A review by booksbythewindow
Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors

reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
(Full review to come)

Summary: Mirror, Shoulder, Signal follows Sonja as she learns to drive as a middle-aged woman. Feeling lost in her life, Sonja is trying to reconnect with her estranged sister, deepen her existing friendships, and make new friends, but finds that she can’t understand the people around her and they can’t understand the way that she sees the world. Threading through these interactions are Sonja’s driving lessons, which become a boiling point of the building frustrations in her life.

Overall Thoughts: Mirror, Shoulder, Signal is a very character-driven novel, featuring a clear character arc but less of a focus on plot. As such, the experience of the reader relies on their view of Sonja as the protagonist. Personally, although Sonja is a sympathetic character, her narrative voice was not one that I found consistently engaging. However, I was nonetheless invested in her and her attempts to make the world around her make a little bit more sense. Overall, I am glad that I picked up Mirror, Shoulder, Signal. It was a quick read and an example of a very different type of protagonist to what is usually portrayed in fiction.