Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
65th out of 513 books
—
496 voters
Naive. Super
by
Erlend Loe
The narrator of this funny and poignant novel is searching for meaning. Going back to his childhood, onto the web and off to New York to find it. He writes lists, obsesses over the nature of time and finds joy in bouncing balls - all in an effort to find out how best to live life. An utterly enchanting meditation on experience Naive. Super was a No. 1 best-seller in Loe's...more
Paperback, 208 pages
Published
July 7th 2005
by Canongate UK
(first published 1996)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
This was a quick, easy and enjoyable read. (Maybe) I'll write a proper review later, but thought I could post the list I'd written last night, just in case Loe wants to see it :)
What used to excite me when I was little:
- animals, especially cats, birds and baby goats
- betting my life on everything - if this does/doesn't happen, I die; racing against buses - if I lose, I die
- broken toys and old things, small parts of broken things
- building blocks / construction toys
- buttons
- cardboard boxes
- c...more
What used to excite me when I was little:
- animals, especially cats, birds and baby goats
- betting my life on everything - if this does/doesn't happen, I die; racing against buses - if I lose, I die
- broken toys and old things, small parts of broken things
- building blocks / construction toys
- buttons
- cardboard boxes
- c...more
I didn't realise until I was selecting the right edition here that the English translation of this book was published by Cannongate. Somehow it didn't surprise me, for I can't think of a bad book that they've published (if you've read one, please don't disillusion me), and they're Bookcrossing-friendly too.
Anyway, to the book: I loved it. The deceptively simple style gave a moving description of a quiet and reflective time in the narrator's life which maybe didn't go as far as being a story, bu...more
Anyway, to the book: I loved it. The deceptively simple style gave a moving description of a quiet and reflective time in the narrator's life which maybe didn't go as far as being a story, bu...more
Simplicity's best and simply the easiest - and this book is an exact example for this. There's no need to try hard and make things more and more complicated when there's an easier way to solve the problems: just stay ignorant to them. Be childish. Ask simple questions which always have answers, and do not spend forces on finding answers to questions that don't even make sense really.
This book is naive. This is why it's super
This book is naive. This is why it's super
Sep 25, 2012
Taimi
added it
Mikään tuskin on parempaa, kuin pidemmäksi venyneen lukutauon jälkeen HYVÄN kirjan lukeminen!
Supernaiivissa on kumma fiilis. Se tuntuu jonkinlaiselta kirjan arkkityypiltä. En tiedä kuinka subjektiivinen kokemus tämä on, mutta itselleni tuli sellainen olo, että Supernaiivin kaltaista kirjaa on todella odotettu (ja tokihan se jo kirjoitettiinkin 1996). Sille oli paikka olemassaolon harmoniassa. Luulen, että moni lukija on sitä mieltä, että itsekin on tehnyt mieli kirjoittaa vastaava kirja.
Kirjan p...more
Supernaiivissa on kumma fiilis. Se tuntuu jonkinlaiselta kirjan arkkityypiltä. En tiedä kuinka subjektiivinen kokemus tämä on, mutta itselleni tuli sellainen olo, että Supernaiivin kaltaista kirjaa on todella odotettu (ja tokihan se jo kirjoitettiinkin 1996). Sille oli paikka olemassaolon harmoniassa. Luulen, että moni lukija on sitä mieltä, että itsekin on tehnyt mieli kirjoittaa vastaava kirja.
Kirjan p...more
Naive. Super was the book that started my newly found interest in reading.
I read this book in a time where I really needed to something to cheer me up, or at least to take my thoughts away from the dismal situation I was facing. And let me tell you, Naive. Super did that to an extend that made me quite sad when the book ended.
The premise of the novel is that a guy around my age just suddenly collapses in desperation and finds his life completely lacking of anything. He then takes this situation...more
I read this book in a time where I really needed to something to cheer me up, or at least to take my thoughts away from the dismal situation I was facing. And let me tell you, Naive. Super did that to an extend that made me quite sad when the book ended.
The premise of the novel is that a guy around my age just suddenly collapses in desperation and finds his life completely lacking of anything. He then takes this situation...more
Puhtalt subjektiivsed kiidusõnad: Oh kui kena lugeda, et minusuguseid nö naiivseid leidub veel ning et mõned neist kirjutavad raamatuid ning et need raamatud osutuvad pealekauba nii populaarseteks. Erlend Loel see vähemalt on õnnestunud. Naiv.Super on tema enimtõlgitud romaan. "Me kõik oleme teatud määral autistid," selgitas üks mu õppejõud kord ning ma olen temaga ühel nõul. Inimesed on autistlikumadki, kui alguses oletada. Lihtsalt, nad on minust enamasti sellisel kaugusel, et ma eriti pole ne...more
Erlend Loen Supernaiivi on nimensäkin mukaan varsin naiivista henkilöstä kertova tarina.
