6th out of 154 books
—
36 voters
The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I Am
Mathea Martinsen has never been good at dealing with other people. After a lifetime, her only real accomplishment is her longevity: everyone she reads about in the obituaries has died younger than she is now. Afraid that her life will be over before anyone knows that she lived, Mathea digs out her old wedding dress, bakes some sweet cakes, and heads out into the world—to m...more
Hardcover, 112 pages
Published
October 25th 2011
by Dalkey Archive Press
(first published 2009)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
661)
Mar 01, 2013
s.penkevich
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to s.penkevich by:
I love the Norwegian writers
‘Nothing is like being breathed on by a life’
-Knut Hamsun
In youth, we foolishly chase away the days looking towards the future. Once we get there, we realize the limited number of days remaining and look backwards, hoping we left enough of a mark on our race to the end so we can be remembered. Kjersti A. Skomsvold’s heart-warming The Faster I Walk The Smaller I Am, winner of the Tarjei Vesaas First Book Prize in 2009, tells the story of Mathea Martinsen, an elderly woman whose crippling social a...more
-Knut Hamsun
In youth, we foolishly chase away the days looking towards the future. Once we get there, we realize the limited number of days remaining and look backwards, hoping we left enough of a mark on our race to the end so we can be remembered. Kjersti A. Skomsvold’s heart-warming The Faster I Walk The Smaller I Am, winner of the Tarjei Vesaas First Book Prize in 2009, tells the story of Mathea Martinsen, an elderly woman whose crippling social a...more
This was one of those weird impulse buys that I can't entirely rationalize—because the cover design alone should have been like an application of Maximum Strength David-Be-Gone® spray. I mean, look at how confoundingly twee that is! I get a toothache from all that latent whimsy. But on the flipside of the pros and cons chart, it is published by Dalkey and—according to the description at least—it's about growing old and coming to terms with mortality and all of that fun stuff.
I should have trust...more
I should have trust...more
Nov 14, 2011
Shellie (Layers of Thought)
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
translated and literary fiction readers
Original review posted on Layers of Thought.
A “literary tragicomic” that is translated from Norwegian. It’s a short but challenging read which is at times brilliant, heart-wrenching, sadly funny, and with some interesting bits which require mathematical knowledge to fully understand their references.
About: It is told in the first person by an aging woman Mathea Martinsen. She is a cerebral individual, currently obsessed with death, and perhaps possessing a social anxiety disorder. She stays in h...more
A “literary tragicomic” that is translated from Norwegian. It’s a short but challenging read which is at times brilliant, heart-wrenching, sadly funny, and with some interesting bits which require mathematical knowledge to fully understand their references.
About: It is told in the first person by an aging woman Mathea Martinsen. She is a cerebral individual, currently obsessed with death, and perhaps possessing a social anxiety disorder. She stays in h...more
A Norwegian friend told me about this novella. Since the writer has had ME, an illness I have had for 30 years, and since it received a first novel prize in Norway, I was curious. (I understand she has now, fortunately, fully recovered from ME.)
It's a quirky book, makes you smile out loud, though it does get a bit repetitive, with the confusion of remembered events and imagined events, and past and present blurring. Sometimes, it can feel a bit like a collection of quirky observations and memori...more
It's a quirky book, makes you smile out loud, though it does get a bit repetitive, with the confusion of remembered events and imagined events, and past and present blurring. Sometimes, it can feel a bit like a collection of quirky observations and memori...more
The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I Am
By Kjersti A. Skomsvold
Translated by Kerri A. Pierce
Published by Dalkey Archive Press
By Aileen Donegan
“Hamsun said that nothing is like being breathed on by a life, and I wish someone would ring my doorbell, even if they just ran away.”
Norwegian novelist Kjersti A. Skomsvold’s award winning debut centers on Mathea Martinsen, an old woman dealing with the inevitability of death. Spoken in first person narrative, she examines her life in full and decides that sh...more
By Kjersti A. Skomsvold
Translated by Kerri A. Pierce
Published by Dalkey Archive Press
By Aileen Donegan
“Hamsun said that nothing is like being breathed on by a life, and I wish someone would ring my doorbell, even if they just ran away.”
Norwegian novelist Kjersti A. Skomsvold’s award winning debut centers on Mathea Martinsen, an old woman dealing with the inevitability of death. Spoken in first person narrative, she examines her life in full and decides that sh...more
I think this line helps open up the problems I have with this book: "I feel the need to scratch my bites until they bleed. That rhymes."
