This was a book that I loved, but the main character is one that will try your patience!
I actually didn’t realise it was the second book of a series where we follow the protagonist who is an intelligent, accomplished woman living in Stockholm working as a translator and a writer.
She is very much in the habit of forming attachments with married men and we see her latest affair through her eyes. Andersson is a master of documenting yearning and uneven intimacy. The love object, an older married playwright, is maddening yet recognisably real.
The novel has a really interesting premise with some extremely insightful psychological commentary but it’s also really hard to read in parts. Not at all from a morality perspective, but more from the perspective of the internal dialogue of watching someone be attached to something that is so clearly dysfunctional and not going to give them what they want.
It was so delusional and I actually found some bits surprisingly hard to read. I think it’s something that can be quite triggering because we’ve all been supportive of people in situations like that or even been in situations like that ourselves, so it’s a really intelligent yet also harrowing look at intimacy. So be prepared to be frustrated!
The Nordic angle was really interesting and I recognised a lot of cultural references and did feel very at home reading this.
The friendships are really well fleshed out too, and I love the commentary around adult friendships and their boundaries.
It’s actually also a novel about mental health, disordered attachment, and self-abuse. This is the dark side of affairs and attachment, not the sultry and sexy, despite there being a bit of that too.
A great book to read for #womeintranslationmonth too.
One word: frustration.
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