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A review by jderek
Septology by Jon Fosse
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“… with the writing I like to read, what matters isn’t what it literally says about this or that, it’s something else, something that silently speaks in and behind the lines and sentences…”
Read this very slowly through December and January, and it was one of the more unique reading experiences I’ve had. Written without any periods, a widowed artist narrates a few days of his life leading up to Christmas. As he’s processing the events of the day, he’s also examining his past and ruminating about faith and art.
There’s an obvious connection with Knausgaard here, but where Knausgaard is psychological and essayistic, Fosse writes with a poetic simplicity. I was worried this was going to be a demanding or maybe tiresome read, but somehow Fosse manages to make this accessible and compelling. There were times I blew threw 50 pages in a sitting, and stretches were I hardly touched the book throughout the week– something about the cyclical style and cadence made this book easy to pick up and put down wherever I was in the narrative.
Perhaps the most perfect portrayal of a person’s interior life that I’ve ever read? Weaves meditations on the daily-mundane, memories from the past, musings about art, and spiritual wonderings into one beautiful sentence. I’ll probably think about this book forever.
Read this very slowly through December and January, and it was one of the more unique reading experiences I’ve had. Written without any periods, a widowed artist narrates a few days of his life leading up to Christmas. As he’s processing the events of the day, he’s also examining his past and ruminating about faith and art.
There’s an obvious connection with Knausgaard here, but where Knausgaard is psychological and essayistic, Fosse writes with a poetic simplicity. I was worried this was going to be a demanding or maybe tiresome read, but somehow Fosse manages to make this accessible and compelling. There were times I blew threw 50 pages in a sitting, and stretches were I hardly touched the book throughout the week– something about the cyclical style and cadence made this book easy to pick up and put down wherever I was in the narrative.
Perhaps the most perfect portrayal of a person’s interior life that I’ve ever read? Weaves meditations on the daily-mundane, memories from the past, musings about art, and spiritual wonderings into one beautiful sentence. I’ll probably think about this book forever.