Sure, technically, "need" and "bleed" do rhyme, but man, that sense really has no cadence, no rhythm. It's all technically correct, yet it's like hearing a Muzak version of your favorite song: all the notes are in the right places, but the timbre is fucked.
Skomsvold is all of 32 years old, so writing a book about an elderly, lonely woman is definitely not *writ...more
Sure, technically, "need" and "bleed" do rhyme, but man, that sense really has no cadence, no rhythm. It's all technically correct, yet it's like hearing a Muzak version of your favorite song: all the notes are in the right places, but the timbre is fucked.
Skomsvold is all of 32 years old, so writing a book about an elderly, lonely woman is definitely not *writ...more
During the early 1990s I looked forward to Saturday nights. I worked two full time jobs to pay off debts and found myself working six days a week. At my local pub, I assembled a writing group and for several months, it was the focal point of my week, hell, my existence. Blame it on youth but I would alternate between Guinness and espresso throughout the night, argue until I was hoarse and then go home in the wicked light of morning, clothes reeking of smoke. Most of the group's efforts I have ch...more
I bought this because of Stif Saeterbakken's recommendation; he calls it a "gloomy feel-good novel." I would normally never buy a book advertised as "feel-good," but Saeterbakken knows "gloomy" better than any other novelist. The book is a mixed achievement.[return][return]On the positive side: the character, a quirky, probably autistic, incommunicative, scattered, self-involved old woman, is memorable.[return][return]On the negative side: the book relies on brief images, anecdotes, page-long st...more
Dalkey Archive has another stunner in this debut novel by Kjersti A. Skomsvold.
Our lonely, elderly narrator has measured her life, if she has truly marked off the passage of time at all, in knit earwarmers and an insistent though compelling lifelong conjuration from her husband of one statistic after another. As she sits overlooking the edge of her own mortality she gazes back into the spare vacuum of her life to see what filled all those spaces kept barren of friends, family, pursuits, and so...more
Our lonely, elderly narrator has measured her life, if she has truly marked off the passage of time at all, in knit earwarmers and an insistent though compelling lifelong conjuration from her husband of one statistic after another. As she sits overlooking the edge of her own mortality she gazes back into the spare vacuum of her life to see what filled all those spaces kept barren of friends, family, pursuits, and so...more
Dec 11, 2011
Frank Hestvik
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
female-author,
female-protagonist,
novel,
fiction,
norwegian,
read-physical-book,
elderly,
first-person
The good: the language is great. It's humorous and playful. That's why I liked it.
The actual story and subject-matter though... It's about an elderly lady who lives with her husband in an apartment block. She is lonely and constantly afraid of death. Apart from her husband, hardly anyone knows she exists, and no one cares. She wants friends, but she hides from everyone; she feels oppressed by her fear of death, but she continues to read the obituaries. She's neurotic to an extreme degree, but it...more
The actual story and subject-matter though... It's about an elderly lady who lives with her husband in an apartment block. She is lonely and constantly afraid of death. Apart from her husband, hardly anyone knows she exists, and no one cares. She wants friends, but she hides from everyone; she feels oppressed by her fear of death, but she continues to read the obituaries. She's neurotic to an extreme degree, but it...more
"SEMPRE GOSTEI de acabar coisas. Tapa-orelhas, inverno, primavera, verão, outono. A vida de trabalho do Epsilon. Conforma-te. E esta impaciência teve consequências quando, uma vez, o Epsilon me deu uma orquídea no meu aniversário."
Mathea Martinsen e Epsilon são um casal nórdico ou pelo menos vivem na Noruega, Epsilon e fascinado pela estatística aliás é essa a sua ocupação profissional, Mathea sua esposa e narradora desta história é uma solitária sempre o foi mesmo na sua juventude, então agora...more
Mathea Martinsen e Epsilon são um casal nórdico ou pelo menos vivem na Noruega, Epsilon e fascinado pela estatística aliás é essa a sua ocupação profissional, Mathea sua esposa e narradora desta história é uma solitária sempre o foi mesmo na sua juventude, então agora...more
A look in the life of a Norwegian woman who has never been comfortable around or communicating with people. Her loneliness is more acute as she reads the obituaries in the papers and realizes that old as she is, she's still alive while those she knew are dying. Her naive comments and blunt observations more often than not confuses her audience or causes them to cringe.
