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msstwnpks's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
geniet knausgård verkar till min stora förtret vara geniförklarad av en anledning
thlwright's review against another edition
4.0
This is a curiously old-fashioned novel, despite Knausgard’s reputation for experimental fiction. Set in Bergen over 48 hours The Morning Star follows an ensemble of determinedly mundane Norwegians. Arne, a professor, worries about his wife’s mental health who has beheaded their cat. Katherine, a priest, suffers a dark night of the soul about her marriage and purpose in life. Jostein, a drunk and mendacious reporter, tracks down a scoop about a satanic heavy metal band who have disappeared. Elsewhere a nurse worries about a patient with learning difficulties who she inadvertently allows to abscond. With trademark forensic detail we get which cups of coffee, burgers, cars and choice of hotel populate the waking thoughts and desires of the burghers of Bergen.
Knausgard adds to this cast of everyday acts and actors a sense of dread: a strange and bright new star appears in the sky at the start. For each of the protagonists there is a sense of life out of kilter. Just out of the lights dark figures appear. Arne crashes his car after drinking, Katherine meets a stranger who she later believes to be the person whose funeral she was conducting. Jostein happens across a horrific murder.
This combination of Altmanesque short-cuts and the fear and dread that can crash into well-ordered lives at any moment gives this novel a propulsive energy.. The driven nature of the rest of the cast, who have to manage life-changing decisions and spin around each other with the force of comets is contrasted with Egil. Freed of economic worries he is a life-long drifter who has the holiday home next to Arne and floats in and out of the storytelling. The moral enquiries (into faith, marriage, ethics etc) that the characters experience at length culminate in Egil’s thoughts on death - in the form of a sixty-page essay that concludes the book.
This is a big book, and it asks a fair bit of the reader. Does it marry philosophy and storytelling completely successfully? Not always. Does the novelist indulge his middle-aged male protagonists bad behaviour?Perhaps a little too much. Does it run out of steam? Ultimately so, but it’s a journey with lots to offer along the way.
Knausgard adds to this cast of everyday acts and actors a sense of dread: a strange and bright new star appears in the sky at the start. For each of the protagonists there is a sense of life out of kilter. Just out of the lights dark figures appear. Arne crashes his car after drinking, Katherine meets a stranger who she later believes to be the person whose funeral she was conducting. Jostein happens across a horrific murder.
This combination of Altmanesque short-cuts and the fear and dread that can crash into well-ordered lives at any moment gives this novel a propulsive energy.. The driven nature of the rest of the cast, who have to manage life-changing decisions and spin around each other with the force of comets is contrasted with Egil. Freed of economic worries he is a life-long drifter who has the holiday home next to Arne and floats in and out of the storytelling. The moral enquiries (into faith, marriage, ethics etc) that the characters experience at length culminate in Egil’s thoughts on death - in the form of a sixty-page essay that concludes the book.
This is a big book, and it asks a fair bit of the reader. Does it marry philosophy and storytelling completely successfully? Not always. Does the novelist indulge his middle-aged male protagonists bad behaviour?Perhaps a little too much. Does it run out of steam? Ultimately so, but it’s a journey with lots to offer along the way.
marjolina's review against another edition
4.0
“The angel Lucifer, the Morning Star, had been banished from heaven to earth. Now the Morning Star shone once more from the sky. So what did that mean?”
From: The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgaard
This is such a difficult book to review. I even find it hard to articulate what I liked about it so much, but I am going to try (but I need a lot of words so bear with me
From: The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgaard
This is such a difficult book to review. I even find it hard to articulate what I liked about it so much, but I am going to try (but I need a lot of words so bear with me
lidzell's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
lindquist's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
helgamharb's review against another edition
4.0
I am here, at this moment in time. It's enough.
A very large star suddenly appears in the Norwegian sky. Where did it come from? What is it exactly? Why did it appear out of nowhere?
The Morning Star is not one, but a collection of everyday life stories of a few ordinary people; people seemingly insignificant, but each with their own problems; each with their own demons, disappointments, beliefs, struggles and interpretations of the meaning of life.
The characters in the book may never meet; they may not even be aware of the others' existence.
They have only one thing in common…the appearance of the mysterious star.
A very large star suddenly appears in the Norwegian sky. Where did it come from? What is it exactly? Why did it appear out of nowhere?
The Morning Star is not one, but a collection of everyday life stories of a few ordinary people; people seemingly insignificant, but each with their own problems; each with their own demons, disappointments, beliefs, struggles and interpretations of the meaning of life.
The characters in the book may never meet; they may not even be aware of the others' existence.
They have only one thing in common…the appearance of the mysterious star.
musebeliever's review against another edition
Honestly, excellent book. It is making me too anxious for me to continue reading it at the moment.
kirsten0929's review against another edition
3.0
Such a fan of his My Struggle series but couldn’t latch on to this novel in the same way. A lot of unconnected characters that we are told in the book blurb will come together, but I didn’t find that they did and felt they were all left unfinished. That said, he’s captured the ordinariness of a couple of days in the lives of regular people. The characters lives don’t begin and end with his story, we get the sense that we’re picking up in the middle of something and when we leave them they’ll continue on with their lives. I can appreciate that. I heard the author and his philosophy in all the characters, but the last chapter was an essay on death and dying written by one of the characters which felt kind of forced in. I really like hearing the original language come through in translations and in this one I definitely felt the Norwegian-ness come through.