Take a photo of a barcode or cover
reads_eats_explores 's review for:
Back in the Day
by Oliver Lovrenski
#netgalley
Back in the Day is an unflinching, razor-sharp portrayal of life on the margins, told through the eyes of teenager Ivor and his tight-knit crew: Marco, Jonas, and Arjan.
Living in the heart of inner-city Oslo these boys are intelligent, but by fifteen they’re carrying knives, dealing drugs and sampling the merchandise - caught in a relentless spiral of violence, drugs, desperate choices. Their disillusionment runs bone-deep.
They’ve been failed by every adult in sight. The parents are uninterested, the police are not trusted, and child welfare is powerless. The world has turned its back—and yet, amid the wreckage, there’s love. Fierce, chaotic, and unfiltered. Love for each other, for their grandparents, for fading memories of better times, and the fragile glimmer of something more.
These lads are raging against a system that abandoned them before they ever had a shot. They’re grasping—for affection, for family, for identity, for any scrap of power they can claim in a world that offers them none.
There’s a brutal, aching honesty in this short read. Lovrenski—himself born in Norway to Croatian parents—brings an unmistakable authenticity to this debut. It bleeds with emotion and experience, blurring the line between fiction and memory.
The novel is told in a breathless, stream-of-consciousness style, veering into what feels like drug-induced delirium at times. The slang is thick, the language gritty—it took me a while to find the rhythm (or maybe I’m just showing my age!)—but once you tune in, it crackles with energy. That raw, chaotic prose perfectly mirrors the intensity and unpredictability of these boys’ lives.
Back in the Day isn’t an easy read, nor should it be. It’s a gut punch. Savage, soulful, and unafraid to dwell in the darkest corners of adolescence. And yet, somehow, it still manages to glimmer with humanity and hope.
Back in the Day is due for publication April 17th. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Back in the Day is an unflinching, razor-sharp portrayal of life on the margins, told through the eyes of teenager Ivor and his tight-knit crew: Marco, Jonas, and Arjan.
Living in the heart of inner-city Oslo these boys are intelligent, but by fifteen they’re carrying knives, dealing drugs and sampling the merchandise - caught in a relentless spiral of violence, drugs, desperate choices. Their disillusionment runs bone-deep.
They’ve been failed by every adult in sight. The parents are uninterested, the police are not trusted, and child welfare is powerless. The world has turned its back—and yet, amid the wreckage, there’s love. Fierce, chaotic, and unfiltered. Love for each other, for their grandparents, for fading memories of better times, and the fragile glimmer of something more.
These lads are raging against a system that abandoned them before they ever had a shot. They’re grasping—for affection, for family, for identity, for any scrap of power they can claim in a world that offers them none.
There’s a brutal, aching honesty in this short read. Lovrenski—himself born in Norway to Croatian parents—brings an unmistakable authenticity to this debut. It bleeds with emotion and experience, blurring the line between fiction and memory.
The novel is told in a breathless, stream-of-consciousness style, veering into what feels like drug-induced delirium at times. The slang is thick, the language gritty—it took me a while to find the rhythm (or maybe I’m just showing my age!)—but once you tune in, it crackles with energy. That raw, chaotic prose perfectly mirrors the intensity and unpredictability of these boys’ lives.
Back in the Day isn’t an easy read, nor should it be. It’s a gut punch. Savage, soulful, and unafraid to dwell in the darkest corners of adolescence. And yet, somehow, it still manages to glimmer with humanity and hope.
Back in the Day is due for publication April 17th. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.