A review by liamroberts118
A Man in Love by Karl Ove Knausgård

5.0

Reading reviews of A Man in Love, the second instalment in Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard’s highly acclaimed My Struggle series, I’ve seen a number of reviewers grappling with why this series has become such a global phenomenon. In Norway, one book has been sold for every nine adults in the country. Since international translations have proliferated, the books have been welcomed with open arms and glowing reviews in every territory they have entered. This is a remarkable feat for a series that is more than 3,600 pages long and meticulously describes the life of a forty-year-old Norwegian writer. The first book, entitled A Death in the Family, describes the teenager years of the series’ protagonist, Karl Ove. It is a book of firsts: first love, first experiences with alcohol, first bands, first intimate experience of death. A Man in Love whizzes forward a decade or two and opens with Karl Ove trying to deal with his recent separation from ex-wife Tonje. He has packed his bags and decided to start his life afresh in Sweden, where he meets and falls in love with a writer named Linda. On a writer’s retreat, Karl Ove opts to get hopelessly drunk and admits his feelings to Linda in an emotional outburst, only to be knocked back by Linda who actually fancies Karl’s friend. In response, Karl Ove returns to his cabin, continues drinking and decides to self-mutilate, slashing his face to ribbons with shards of broken glass.

Read my full review here: http://wp.me/p6dHAE-cw