* I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book. *

This is a series of vignettes about stoic people living their lives in a remote Norwegian landscape. Many of the stories encapsulate a brief incident or a passing impression, while others recount a somewhat more substantial tale.

The writing here is beautifully done (credit belongs to the translator as well) but it is dominated by rhetorical questioning and overwrought emotions. There is very little by way of characterisation or story to get hold of here. In the end I found this all rather pretentious. ( )

This is Norwegian author Tarjei Vessas's last work and he has created a book in poetic prose that explores nature and life experience. The book is a series of vignettes or short stories (not sure what to call them) and there is not much plot or characters to ground the reader. The language is beautiful and some of the scenes are very memorable. I particularly enjoyed the scene with a young girl being buried in snow while waiting for a young man and the scene where a man is swept away in a river and almost drowned. In all of the vignettes, nature and landscape is prevalent and humans fit into the scenery.

This is a slim book, but is dense and takes some concentration to read. I appreciated it, but can't say it was as enjoyable for me as his other books that I've read - [The Birds] and [The Ice Palace], both of which I loved. ( )

Earlier this year I read Vesaas's novels "The Birds" and the "Ice Palace", each of which I gave 5 stars. This collection of short fiction is more difficult to categorize and to read. Some of the stories are seemingly without a plot, with just a wash of feelings and impressions. Others have some plot, but only as a hook on which to hang descriptions of landscapes, dreams, and feelings. One story in particular affected me, that of a suicidal man who lets himself be lured by reflections to fall into a river and sink. He soon finds that dying isn't as easy as he thought it would be, and he struggles to stay afloat, holding on to a fallen branch, slowly losing strength, sinking further and further into hallucinations as he drifts down the river. The description of what he thinks he experiences is mysterious and moving.

All-in-all, this is a book that needs just the right audience. It wouldn't be my first choice as an introduction to Vessas, but there are those readers who will delight in the sparse, impressionistic writing. ( )