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A review by clellman
My Struggle, Book Four by Karl Ove Knausgård
4.0
first book: intense, reflective, dense, over my head, varied story with sketches from different parts of his life
second book: getting more into his writing, more detailed mundane sketches, more narrative, more understanding of karl ove's mind
third book: light and readable, very narrative (sequential anecdotes)/dialogue based, emotionally relatable, remarkably captured the mind of a child, very enjoyable
fourth book: not relatable...kind of hated him in this one, though maybe that was the point. still loved knausgaard's writing, but this one is about 19yr old him when he went to teach for a year in northern norway. a lot about his excessive drinking. a long flashback near the middle that goes back to him in gymnas. the main emotional thing in this one is his shame about his premature ejaculations, and his desire to lose his virginity. so he is self-absorbed and cocky, he constantly objectifies women (and gets erections just from looking at them), and he is calculating and overbearing in his efforts to have sex. the book ends with him (successfully) having sex with a girl at Roskilde (Danish music festival that the cisv leaders went to), including having anal sex with her while she is (possibly borderline unconsciously) leaning outside the tent to throw up. neither charming as an image (victorious Karl Ove! the champ! the man!) nor as the concluding scene, making it like a righteous moral/happy ending. classic valorization of a man seeing a woman as a sexual conquest to be proud of. that said, i still greatly enjoyed the book overall and devoured it pretty quickly. flows really nicely and you just read and read and read.
i found him somewhat detestable in that sense, though of course in other detailed written observations, relatable. i wish there were a perspective from older-Karl Ove that made it clear that he understands that 19 year old Karl ove is kind of an ass. felt distant from him.
second book: getting more into his writing, more detailed mundane sketches, more narrative, more understanding of karl ove's mind
third book: light and readable, very narrative (sequential anecdotes)/dialogue based, emotionally relatable, remarkably captured the mind of a child, very enjoyable
fourth book: not relatable...kind of hated him in this one, though maybe that was the point. still loved knausgaard's writing, but this one is about 19yr old him when he went to teach for a year in northern norway. a lot about his excessive drinking. a long flashback near the middle that goes back to him in gymnas. the main emotional thing in this one is his shame about his premature ejaculations, and his desire to lose his virginity. so he is self-absorbed and cocky, he constantly objectifies women (and gets erections just from looking at them), and he is calculating and overbearing in his efforts to have sex. the book ends with him (successfully) having sex with a girl at Roskilde (Danish music festival that the cisv leaders went to), including having anal sex with her while she is (possibly borderline unconsciously) leaning outside the tent to throw up. neither charming as an image (victorious Karl Ove! the champ! the man!) nor as the concluding scene, making it like a righteous moral/happy ending. classic valorization of a man seeing a woman as a sexual conquest to be proud of. that said, i still greatly enjoyed the book overall and devoured it pretty quickly. flows really nicely and you just read and read and read.
i found him somewhat detestable in that sense, though of course in other detailed written observations, relatable. i wish there were a perspective from older-Karl Ove that made it clear that he understands that 19 year old Karl ove is kind of an ass. felt distant from him.