⋙ Download Gratis Out Stealing Horses Per Petterson Anne Born 9781555974701 Books

Out Stealing Horses Per Petterson Anne Born 9781555974701 Books

Download As PDF : Out Stealing Horses Per Petterson Anne Born 9781555974701 Books

Out Stealing Horses Per Petterson Anne Born 9781555974701 Books

So concludes Per Petterson in his award-winning novel of remembrance of those decisive youthful events that changed the course of one's life, as well as those of others. My first reading of Petterson was his novel, It's Fine by Me, which came compliments of the Vine Program. This is the second novel (and won't be the last) of his that I've read, and I consider it by far the better of the two, since it resonated more strongly on numerous issues.

The novel commences with Trond Sanders, who considers himself a "spry" 67, deciding to seek the tranquility of a cabin in the woods, along the eastern border of Norway, near the sea, to live out his days. Many a reader might envision a "Walden"-style retreat. The timing is as the millennium turns. A chance encounter with his most immediate neighbor, who still lives a considerable distance away, proves fateful. It is a person that he has not seen for over half a century. An event so improbable, that it would normally diminish the quality of the novel, as the author says. His neighbor is Lars Hung.

The novel moves back and forth over time, from the present (1999) to 1948, when Trond is 15, and Lars is 10. It is only three years after the German occupation of Norway during WW II. Events during the occupation still reverberate. It is about friendships and familial relationships. One relationship is between Trond, in his coming-of-age mode, and his father, whom he realizes he does not know, and as events unfold, never will (that secret world of adults!). Trond, and a neighbor friend of the same age, Jon, far before the age of electronic diversions, seek amusement and thrills by riding their neighbor's horse; hence the title to the novel... which we also learn later is used in an entirely different context.

A loaded gun, left unattended for just a few minutes, leads to the ultimate in tragedy that tears apart two different families. But one learns that the "fault lines" were there before this event...and they stem from the respective positions and actions of the family members during WW II, who resisted, who collaborated, and who just tried to ignore it all. I love Petterson's story telling technique: providing one data point as he is describing the natural world, and then many pages later adding or reinforcing another, and the reader must draw the long line between. For example, the reader learns that Trond and his father might be interested in the same woman, one approximately the father's age. Only glances and a bit of tension are indicated. Then many pages later, Petterson is more explicit, and has the father tell the son to go find someone his own age.

The relationships examined are far more than fathers and sons. There are spousal ones, ones with the neighbor's spouses, the best friends of youth, and as life comes full circle, there is the meeting with Trond's estranged daughter, at his Walden-like retreat. And it is all done in this Scandinavian-minimalist style, lean and functional. Petterson also throws in enough "creaks" in Trond's physical functioning to resonate with those of a certain age... yes, we have to decide ourselves when we will admit that it hurts. And it all plays out against the beauty of the Norwegian natural world, which is screaming out for a re-visit. A wonderful, thoughtful, 6-star read.


Tags : Out Stealing Horses [Per Petterson, Anne Born] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <B><I>We were going out stealing horses. That was what he said, standing at the door to the cabin where I was spending the summer with my father. I was fifteen. It was 1948 and oneof the first days of July.</I></B> <B><I></I></B> <B><I></B></I>Trond's friend Jon often appeared at his doorstep with an adventure in mind for the two of them. But this morning was different. What began as a joy ride on borrowed horses ends with Jon falling into a strange trance of grief. Trond soon learns what befell Jon earlier that day―an incident that marks the beginning of a series of vital losses for both boys. Set in the easternmost region of Norway,Per Petterson, Anne Born,Out Stealing Horses,Graywolf Press,1555974708,031001 Graywolf HC,FICTION Literary,Fiction,Fiction - General,Literary

Out Stealing Horses Per Petterson Anne Born 9781555974701 Books Reviews

In the eve of the new millennium the reader meets an old man who is recalling two different moments of his life youth and his late sixty.
Along with his soliloquy the main character is inserted in a cruel landscape. The inhabitants under the Norwegian spell are laconic.
The interaction among the villagers is not as lively as in warm climates. Per Pettersen shows opposites, the distant new inhabitant, the neighbours, the passionate lady with a past revealed only by few memories. By the end of the book the reader gets the connections but many facts are freed to reader’s imagination.
On top is vocabulary and use of language, which reflects not only the personality but also the character of local people. Ideas are conveyed simply. The skilful pen of the writer joins two different moment through lines of a shared image of days gone by and present. The plot of the story holds themes, as friendship and loyalty, displayed throughout the work and the main in my view acceptance.
Trond Sander has a problem. We don't know that right away but we sense it. He's 67 years old and just wants to be alone and reflect on life. He's found his ideal location; a isolated cabin by a lake in the Norwegian countryside in the late autumn. He's looking forward to a bit of solitary time. But in a world ever growing smaller he meets an acquaintance from his teen years that accelerate memories that he was perhaps there to consider but now it's coming back more quickly than he'd planned for. Slowly Petterson let's Trond tell us about both his childhood and hints at his adult life.

