ebb and flow of these often painful remembrances mixing with Trond's reclusive present.
Admittedly, if you're anything like me none of this sounds particularly exciting; however, Trond's story is inarguably compelling and moving. Out Stealing Horses is a quietly beautiful book written in a masterful manner - carefully, deliberately, without wasting a single word. And since this is one of those things that really must be experienced to be appreciated, here's my favorite passage (although Petterson certainly provided me with plenty to choose from):
People like it when you tell them things, in suitable portions, in a modest, intimate tone, and they think they know you, but they do not, they know about you, for what they are let in on are facts, not feelings, not what your opinion is about anything at all, not how what has happened to you and how all the decisions you have made have turned you into who you are. What they do is they fill in with their own feelings and opinions and assumptions, and they compose a new life which has precious little to do with yours, and that lets you off the hook. No-one can touch you unless you yourself want them to. You only have to be polite and smile and keep paranoid thoughts at bay, because they will talk about you no matter how much you squirm, it is inevitable, and you would do the same thing yourself.
Amen.
Admittedly, if you're anything like me none of this sounds particularly exciting; however, Trond's story is inarguably compelling and moving. Out Stealing Horses is a quietly beautiful book written in a masterful manner - carefully, deliberately, without wasting a single word. And since this is one of those things that really must be experienced to be appreciated, here's my favorite passage (although Petterson certainly provided me with plenty to choose from):
People like it when you tell them things, in suitable portions, in a modest, intimate tone, and they think they know you, but they do not, they know about you, for what they are let in on are facts, not feelings, not what your opinion is about anything at all, not how what has happened to you and how all the decisions you have made have turned you into who you are. What they do is they fill in with their own feelings and opinions and assumptions, and they compose a new life which has precious little to do with yours, and that lets you off the hook. No-one can touch you unless you yourself want them to. You only have to be polite and smile and keep paranoid thoughts at bay, because they will talk about you no matter how much you squirm, it is inevitable, and you would do the same thing yourself.
Amen.
envenv's review against another edition
5.0
“At Çalmaya Gidiyoruz” Per Peterson’un tanınmasını sağlayan en popüler kitabı olduğu için dilimize de ilk çevrilen, benim de okuduğum ilk kitabı.
Yakınlarını kaybedeli birkaç sene olmuş, 67 yaşında bir adamın yorucu kent hayatını artık geride bırakıp Norveç’in sakin orman köylerinden birisinde inzivaya çekilmesi ile başlıyor hikaye. Ama tabi aslında bu inziva, bir anlamda hikayenin sonu, çünkü inziva hiçbir zaman geçmişle hesaplaşmadan gerçekleşmez, en azından romanlarda.
Bu hesaplaşma anlarında arka planda ikinci dünya savaşı, Norveç’in Almanlara direnişi, baba-oğul ilişkisi de geriye dönüşlerle anlatılıyor. Çevirisi de çok başarılı, oldukça akıcı.
Belirli bir noktada artık geçmişiyle yüzleşip hesaplaşabilecek duruma gelmiş, geçmişi enine boyuna tartabilen, dürüstçe yargılayabilen, kendisini nihayetinde olduğu gibi kabul edebilmeyi başarabilmiş (başaramasa da en azından çabalayan) karakterleri anlatan romanları okumayı özellikle seviyorum ben. Kitap benzer kurgusu bakımdan George Orwell’in “Boğulmamak İçin”, Dag Solstad’ın “Mahcubiyet ve Haysiyet”, Kazuo Ishiguro’nun “Günden Kalanlar” ve “Beni Asla Bırakma” gibi daha önceden severek okuduğum kitaplarla da benzerlik taşıyor.
Yakınlarını kaybedeli birkaç sene olmuş, 67 yaşında bir adamın yorucu kent hayatını artık geride bırakıp Norveç’in sakin orman köylerinden birisinde inzivaya çekilmesi ile başlıyor hikaye. Ama tabi aslında bu inziva, bir anlamda hikayenin sonu, çünkü inziva hiçbir zaman geçmişle hesaplaşmadan gerçekleşmez, en azından romanlarda.
Bu hesaplaşma anlarında arka planda ikinci dünya savaşı, Norveç’in Almanlara direnişi, baba-oğul ilişkisi de geriye dönüşlerle anlatılıyor. Çevirisi de çok başarılı, oldukça akıcı.
Belirli bir noktada artık geçmişiyle yüzleşip hesaplaşabilecek duruma gelmiş, geçmişi enine boyuna tartabilen, dürüstçe yargılayabilen, kendisini nihayetinde olduğu gibi kabul edebilmeyi başarabilmiş (başaramasa da en azından çabalayan) karakterleri anlatan romanları okumayı özellikle seviyorum ben. Kitap benzer kurgusu bakımdan George Orwell’in “Boğulmamak İçin”, Dag Solstad’ın “Mahcubiyet ve Haysiyet”, Kazuo Ishiguro’nun “Günden Kalanlar” ve “Beni Asla Bırakma” gibi daha önceden severek okuduğum kitaplarla da benzerlik taşıyor.