With her sudden realization that her life could be at an end soon, she feels a need to participate in the world, but is unsure h...more
With her sudden realization that her life could be at an end soon, she feels a need to participate in the world, but is unsure h...more
This book centers around a lonely, isolated old woman trying to live on her own after her husband dies. Essentially, her entire life has been devoid of friends, a career, or pursuits aside from her husband who has known her since childhood. Skomsvold writes in a poetic, fable like style and frames the mundane events of the protagonist's life as pivotal. Such occurrences as trips to the grocery store and being asked what time it is become the big events of her life, as she has no other social int...more
very funny narrative of an old, i mean OLD, lady who is isolated (by choice, but with the realization that death is coming and damn, nobody is going to remember her and tell funny stories and fondly recall her, but instead gonna die and rot in the cold cold ground, unremembered and really?, who gives two shits for some old lady?) but realizes she needs to get out and about and make some sort of impact on those around her so to be ALIVE (but let's be honest here, hardly anybody, except maybe plut...more
Mathea Martinsen has never been good at dealing with other people. After a lifetime, her only real accomplishment is her longevity: everyone she reads about in the obituaries has died younger than she is now. Afraid that her life will be over before anyone knows that she lived, Mathea digs out her old wedding dress, bakes some sweet cakes, and heads out into the world—to make her mark.
She buries a time capsule out in the yard. (It gets dug up to make room for a flagpole.) She wears her late hus...more
She buries a time capsule out in the yard. (It gets dug up to make room for a flagpole.) She wears her late hus...more
Review crossposted to my "238 books in 238 days"-blog.
------
I've tried reading books that insist upon using comical characters when dealing with difficult themes before. It has worked for me only once - when reading Terry Pratchett, and I do think he might count as an exception.
So what I've learned from this book is this - to stay away from such comedies in the future because I don't get it.
On the plus side, when the author isn't trying to be funny but instead goes on philosophical tangents, she...more
------
I've tried reading books that insist upon using comical characters when dealing with difficult themes before. It has worked for me only once - when reading Terry Pratchett, and I do think he might count as an exception.
So what I've learned from this book is this - to stay away from such comedies in the future because I don't get it.
On the plus side, when the author isn't trying to be funny but instead goes on philosophical tangents, she...more
Still need to spend some time mulling this one over. It reads too much like the inside of my head at some moments, and then throws me out the next. An immersive first person POV narrative, Mathea is the little old person we're all scared of becoming, but the book asks us why instead of discouraging becoming her. I would love to be able to read this in its native language, there are assuredly some nuances that get lost in the translation, which more than likely accounts for the areas I feel I'm g...more
Milá kniha, na pomedzí 3 a 4 bodov, našťastie oveľa lepšia, ako to, čo je napísané v tiráži - čiže nie je to o starej pani, ktorá sa náhle vydá do sveta... Rýmovačky v slovenčine nie sú veľmi silné, čitateľ si ich všimne len vďaka tomu, že ho na to upozorní nasledujúca veta.
Skvelé je však prelínanie príbehov, spomínanie na Epsilona a život s ním a zaujímavý koniec - vďaka nezvládnutej tiráži, neočakávaný. Kniha má niekoľko vtipných momentov, smutno-vtipných- (niekedy) politicky nekorektných Mat...more
Skvelé je však prelínanie príbehov, spomínanie na Epsilona a život s ním a zaujímavý koniec - vďaka nezvládnutej tiráži, neočakávaný. Kniha má niekoľko vtipných momentov, smutno-vtipných- (niekedy) politicky nekorektných Mat...more
When I log into Facebook or Twitter I’m now met with a plethora of inspirational quotes, it seems the social media generation is hell bent on improving themselves. I can’t help thinking though that for every influencer there’s someone else being influenced, for every person who wins there is somebody else behind them, for every achiever there is somebody else who didn’t quite achieve. Who gives the underachieving, influenced, loser a voice? And it can’t be too big a voice or else they’ll be tram...more
A very absurd, weird, awkward way to understand the quote 'live life to the fullest'. But it makes me look at the passe quote differently now. A book about having to deal with loneliness, especially during the time when death seems so near yet one does not want to admit the fact. Though ending is tragic, it's a good read as the author brings you through the journey of a lonely elderly woman who just wants to feel appreciated by the people around her, through humour and subtle hints of everyday p...more
