Repetition by Vigdis Hjorth (Book review)

This is a dark novel, but it’s also one that builds slowly, taking you to interesting places without you quite realising how you got there.

Norwegian author, Vigdis Hjorth, balances light and shade to build a short but compelling narrative of unearthing trauma, family secrets, and reconciling yourself with the truth.

Norwegian family dynamics and youthful trauma

Repetition tells the story of a Norwegian woman approaching middle age who sees a family at a concert: parents and a girl, about sixteen, who is sulking. Their dynamics suddenly trigger a memory, drawing her back into her own childhood…

We then spend a lot of time with her as a teenager, with her overbearing mother hovering over her life. Why is her mother so watchful over her daughter’s burgeoning independence and sexuality? Can the teenager escape from the house long enough to find a nice boy to kiss, a party to dance at?

I thought the novel offered a really compelling portrayal of family life, of disjointed relationships, and of youthful resilience and despair. There’s an intensity to the family dynamics and a mixture of confidence and insecurity in the narrator’s point of view that feels very real.

There is also a distinctly Nordic atmosphere to this novel: a culture that can seem quite free, where children are left to themselves, but which can also contain emotional abandonment, silence and anxiety. I thought these tensions were developed extremely well in the book.

Building towards an unearthed secret

I don’t want to say too much about the book’s denouement, because I think this book is best approached without spoilers. What I will say is that it’s dark, intelligent and beautifully written.

One of its most interesting themes is the idea of repetition itself: the way memories resurface, patterns repeat, and certain words or situations can unlock things we thought were long buried.

Read if you’re in a thoughtful mood.