Near Distance

November 15, 2024
A mother and her estranged adult daughter take an uncomfortable weekend trip from Oslo to London in Norwegian author Stoltenberg's grimly fascinating debut novel. Mother Karin is 53, long divorced, and working at a job she doesn't care about managing a jewelry store. She spends most of her free time on one-night stands with guys she meets online, and hasn't seen her daughter or grandchildren, who live nearby, for a couple of months. She spends much of her time gazing in one mirror or another, "registering the slight gap between expectation and reality." When her daughter, Helene--who's upset that her husband almost certainly is having an affair--invites her to fly to London for the weekend to go shopping, eat scones, and spend time with Helene's old college friends, Karin accepts, moved by the fact that her daughter would think of inviting her. But once there, they still fail to bond, and Karin feels like Helene is pushing her away. From Karin's point of view, "she wants to have a good relationship with Helene, she really does, but it's as if they can't agree on what a good relationship means." From Helene's point of view, it turns out, their relationship is pretty clear: "I've been so worried that I'm just like you," she tells her mother. The novel alternates between the bleak weekend and the days that precede it, and even more dismal scenes from the years when Karin was attempting to raise Helene, before getting divorced and spending less time with her daughter. Not much happens in the brief, intense novel, but what does is infused with a sense of dread, and observed in microscopic detail from a bemused and calculated remove. Page after page leaves the reader anxiously waiting for the other shoe to drop.

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December 1, 2024
Set in Oslo and London, this story of a mother and her adult daughter offers readers an unvarnished look at relationships with self and others. At 53, Karin acknowledges she still ""didn't understand how anything worked."" She whiles away days at sundry jobs and uses the internet to find men to date. Karin regularly numbs with alcohol and struggles with reconciling painful memories of her failures and indiscretions. Pegged as "the type who makes tea without asking if anyone else wants some," Karin nonetheless obsesses over her adult daughter Helene's life. Their relationship is characterized by distance and unmet expectations. Karin is taken by surprise when Helene requests a weekend together in London. Karin soon discovers her daughter's reasons for the trip. This contemporary work of realism is quite melancholy and at times poignant. The writing astutely sketches personal and familial dysfunctions in absorbing past episodes, present relationships, and in the brief, focused storyline. Translated from Norwegian, this literary first novel will attract readers seeking perspectives on love, inner life, and family drama.

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