~°..Eine alte Dame auf den Irrwegen des Lebens..°~
Mathea Martinsen ist eine schrullige alte Frau. Nach dem Tod ihres Mannes Epsilon lebt sie alleine am Stadtrand von Oslo. Sie ist eine Eigenbrötlerin und schüchtern, ja nahezu menschenscheu. Ihr Leben orientierte sich an Epsilon. Jetzt, wo er nicht mehr da ist, weiß sie nichts mit sich anzufangen. Wem soll sie nun Ohrenwärmer stricken und kleine Briefe zustecken? Wer hört ihr nun zu und wen interessiert es eigentlich, dass sie da ist? Kinder hat...more
Mathea Martinsen ist eine schrullige alte Frau. Nach dem Tod ihres Mannes Epsilon lebt sie alleine am Stadtrand von Oslo. Sie ist eine Eigenbrötlerin und schüchtern, ja nahezu menschenscheu. Ihr Leben orientierte sich an Epsilon. Jetzt, wo er nicht mehr da ist, weiß sie nichts mit sich anzufangen. Wem soll sie nun Ohrenwärmer stricken und kleine Briefe zustecken? Wer hört ihr nun zu und wen interessiert es eigentlich, dass sie da ist? Kinder hat...more
Is this novella a little gem because it is surprising and different? Or because it has an irritating and unreliable narrator who forces one to continually wonder what makes her behave as she does. Between rhyming sentences (how does a translator pull that off anyway?), having bizarre conversations with strangers, and continually knitting earmuffs, her obsession with death is threaded throughout. Full of surprises, this was recommended in Necessary Fiction and it is worth seeking out.
This is not my kind of read. That being said, it certainly demonstrates a very thoughtful crafting, but the interior monologue did not really draw me in. It's a bit too dark for me. The crying out to be noted and remembered is something one presumes many grapple with as the seeming paths not taken. Nonetheless, I just couldn't connect with the character and frankly the challenge of trying to deduce some of the seeming riddles just disconnected me further.
I tried, but as my recommender said at le...more
I tried, but as my recommender said at le...more
Lyrical, emotional prose without being too wordy or sentimental. Mathea is one of the most unique characters I've ever met in fiction. The way her world is presented to the reader is innovative yet simple. Sentences alternately made me feel sad for what she lost or never had, feel happy because she was delighted by so little, or laugh because she had such a wonderful way or viewing the world. It might take a few pages to feel surrounded by her world, but it is definitely worth a read.
A shining example of the 'gloomy feel-good novel,' a uniquely Norwegian genre. Somehow it was a treat to wallow in Mathea's loneliness, to consider the meaninglessness of life and the significance of telling a stranger the time. Like those teenage girl diary books, but told from the perspective of a pathologically shy, charmingly offbeat, heartbreakingly sympathetic woman approaching life's end.
Gostei imenso do livro pela concepção de Mathea, a personagem principal. Mathea é a solidão personificada, mesmo quando o seu marido Epsilon era vivo acredito que ela estava só.
Não morri de amores pela escrita em particular, mas gostei da forma de como nos é posta a história, é Mathea a contá-la, com todas as confusões e particularidades inerentes a si.
Não morri de amores pela escrita em particular, mas gostei da forma de como nos é posta a história, é Mathea a contá-la, com todas as confusões e particularidades inerentes a si.
I don't get it. I guess it's supposed to be existential and simplistically complex, but since I was just looking for a light, quick read to fill my time while administering exams to my students, I wasn't in the mood to think deep thoughts. The banal subject matter and foreign setting (the book is translated from Norwegian) didn't help...
A bit twee, but it's a short book, kind of reads like a short story. It'll take you a day. The main character doesn't do a ton to really endear her to me enough to make the book really enjoyable, but it's short, sad, and funny. It was worth it, I liked that I got to read something by a Norweigan writer.
This is a simultaneously funny and emotionally touching little book. Skomsvold has presented an odd character with an odd voice and really does some amazing things in a small space. Intensely imagined and described in her humanity, I don't think there is anyone who could read this and not love the main character.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“I've knitted myself a hat, it's plum red with an appealing lace pattern, I figured that a few air holes would be nice now that it's spring. I put it on and feel like a cranberry in the snow, and I wonder if they can see me from the moon. Me and the Great Wall.”
—
3 people liked it
More quotes…

Loading...











view all 83 comments















