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A review by wendoxford
Osebol: Voices from a Swedish Village by Marit Kapla
5.0
Everyday folk, remote, dwindling Swedish village life told through current resident memory. The small stuff of human interaction, family, changing times - such universal themes.
I realise it is laughable to say that less is more about an 800 page book. Yet this is so cleverly distilled down to its barest nuggets as we watch the 40 villagers dancing around each other, layering up stories, friendships, irritations in the same way we get to involve ourselves in our own communities. The villagers are all named but given no context other than their dates of birth (and for some date of death). I loved this aspect as it so mirrors all lives when we forget names, confuse the relationships between people...
Kapla lays out the book like poetry. It isn't poetry. It isn't memoir. It cannot be categorised as social history nor documentary nor vox pop and yet it is all these things, a porous, living history. My interpretation of Osebol now lives in my head.
Completely mesmerising. For me, gobsmackingly brilliant!
I realise it is laughable to say that less is more about an 800 page book. Yet this is so cleverly distilled down to its barest nuggets as we watch the 40 villagers dancing around each other, layering up stories, friendships, irritations in the same way we get to involve ourselves in our own communities. The villagers are all named but given no context other than their dates of birth (and for some date of death). I loved this aspect as it so mirrors all lives when we forget names, confuse the relationships between people...
Kapla lays out the book like poetry. It isn't poetry. It isn't memoir. It cannot be categorised as social history nor documentary nor vox pop and yet it is all these things, a porous, living history. My interpretation of Osebol now lives in my head.
Completely mesmerising. For me, gobsmackingly brilliant!