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reader1675135's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
rickwren's review against another edition
5.0
One of my clients recommended this book to me and I'm very glad that she did. It makes me wish I had learned Norwegian as a child so that I could have read this book in the original language. The translation is beautifully written with elegant short sentences and a flowing poetic sense of scene. I was immediately drawn in to the simplicity of the mid-60s man withdrawing from society to live on his own after his wife died. And I was intrigued by his remembrance journey into the reasons that his father left when he was just a child and how that's haunted him his entire life.
The themes of loss, separation, and abandonment resonate back and forth throughout every action. It's truly the tale of discovery for one man into his childhood, into his life, and into his own motives. This is one of those books that stays with you for weeks and months afterward, and makes you think about your own life and your own human condition. Books like this are the reason I want to be a writer and why I want to affect people the way this author did me.
The themes of loss, separation, and abandonment resonate back and forth throughout every action. It's truly the tale of discovery for one man into his childhood, into his life, and into his own motives. This is one of those books that stays with you for weeks and months afterward, and makes you think about your own life and your own human condition. Books like this are the reason I want to be a writer and why I want to affect people the way this author did me.
wicked_sassy's review against another edition
5.0
Melancholy and set in winter, which is what I wanted. Lovely, broody, introspective prose.
leahjanespeare's review against another edition
3.0
I read this in preparation to visiting Norway because it seemed the least dark and gloomy and depressing book I could find. And guess what, it was still pretty bleak and depressing. Overall not super memorable, but the writing itself (or I suppose the translation itself) was good. I didn't get a lot of plot outta it, mostly the vibes.
spaceisavacuum's review against another edition
I normally like to just sit back and enjoy my Per Petterson novella. His concise description of tundra Norwegian landscapes and lifestyle is always a rare treat that calls for simple, easy reading and relaxing. It’s Fine by Me follows Audun, an 18 year old circa Nixon-Era America, following news about NATO’s presence expansion to the East and Nixon’s withdrawal announced over radio circuits. But the book isn’t so much about political happenings, as with Petterson it’s always about a character, and for Audun who begins working in a printing press… it happens to be quite dangerous work. He keeps on with it despite starting conflagrations with the machine, employee’s losing fingers of their hands and his abusive, alcoholic father and they often have black eyes, he and his mother Kari. He begins working a paper route.
“We are reading about the Melting Pot. The Golden America, the land of freedom and equality, the haven for the homeless and persecuted, the melon they all want a slice of, the fields they all want to plough. Poor folk from Hardanger in Norway, the Abruzzi in Italy, and the Ukraine fleeing from landowners, Cossacks and the taxman, the bastards who bleed the smallholder dry until there’s nothing left to eat except granite, and if you are not an Indian or a Negro, you may have a chance to see a future ahead of you and a patch of land on the prairie.“
Audun works his way up the ladder, delivers papers, frequently hangs around Gardermoen airport (a very beautiful airport, I’ve seen it.) The weathers cooling down, thick slurry is forming in the fjords, and Christmas is around the corner. They deliver a calf named Ferdinand who will grow up to be a bull. The stacker catches a blaze, cuts off a piece of his ear, might’ve sliced his head. A good novel about the dangerous conditions working in a paper mill. All that’s left is to bury the dead. #perpetterson #outstealinghorses
“We are reading about the Melting Pot. The Golden America, the land of freedom and equality, the haven for the homeless and persecuted, the melon they all want a slice of, the fields they all want to plough. Poor folk from Hardanger in Norway, the Abruzzi in Italy, and the Ukraine fleeing from landowners, Cossacks and the taxman, the bastards who bleed the smallholder dry until there’s nothing left to eat except granite, and if you are not an Indian or a Negro, you may have a chance to see a future ahead of you and a patch of land on the prairie.“
Audun works his way up the ladder, delivers papers, frequently hangs around Gardermoen airport (a very beautiful airport, I’ve seen it.) The weathers cooling down, thick slurry is forming in the fjords, and Christmas is around the corner. They deliver a calf named Ferdinand who will grow up to be a bull. The stacker catches a blaze, cuts off a piece of his ear, might’ve sliced his head. A good novel about the dangerous conditions working in a paper mill. All that’s left is to bury the dead. #perpetterson #outstealinghorses
atlantickitfox's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
prairiedog's review against another edition
4.0
Quiet, beautiful book that reminded me of John Banville's The Sea in the way the aging narrator looks back upon a crucial, traumatic event in his distant past and reflects upon how it has shaped his life. Loved it.
juliarziegler's review against another edition
5.0
top three books of all time. wonderfully mundane at points and absolutely depressing at others. serious literary experience if you take the time to notice the patterns woven into the storyline.
clairephillips's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Grief, and Abandonment
Moderate: Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail