Child Wonder
by
Roy Jacobsen,
Don Bartlett , Don Shaw
Originally published in Norwegian as Vidunderbarn.
Hardcover, 263 pages
Published
April 1st 2011
by Maclehose
(first published August 2009)
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"Der Sommer, in dem Linda schwimmen lernte" von Roy Jacobsen ist ein norwegischer Roman über die Veränderungen im Leben einer Familie. Er ist zwar schön erzählt, hat mich aber nicht wirklich überzeugt.
Inhalt: Bis zum Jahr 1961 lebte der 10jährige Finn allein mit seiner Mutter in Oslo. Die Mutter hält die Familie mit ihrem Halbtagsjob und dem gerade gefundenen Untermieter Kristian über Wasser, seit der Vater sie verlassen und sogar noch einmal geheiratet hatte, bevor er kurz darauf starb. Finn un...more
Inhalt: Bis zum Jahr 1961 lebte der 10jährige Finn allein mit seiner Mutter in Oslo. Die Mutter hält die Familie mit ihrem Halbtagsjob und dem gerade gefundenen Untermieter Kristian über Wasser, seit der Vater sie verlassen und sogar noch einmal geheiratet hatte, bevor er kurz darauf starb. Finn un...more
En la edición española esta novela lleva el título de "El Despertar", lo cual no sé hasta que punto es fiel al original como traducción, puesto que mis nociones de noruego son nulas... pero creo que el título que se ha elegido en inglés puede resultar bastante más acertado para esta historia, pues ese despertar puede conducir a asociaciones de ideas que poco tienen que ver con la realidad.
Por supuesto, toda historia sobre una infancia, o episodios de la misma, narrada por una voz infantil, tiene...more
Por supuesto, toda historia sobre una infancia, o episodios de la misma, narrada por una voz infantil, tiene...more
"Child Wonder" is the story of a boy, his widowed mother, and her reckless decision to take her stepdaughter into their household.
There is something not quite right with the little girl: "Linda was not of this world," the child narrator, Finn, tells us, "one day I would come to understand this -- she was a Martian come down to earth to speak in tongues to heathens, French to Norwegians and Russian to Americans."
Her ailment is developmental, in the head, but never fully revealed by the author,...more
There is something not quite right with the little girl: "Linda was not of this world," the child narrator, Finn, tells us, "one day I would come to understand this -- she was a Martian come down to earth to speak in tongues to heathens, French to Norwegians and Russian to Americans."
Her ailment is developmental, in the head, but never fully revealed by the author,...more
Child Wonder may not be groundbreaking in its writing style, characterization or storytelling, and is, at its core, a coming of age-story, but it is nonetheless special - perhaps even extraordinary - in the way Roy Jacobsen is able to write realistically through the eyes of a child. Jacobsen further makes excellent use of subtle hints to carry his story along.
Jacobsen does wonders building Finn (our child narrator), managing to avoid the typical cliches of a clever child character, instead findi...more
Jacobsen does wonders building Finn (our child narrator), managing to avoid the typical cliches of a clever child character, instead findi...more
Navigating that shaky bridge between childhood and adulthood is never easy, particularly in 1961 – a time when “men became boys and housewives women,” a year when Yuri Gargarin is poised to conquer space and when the world is on the cusp of change.
Into this moment of time, Norwegian author Roy Jacobsen shines a laser light on young Finn and his mother Gerd, who live in the projects of Oslo. Fate has not been kind to them: Gerd’s husband, a crane operator, divorced her and then died in an acciden...more
Into this moment of time, Norwegian author Roy Jacobsen shines a laser light on young Finn and his mother Gerd, who live in the projects of Oslo. Fate has not been kind to them: Gerd’s husband, a crane operator, divorced her and then died in an acciden...more
It's the 1960's, and Little Finn is an 8 year-old boy who lives with his mother Gerd, in a working class area of Oslo. It's been just he and his mother for a while, since his parents divorced, and his father later died in an industrial accident. Finances were a problem, so his mother went to work part-time in a shoe store to help out. She later decides to take in a lodger for extra money and places an advertisement. One of individuals who sees the ad is Ingrid, a drug-addict, former wife to Finn...more
Spanning the course of one year for most of its length, this coming of age novel from Norway is one of the few books arriving from Scandinavia that is not a thriller. Finn and his mother, living in a working class neighborhood, have their lives disrupted by two newcomers -- a lodger to help with the bills, and a half sister for Finn, whose presence is a catalyst for change in both mother and son. The sixties have not yet arrived with all their changes, but change is inevitable for Finn whose pro...more
A poignant coming of age story that is set in the suburbs of Oslo, Norway.
Nine year old Finn, the only child of a single mother doea a lot of growing up when his life turns upside down . The decision is made to let out a room to a lodger to help improve their financial means, then things begin to change in their lives rapidly.
Soon Finn and his mother find themselves taking in his step sister to care for her while her mother goes to prison. Awkward to say the least - add the fact that Linda has...more
Nine year old Finn, the only child of a single mother doea a lot of growing up when his life turns upside down . The decision is made to let out a room to a lodger to help improve their financial means, then things begin to change in their lives rapidly.
Soon Finn and his mother find themselves taking in his step sister to care for her while her mother goes to prison. Awkward to say the least - add the fact that Linda has...more
Absolutely amazing, it grew slowly but steadily on me, drew me into it's powerful depiction of child's mindset in a world not so reliabe and steady.
The main character Finn was charming. He was brave, smart and humble and tried so hard to keep everything flowing softly and help his mother and half-sister. The way Jacobsen wrote about how Finn and his mother slowly drift apart and Finn's childhood starts to end was the best part to me, the little pieces of un-innocence, adulthood and independence...more
The main character Finn was charming. He was brave, smart and humble and tried so hard to keep everything flowing softly and help his mother and half-sister. The way Jacobsen wrote about how Finn and his mother slowly drift apart and Finn's childhood starts to end was the best part to me, the little pieces of un-innocence, adulthood and independence...more
Child Wonder is the latest novel of Norwegian author Roy Jacobsen. He immerses himself into the world of eight-year-old Finn and his mother Gerd during the 1960’s. Finn lives with his single mother—single after a divorce—in a working class neighborhood in Oslo. Tough economic times, dictate that Gerd look for other sources of income besides her job in a shoe shop. She’ s convinced that her decision to take in a boarder will do the trick and places an ad in the paper for just such a one. This eve...more
Sep 01, 2011
Ti
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2011-summer-reading-list,
books-sent-to-me
The Short of It:
A touching, coming-of-age story.
The Rest of It:
Finn and his mother live in a small apartment in Oslo, in the early 60s. She works in a shoe shop and does her best to make ends meet. They are comfortable and happy. Finn’s father died long ago in a crane accident but he left a little something behind…a daughter. Linda, age 6 and only a few years younger than Finn, comes to live with them. With another mouth to feed, Finn’s mom takes in a quirky lodger.
I’m not sure what I expected w...more
A touching, coming-of-age story.
The Rest of It:
Finn and his mother live in a small apartment in Oslo, in the early 60s. She works in a shoe shop and does her best to make ends meet. They are comfortable and happy. Finn’s father died long ago in a crane accident but he left a little something behind…a daughter. Linda, age 6 and only a few years younger than Finn, comes to live with them. With another mouth to feed, Finn’s mom takes in a quirky lodger.
I’m not sure what I expected w...more
Jul 30, 2011
Håvard Bjørnelv
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
skjoennlitteratur
En verdig "oppfølger" til Seierherrene. Stemninga, omgivelsene og tida er den samme som i storromanen fra 1991, samtidig er her mye nytt. I tillegg til nok et tilbakeblikk til 60-tallets arbeidersamfunn, denne gang fra synspunktet til en ung gutt uten far og dermed med en arbeidende mor, byr "vidunderbarn" også på problemstillinger som er like dagsaktuelle i dag; mobbing, overgrep og den generelle kampen for tilværelsen. Roy Jacobsen befester sin posisjon som en av Norges beste samtidsforfattere...more
Eight-year old Finn and his mother lived in a lower income neighborhood in Oslo in the 1960s.Then one year everything changed: they took in a lodger, a half-sister Finn had never met came to live with them, and Finn's mother had to face some demons from her past. Narrated by Finn, the story of that year is at times funny, sad, and poignant. Beautifully written and very well translated, this is a moving tale of a young boy who learns a lot in a year. Recommended.
Maybe it's my dark, foreboding Scandinavian ancestry, but I love books like this with dark, foreboding characters. It was difficult at first to get used to Finn's voice, but what an accomplishment to accurately capture a nine-year-old's thoughts. Some of the sentences--mainly descriptive ones--took my breath away. Of course, now I cannot remember what they are, but I loved the scene when they were swimming in the lake during the rain.
I saw many other reader's comments on this book-they all seemed to rave about it, so I am wondering what I missed. I would think something would finally get started in the story to make sense, but then it switched gears and I had no idea what they were trying to say. Story is told through an eight year old boy's eyes and is mostly told in one year and then the end he is a teenager. Lives with his single mom and finds out he has a half-sister who comes to live with them for a year. Just didn't ge...more
This book is one that's been on the shelf for a while and I had no idea what it would do to me. So much beautiful exactness goes unsaid in this book. And you know it all.
On my physical bookshelves are many, many books I haven't read yet. Some are in rows, some are in stacks, some get moved around and some get placed in my geographical organization. Then I finally pick one whose cover or spine I've passed over time, so that its looks have become familiar but its insides are unknown of course, an...more
On my physical bookshelves are many, many books I haven't read yet. Some are in rows, some are in stacks, some get moved around and some get placed in my geographical organization. Then I finally pick one whose cover or spine I've passed over time, so that its looks have become familiar but its insides are unknown of course, an...more
I won a copy of this this book through First Reads. A nicely-told coming of age story about a boy growing up in Norway during the 60s. Life as he knows it changes completely when his mother decides to take a lodger into their home, and even more so when a half-sister he didn't know existed is suddenly part of their lives as well. For me, it started out a little slow, but the story grew on me as I continued reading.
Det har vært ca 15 år siden jeg leste Seierherrene av Roy Jacobsen. Vidunderbarn er mye av det samme; hvordan man vokser opp i et borettslag i Oslo ca 1961; fra en 7 åring gutts synspunkt. Denne boka dreier seg om ett år, året hvor halv søster kommer; og går. Boka er verdt å lese; den er til dels varm og nostalgisk; fint som underholdningslitteratur.
Written by a Norwegian, this story tells the story of a boy who grows up in a single-parent household that includes his mom, his half-sister, and a lodger. It's a little slow at points and isn't really remarkable in any way, but the writing is occasionally poetic and the plot does end up reaching its hazy destination.
May 14, 2012
Barb Neddo
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
weird-dark-books,
great-characters
I loved this book. There was a lot in this book about what makes up a family and how past issues impact current life. I am going to look for more books by Roy Jacobsen.
Jun 10, 2012
Taddie
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
home-library,
recommended-to-read-by-friends
A story of one year out of the view of a 9 year old - a nice change to see the world differently with other priorities. A good read and to recommend who likes family stories, but without big ups and downs.
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Roy Jacobsen is a Norwegian novelist and short-story writer. Born in Oslo, he made his publishing début in 1982 with the short-story collection Fangeliv (Prison Life). He is winner of the prestigious Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature.
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