A review by katrinky
We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen

5.0

I can't say enough good things about this book. This trip I took, and the recommendations for local authors I got, resulted in the addition of three books to my favorites-ever list. "We, The Drowned" is one of them. It's a 675-page epic following the life of Marstal, a small shipping town on the island of Aero, Denmark. Spanning 100 years of history, Jensen jumps from island to shipdeck to port to new island and home again, telling the gruesome, heartbreaking, beautiful stories that sailors live every day. The use of "we" lends every chapter but one (so far- I've got one more to go) an immediate sense of community, of a small town involved in everyone's business and privvy to secrets behind any closed door. Laurids Madsen, the man who went to Heaven and saw St. Peter's naked bum, Knud Erick, the boy who broke his mother's heart and became a sailor, Albert, son of Laurids, who had visions of sinking ships years before they sank, Herman, the Seagull Killer, Klara, one of Marstal's widows and Knud Erick's stalwart yet vulnerable mother, Vilhjelm, the stuttering boy who miraculously survives a horrific shipwreck- the list of characters I want to remember always could go on and on. This book made me gasp, gag, laugh, shudder, and stay awake for hours after turning out the light. I miss reading it already.