"Out Stealing Horse" is ia snapshot of events that deeply effected him sense of betrayal towards a father that seemed so close and loving but who who ultimately was a disappointment and unknowable, a friend visited by tragedy that rips his own family apart and now the loss of his (current) wife. While not connected events they are part of the string of Trond's life and we are left to see if there is a pattern or a revelation.

The losses in Trond's life have left him sadly ambivalent towards his own middle aged children. The scars of his own life seemingly driving him towards a hardening emotional shell that he is now somewhat confronting but while he reveals his warmer and reflective thoughts to the reader he is not nearly as generous to those around him. It leaves me wondering what the same story would look like as told by his own mother, father, daughter or friend. It's an interesting thing to consider if Trond maybe very misunderstood by others.

I loved the atmosphere; both the physical world of early winter Norway in modern day and the hot summer of Trond's 15th year and the emotional toll that's taken it's pound of flesh from Trond. It struck me as credible and uncontrived and without pretensions. The writing is sparse but approachable. I was quite taken by it.
A book I have thought about quite a bit after reading . I was a bit confused and unsettled when I finished . The writing was beautiful . I picked it up to read again and all my confusion fell away . Now many sentences had meaning far more than the first read through . The second read was even more exhilarating . A complex , beautiful written story about coming of age , young and old.
So concludes Per Petterson in his award-winning novel of remembrance of those decisive youthful events that changed the course of one's life, as well as those of others. My first reading of Petterson was his novel, It's Fine by Me, which came compliments of the Vine Program. This is the second novel (and won't be the last) of his that I've read, and I consider it by far the better of the two, since it resonated more strongly on numerous issues.

The novel commences with Trond Sanders, who considers himself a "spry" 67, deciding to seek the tranquility of a cabin in the woods, along the eastern border of Norway, near the sea, to live out his days. Many a reader might envision a "Walden"-style retreat. The timing is as the millennium turns. A chance encounter with his most immediate neighbor, who still lives a considerable distance away, proves fateful. It is a person that he has not seen for over half a century. An event so improbable, that it would normally diminish the quality of the novel, as the author says. His neighbor is Lars Hung.

The novel moves back and forth over time, from the present (1999) to 1948, when Trond is 15, and Lars is 10. It is only three years after the German occupation of Norway during WW II. Events during the occupation still reverberate. It is about friendships and familial relationships. One relationship is between Trond, in his coming-of-age mode, and his father, whom he realizes he does not know, and as events unfold, never will (that secret world of adults!). Trond, and a neighbor friend of the same age, Jon, far before the age of electronic diversions, seek amusement and thrills by riding their neighbor's horse; hence the title to the novel... which we also learn later is used in an entirely different context.

A loaded gun, left unattended for just a few minutes, leads to the ultimate in tragedy that tears apart two different families. But one learns that the "fault lines" were there before this event...and they stem from the respective positions and actions of the family members during WW II, who resisted, who collaborated, and who just tried to ignore it all. I love Petterson's story telling technique providing one data point as he is describing the natural world, and then many pages later adding or reinforcing another, and the reader must draw the long line between. For example, the reader learns that Trond and his father might be interested in the same woman, one approximately the father's age. Only glances and a bit of tension are indicated. Then many pages later, Petterson is more explicit, and has the father tell the son to go find someone his own age.

The relationships examined are far more than fathers and sons. There are spousal ones, ones with the neighbor's spouses, the best friends of youth, and as life comes full circle, there is the meeting with Trond's estranged daughter, at his Walden-like retreat. And it is all done in this Scandinavian-minimalist style, lean and functional. Petterson also throws in enough "creaks" in Trond's physical functioning to resonate with those of a certain age... yes, we have to decide ourselves when we will admit that it hurts. And it all plays out against the beauty of the Norwegian natural world, which is screaming out for a re-visit. A wonderful, thoughtful, 6-star read.