Minäkertoja on 25-vuotias korkeakouluopiskelija, jonka elämä törmää kiviseen seinään kirjaimellisesti. Hän saa hermoromahduksen tai ahdistuskohtauksen ja lamautuu täysin erään perhetapaamisen ja krokettimatsin jälkeen. Veli voittaa hänet, ja se nostaa pintaan kaikki lapsuudenaikaiset traumat ja mitättömyyden tunteet.
Tästä alkaa päähenkilön kamppailu takaisin kohti täysipainoista elämää. Hän päättää aloittaa a...more
Minäkertoja on 25-vuotias korkeakouluopiskelija, jonka elämä törmää kiviseen seinään kirjaimellisesti. Hän saa hermoromahduksen tai ahdistuskohtauksen ja lamautuu täysin erään perhetapaamisen ja krokettimatsin jälkeen. Veli voittaa hänet, ja se nostaa pintaan kaikki lapsuudenaikaiset traumat ja mitättömyyden tunteet.
Tästä alkaa päähenkilön kamppailu takaisin kohti täysipainoista elämää. Hän päättää aloittaa a...more
Of course, this is the sort of novel that could only happen in a relatively benign place like Norway where a grown man playing with a little boy doesn’t inspire the need in every passerby to call Chris Hansen, and to a person who has a brother with an empty apartment. The protagonist is the most earnest character an American like me can possibly hope to read. With so many novels so sickeningly drenched in irony, the protagonist in Naïve. Super is completely devoid of it. And because he is not se...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Amiable. Philosophical. Kind of similar to Douglas Coupland, but simpler, deeper and more likeable.
Like many of Coupland's characters, the anonymous narrator of Naïve.Super is a bright young guy from a comfortable background who sounds mildly depressed and feels that his life lacks meaning and direction.
The most remarkable thing I found in this novel is the lack of ego, and this is where the difference from similar writers is so apparent. Nowhere is there any discussion of status, fame or recog...more
Like many of Coupland's characters, the anonymous narrator of Naïve.Super is a bright young guy from a comfortable background who sounds mildly depressed and feels that his life lacks meaning and direction.
The most remarkable thing I found in this novel is the lack of ego, and this is where the difference from similar writers is so apparent. Nowhere is there any discussion of status, fame or recog...more
Jag har läst Erland Loes bok. Naiv. Super. Den är fin.
En krockettävling i vänskaplig syskonanda mellan två bröder i tjugofemårsåldern ledde till att den ena av bröderna fick ett mindre sammanbrott. Som sedan ledde till funderingar angående meningen med livet, tidens existens, och alla dessa oändliga listor. Listorna som fick mig att fundera på vad jag skulle vilja fylla mina listor med samma överskrift med.
Så nu gör jag en lista, inspirerad av Loe skapad av Emmy!
Listans överskrift är:
Saker som...more
En krockettävling i vänskaplig syskonanda mellan två bröder i tjugofemårsåldern ledde till att den ena av bröderna fick ett mindre sammanbrott. Som sedan ledde till funderingar angående meningen med livet, tidens existens, och alla dessa oändliga listor. Listorna som fick mig att fundera på vad jag skulle vilja fylla mina listor med samma överskrift med.
Så nu gör jag en lista, inspirerad av Loe skapad av Emmy!
Listans överskrift är:
Saker som...more
(Not sure I'm going to be finishing this one. It would have been much better if I had read it when I was going through my own mid-20s self-torture saga. Also, the translation from Norwegian is clunky and that can ruin the best piece of literature.)
This actually turned out to be a little gem of a book. I still wish I had read it when I was younger. I could have used his two techniques to get him through his period of feeling everything is meaningless and his problems with Time: throwing a ball ag...more
This actually turned out to be a little gem of a book. I still wish I had read it when I was younger. I could have used his two techniques to get him through his period of feeling everything is meaningless and his problems with Time: throwing a ball ag...more
Feb 23, 2009
Addie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
everyone. You have everything to gain and nothing to loose.
Shelves:
favourites
I tried to send Erlend Loe himself a letter once.
I couldn't find his address so I tried his e-mail. I wrote him a long nice one with loads of questions, but the one he gives in the book is defunct and when I contacted his publisher they started asking questions.
I was too intimidated to make anything up.
I really wish I had. He seems like the sort of person that needs to be e-mailed.
This is one of those slightly off the wall books I would probably never have found if I didn’t go poking around in second hand shops. In it, the unnamed (aren’t they all nowadays?) narrator tells of a mini-breakdown in his life which caused him to question just about everything in his life and, in particular, the nature of time. He drops out of university, spends ages throwing a football against the wall, and plays games with the five year old next door. The parents of the said five year old agr...more
I hated this book! It didn't seem to have a point. I don't mind a book not doing much for plot but give me something! If you aren't going to have a wild plot, at least give me an interesting character or just a single reason to care about the book. It may have been a bad translation but I just didn't get what the point was.
