A review by lameeya_
The Other Name: Septology I-II by Jon Fosse

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Lyrical, hypnotic, extremely compelling writing. It really pulled me in and I was devouring the pages. The best way I can describe the prose is it's syrupy, like it's viscous, sticky. It dwells on mudane thoughts and conversations and often takes tangents into memories and fragments. I feel it's too early to form concrete opinions on Septology yet, but the first part written in stream-of-consciousness writing detailing the minute intricate thoughts and lives of Asle, the artist we follow and Asle, his doppelganger with a similar life, plays on the themes of human agency, what leads to a certain kind of life, the blurred contours of us/other(since we follow one Asle from a first person pov but also have insights into the other Asle's thoughts and memories, I wonder if this is an exploration of the boundaries of self), meaning of art, what we owe each other, loss, grief, contemplation on God and religion. There's a lot of mirroring and coincidences and repetition used throughout the writing and I'm excited to see where this takes me. This is something magical.