I Curse the River of Time: A Novel by Per Petterson (Epub)

Description

A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEARIt’s 1989 and “three monumental events twine around one another in Arvid Jansen’s penumbral soul. His fifteen-year marriage is dissolving, his mother is dying of cancer, and the Berlin Wall is tumbling down. The parallels are obvious―worlds are ending, internally and externally―but the analogies Petterson draws among these dramatic endings are not….I Curse the River of Time is a little like the starker reaches of the West, a little like the stonier shores of Maine, a little like Edward Hopper, a little like Raymond Carver….There is a quality that I can only call charm, or something like charm, to Petterson’s essentially dark and lonely sensibility….It exerts a gravitational pull on the reader” (Stacey D’Erasmo, The New York Times Book Review).

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Like an emotional sucker punch…Petterson blends enough hope with the gorgeously evoked melancholy to come up with a heartbreaking and cautiously optimistic work.” ―The Denver Post“Petterson’s prose contains a sneaky, insidious beauty…his sentences can stop your breathing and leave tears welling up…[and] his readers will find that they’re in the hands of a master whose quiet, unforgettable voice leaves you yearning to hear more.” ―Chuck Leddy, The Boston Globe“I Curse the River of Time hits the mark….It’s complex and rich…a subtle meditation on the long, unstoppable river of time” ―Heller McAlpin, NPR’s “Books We Like”“Petterson’s writing has returned to its artistic home, and what’s more, returned to it with greater maturity and confidence….Here he is absolutely courageous.” ―Rachel Cusk, USA Today“An emotional suckerpunch. . . . Petterson blends enough hope with the gorgeously evoked melancholy to come up with a heartbreaking and cautiously optimistic work.” ―Publishers Weekly, starred review“Petterson tells another poignant, harrowing and sometimes comic story of a man coming to terms with his dying mother, his failures (job, marriage) and his failures in the eyes of his mother: ‘You squirt!’ But mother and son are bound by feelings and memories for which even the word ‘love’ doesn’t do justice.” ―The Wall Street Journal“All the inevitability of life, its fragile glue and the doubts that stalk the survivors are summoned and considered in Petterson’s candid, allusive fiction. There is no easy sentiment, only genuine emotional power. His tender new novel is as masterfully evocative as In the Wake and Out Stealing Horses, as gentle as To Siberia, and as exceptional as all three.” ―The Irish Times“Though Petterson is often compared to Hemingway and Carver, he has etched a vernacular all his own. The loveliness of his prose lies not only with its distilled nature, but also in its repetitions and unexpected cadences, which infuse his style with a tenderness unseen in other spare prose virtuosos.” ―The Collagist“The atmosphere of this latest from Petterson, famed for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award winner Out Stealing Horses, is as gray as the stark Norwegian landscape. Melancholy permeates every character like a dense Oslo fog. Yet, this author’s gift is his ability to convey so much emotion in such a sparse prose style.” ―Library Journal, starred review“[Petterson] offers here a kind of origami novel: time bends and folds around the characters so they are both young and old, healthy and sick, dead and alive. His considerable skill is evident in the clarity with which readers are immersed in each chapter–though we may leap backwards and forwards on the temporal plane, we never stumble or trip. . . . The final product is something important, lovely, and a bit mysterious.” ―Foreword Magazine“[Petterson] deftly alternates between present and past. . . . His prose is elegant and spare.” ―Booklist“[A] melancholy novel. . . . Fans–and curious newcomers–will snap it up.” ―Newsday About the Author Per Petterson won the won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his novel Out Stealing Horses, which has been translated into more than thirty languages and was named a Best Book of 2007 by the New York Times, TIME, Entertainment Weekly, and many other publications. He lives in Norway.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This is the 3rd book that I have read from Per Petterson and probably my 2nd favorite. My first being It’s Fine By Me and my 3rd being Out Stealing Horses. I absolutely love his style of writing and his repetitiveness. I did enjoy this book but I found it to be very sad and it left me wanting more. If you are familiar with Per Petterson’s writing than I think you will enjoy this story but if you aren’t than you might be left with a question mark at the end. I find that his books are more about characters and their relationships…but that is one of my favorite things about his stories, I do fall in love with his characters. I would recommend this book!

