Scan barcode
A review by jdscott50
I Refuse by Per Petterson
4.0
There are times in our lives when we are asked to make amends, to forgive. The characters in Per Petterson's book are expected to forgive the wrongs that are done to them, but they refuse. The characters learn that they must stay true to themselves and to not let others diminish who they are. There are times when forgiveness diminishes us.
Wally and Jim are best friends growing up in rural Norway. Wally and his three sisters, Siri and the twins, must endure the daily punishment of their father. Their mother has long gone, only the father remains with his fierce boot and demeanor. When Wally finally confronts their father to end the violence, they are all left orphaned. If not for his friend Jim, they would have been split up and scattered. It would seem that Wally and Jim's relationship would be a lifelong one, but an incident on the ice in the heart of winter forever alters it.
The story is told from multiple perspectives. We follow Jim, Wally, Siri, and others as they grow up from 1966 to 2006. The narrative is sometimes hard to follow and each character doesn't have a distinctive voice. However, the major themes of identity and relationships come through strongly. There is a pervasive somber tone to the story, a tragedy always heavy in the air, like a Norwegian grey sky. The story demands a release, but the characters will not provide it.
Favorite passages
He waited for a sign from her and she did half turn, but didn't really pause and didn't wave, and suddenly he realised how sinister it was, the scene that was being played out here in the gloom on the quay right now, as though what she did was letting her soul sink into the dark well of perdition with no more than a hurried, already vacant glance over her shoulder before she let go and fell, and whatever warmth she might have had, she snuffed out like a burnt-down candle.p256
I wasn't expected to believe a word of it, that was the whole point. We both knew why he limped and we had forgotten nothing, repressed nothing, but we weren't supposed to talk about it, no, that was the trick, instead we would just look at each other with maybe a quirk smile on our lips and share that knowledge, that memory, as though it was something that was ours together, his and mine. something intimate and violent, a secret, burning bond that held to together, a bond of blood. Then I stood up. No peace, I thought, nothing that bind us together. I refuse. P. 278
Wally and Jim are best friends growing up in rural Norway. Wally and his three sisters, Siri and the twins, must endure the daily punishment of their father. Their mother has long gone, only the father remains with his fierce boot and demeanor. When Wally finally confronts their father to end the violence, they are all left orphaned. If not for his friend Jim, they would have been split up and scattered. It would seem that Wally and Jim's relationship would be a lifelong one, but an incident on the ice in the heart of winter forever alters it.
The story is told from multiple perspectives. We follow Jim, Wally, Siri, and others as they grow up from 1966 to 2006. The narrative is sometimes hard to follow and each character doesn't have a distinctive voice. However, the major themes of identity and relationships come through strongly. There is a pervasive somber tone to the story, a tragedy always heavy in the air, like a Norwegian grey sky. The story demands a release, but the characters will not provide it.
Favorite passages
He waited for a sign from her and she did half turn, but didn't really pause and didn't wave, and suddenly he realised how sinister it was, the scene that was being played out here in the gloom on the quay right now, as though what she did was letting her soul sink into the dark well of perdition with no more than a hurried, already vacant glance over her shoulder before she let go and fell, and whatever warmth she might have had, she snuffed out like a burnt-down candle.p256
I wasn't expected to believe a word of it, that was the whole point. We both knew why he limped and we had forgotten nothing, repressed nothing, but we weren't supposed to talk about it, no, that was the trick, instead we would just look at each other with maybe a quirk smile on our lips and share that knowledge, that memory, as though it was something that was ours together, his and mine. something intimate and violent, a secret, burning bond that held to together, a bond of blood. Then I stood up. No peace, I thought, nothing that bind us together. I refuse. P. 278