A review by ardour
Will and Testament by Vigdis Hjorth

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

“I had always dreaded sleep, longed for it, but dreaded it, dreaded falling asleep, falling in general. I had made up a story when I was little, when I lay in bed and couldn’t sleep, didn’t dare fall asleep, but I was Jewish and laid close to other Jews in a railway carriage heading somewhere during the Second World War, that I was close to other people in a railway carriage, surrounded by other living, warm bodies in a shared destiny, not alone but together with others while the train rolled along with its rhythmic, calming chugging, I imagined that I could hear other people breathe around me, near my ear, my neck, and I tried breathing in the same rhythm as them, as the train, I imagined that I lay as close to other living, warm human beings as it was possible to lie, that we were one big body morphing into the train. 

You identify with victims, he said. 

But, he then said with a wry smile, every victim is a potential aggressor; don’t be too generous with your compassion.”

p. 173
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