Reviews with content warning for Death - Overleverne

This is a challenging, even shocking, book. It is not until right at the end that all the pieces fall into place and that the reader really understands what is going on. That also makes it very difficult to write a review completely avoiding spoilers.
The chapters switch between different perspectives and dates, and this done well. Sometimes I get a bit lost in books with flashbacks, but here Alex Schulman always unobtrusively but clearly makes it known when we are. One of the boys, Benjamin, has exceptional powers of observation. He uses this 'trick' very effectively as a means of pointing out all sorts of small but crucial details to the reader which would otherwise be difficult to bring over.
He is also very good at conjuring up the atmosphere of places, like the summerhouse.
There are also some strange things. He seems to have an odd obsession with urine. Is it meant to be symbolic of something?
It is soon apparent that the book is about a dysfunctional family and how they cope with a trauma from the past. It is not an easy topic and it deals with it exceptionally well.

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heylaurita's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This one was an interesting read. In it, we follow Benjamin’s POV in two separate timelines. One of three brothers, Benjamin takes the reader on a journey as he and his siblings return to their family cottage in Sweden to spread their late mother’s ashes. It’s also through Benjamin’s POV that we gradually learn of a catastrophic event that forever changed the family’s life some twenty years ago.

It’s evident pretty early on in the story that we’re dealing with some very unhealthy family dynamics. The root cause of these dynamics are relatively unclear for the majority of the novel and are revealed literally in the last few pages. I can see what the author was trying to do and I can see how this was meant to be a thriller (both psychologically and domestically), but there were a few things that just did not work for me -

First, the two timelines! The present-day timeline, where the adult siblings are meeting up to spread their late mother’s ashes, is a linear plot line. Great, I had no issue with that. The timeline of the past, that catastrophic event that happened when Benjamin was a boy, was written in reverse; as in, it’s told backwards. It threw me! I had a really tough time keeping up with the storyline. The second issue I had with it was how abruptly the whole thing ended. The author drops this massive truth bomb on the reader and the whole thing ends a few pages later. Like, wait, that’s it?!

Now, disclaimer, this story does contain heavier subject matter that is not my typical read. I’m sure that has a lot to do with my feelings about this book too. If you’re looking for a dark, tense, and atmospheric slow-burn, this may work for you.

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The Survivors is the tale of three estranged brothers who come together to scatter their mother’s ashes and confront some past trauma.

The opening had me hooked - police arriving to a lakeside cottage after one brother has called them on his fighting brothers. I also really enjoyed the structure. The present day storyline unfolds in reverse order, jumping back in two hourly increments. Interspersed with this are chapters which look at events from the past. It certainly kept me reading, trying to find out what led the three brothers to their present position. Many of the book’s themes - grief, childhoods marred by inadequate, negligent and problematic parenting, recovery from trauma, memory, complex sibling relationships - are those that I enjoy exploring via literature.

However, I never fully connected with the story or the characters and always felt like a remote observer. This is sometimes an issue I have with translated works - a combination of different cultural mores and the translation putting an extra step between author and reader. I had figured out the big reveal quite some time before, which didn’t really bother me, but meant I missed the feeling of massive surprise. I spent more time wanting to talk some sense into the parents regarding their parenting failures that I did sympathising with the three boys/men who suffered as a result. The ending felt too-little-too-late for me, although had I been in the position of Nils, Pierre, and especially Benjamin perhaps it would have provided some solace and measure of healing.

I’ve seen this marketed as a thriller. I think dark family drama or family suspense is more accurate. The characters frustrated me but the structure kept me interested. This was a good palette cleanser for me.
I enjoyed it but wasn’t absorbed by it if that makes sense.

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sideknee's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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bingsdings's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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