⭐Per Petterson has written many books and I loved all of them. Although there are 3 that form a trilogy they are all related. Even in translation the prose is so strong that it comes through with all its sparseness and beauty. Not a bit like Steig Larsson fortunately, a great Norwegian writer.Great article in The New Yorker by James Wood LATE AND SOON The novels of Per Petterson.

⭐I enjoyed my immersion in this novel. While it’s true that nothing much happens, it’s also true, as a reviewer points out, that life happens on every page. I read it on my e-reader, and I regret not buying the “real” book. i would like to flip back through the pages and trace, for instance, the development of Arvid’s character, his relationship with his mother, her relationship with the neighbor, etc. Such ‘flipping’ is just too much trouble on the Kindle. This finely wrought novel deserves more easily accessible paper and ink, in my opinion.

⭐I imagine there is a thematic run through as far as what’s going on with the protagonist, but I don’t think it was threaded well.I was hoping to gain insight into Norwegian culture and daily life but was left with little to grab on to.

⭐I became almost hypnotized by Petterson’s long sentences. The story pivots on psychology and a deep sense of sadness that Americans somehow rarely express. The mood is dark and cold; everywhere there hangs a grey November sky. This is a masterpiece with almost the impact of Cormack Mc. Carthy. I am also amazed by the craft of the translator and the subtle ways Petterson sets up his points of views, then modifies them. This novel is written against the recent trend in American literature of short, crisp sentences. I commend Amazon.com for requesting reviews at random ( at least that is my impression) Yes, I have read the book and yes, I wrote this brief opinion only after having been asked to do so.

⭐I picked up the latest Per Petterson book primarily because it was named a NY Times Notable Book of 2010. That is somewhat misleading because in fact the book was published in 2008 and only translated to English in 2010. Nevertheless, it made the list and I wanted to see if it was as good as Out Chasing Horses which I did enjoy. Whereas I thought it was a good book and a solid read, it was surely not his best. As it turns out however, this is the prequel to “In the Wake” which I have not read yet. In this work, Petterson in his usual economical writing style talks primarily about relationships. Mother and son. Woman and man. Husband and wife. Most of the relationships in this book are broken or about to be broken. 37 year old Arvid–the protagonist of the story is on his way towards divorce while at the same time reconciling with his mother who is dying of cancer. He lives in Oslo but when his mother turns sick, she decided to move back to Denmark where she was born and he follows her. In fact, he follows her twice in this story–both times the reader will find in dramatic fashion. An interesting storyline is also Arvid’s association with Communism in his college days and some commentary regarding the fall of Communism and its afffect on Arvid and his friends. Overall, I thought the book was good but not gripping. It was not a particularly fast read for what is a pretty compact and short book. I recommend it to readers of Petterson but not enthusiastcally.

⭐An excellent book that will leave you thinking about it long after you finish it.

⭐This is worth the read if you like Petterson, but not his best. I found “To Siberia” and “Out Stealing Horses” to both be better reads. The plot and characters are linked with those in “To Siberia” so you might as well read both to get the full story.The novel ends in the abrupt, unresolved style that Petterson’s other novels to. The difference here is that, at the end, you feel no sympathy for the main character and don’t really care too much about what happens to him after the plot ends.

⭐By no means his best book, although the awful title is explained in the book. Dull and pedestrian to read. Read “Out stealing horses” for a great book!

⭐The book arrived on time, looking as good as new. Worth it.

⭐You haven’t read Per Petterson? Read Horses first, then this. He’s incomparable – and wonderful. You’ll want more so space them out and read slowly…

⭐Wonderful, ‘spare’ writing from an author previously unknown to me. Evocative, slightly oppressive. Loved it!

⭐Wonderful

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