Here's another thing. I LOVE lists. I LOVE when people make little lists about interesting things. For example, in the book "High Fidelity" by Nick Hornby, he was always makin...more
Here's another thing. I LOVE lists. I LOVE when people make little lists about interesting things. For example, in the book "High Fidelity" by Nick Hornby, he was always makin...more
Leppoisa, pieni kirja. Teksti oli kevyttä, mutta myös hauskan syvällistä. Tässä 25-vuotias opiskelijapoika herää elämän turhuuteen, lopettaa kaiken tekemisen ja jää veljensä kotivahtina pohtimaan elämää, aikaa ja koko maailmankaikkeutta. Apunaan hänellä on Paul-nimisen professorin kirjoittama kirja ajasta ja avaruudesta, punainen pallo ja lasten hakka-lelu (se, jossa nakutetaan palikoita levyn toiselle puolelle, käännetään vekotin toisin päin, ja nakutetaan palikat taas toiselle puolelle jne.)....more
Jul 24, 2007
Ariel
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
safran foer/haddon enthusiasts, simple-worded folk, raison d'etre seekers
cute. a little redundant at times. frustrating at points. fast read. i like thinking that it's translated from norwegian . i especially like the words that don't get translated quite right (i.e. "plaster" instead of "band-aid"). the prominent presence of lists was appreciated, as were character names such as Børre and Lise.
I was drawn to this book but had a hard time tracking it down. I ended up ordering it from a bookseller in England and I'm so glad I did; it's the kind of book that made me so happy, in the "this is why I love fiction" kind of way. It's a short, quick read but one that I'm pretty sure I'd like to read again. The character is struggling with what the meaning of all this is - "this" being life. And there's something so soothing and also sweet about his ruminations. Perhaps it's because I can relat...more
Il perché di questo libro.
Qualche anno fa, almeno dieci/undici, ho scoperto questo libretto sul comodino di mia sorella, mentre attendevo che arrivasse l'orario per prendere il mio treno per Roma.
Mia sorella mi ha sempre consigliato/regalato/fatto scoprire bei libri e bella musica, tipo questa.
In quei venti minuti ho letto ampi stralci di questo romanzo, che mi ha molto colpito.
Mi sono ripromesso di leggerlo per intero, e mi è capitato spesso di pensarci in questi anni.
Ho finalmente ritrovato qu...more
Qualche anno fa, almeno dieci/undici, ho scoperto questo libretto sul comodino di mia sorella, mentre attendevo che arrivasse l'orario per prendere il mio treno per Roma.
Mia sorella mi ha sempre consigliato/regalato/fatto scoprire bei libri e bella musica, tipo questa.
In quei venti minuti ho letto ampi stralci di questo romanzo, che mi ha molto colpito.
Mi sono ripromesso di leggerlo per intero, e mi è capitato spesso di pensarci in questi anni.
Ho finalmente ritrovato qu...more
I can't say enough good things about this book. I loved it, made me laugh, made me think. Everyone should be able to identify with the semi-deperssed main character, who is rebuilding his life and going about it in a very sweet, funny matter. Such a clever book. Go on, go read it already!
Jul 03, 2009
Sarah
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who like lists, non-linear time, simple pleasures, who want cohesion and meaning
Recommended to Sarah by:
Casey Bernard
Shelves:
favorites
An absolutely beautiful book about plastic balls, hammers and pegs, Paul, lists, time, and perspective. The simplicity of Loe's work allows the seriousness of the main character's semi-depression to come out in a delicate and endearing way. I think it's because I tend to find myself in a similar situation at the moment, I want a feeling of cohesion. I want things to join together. I want things to have meaning. I absolutely love the concept of past, present, and future existing all at once, that...more
Read this for class. The prof. compared it to Catcher in the Rye, which I hated, so I wasn't eager to read this book. But after I read it, I was in love. I have never read a book, where I related to the character so well. Maybe it is because I am going through a similar sort of quarter-life crisis as he is.
While I saw Holden as an ungrateful, whiny brat, I saw the narrator of Naive. Super as someone that was trying to figure out what exactly was wrong with him and actively asking more and more...more
While I saw Holden as an ungrateful, whiny brat, I saw the narrator of Naive. Super as someone that was trying to figure out what exactly was wrong with him and actively asking more and more...more
Aptly titled unassuming little book, both light and profound; a Gen Y multimedia existential quest.
With his deceptively simple style, sometimes meandering, this young man tells us of discovering that no matter how many goals we clutter our lives with, we do not really have a Purpose. Unless we travel with other people, then the journey becomes the destination. We needn't wait to get anywhere to observe and empathize; be mindful now.
Love: the spiritual key to the absurd randomness of it all — we...more
With his deceptively simple style, sometimes meandering, this young man tells us of discovering that no matter how many goals we clutter our lives with, we do not really have a Purpose. Unless we travel with other people, then the journey becomes the destination. We needn't wait to get anywhere to observe and empathize; be mindful now.
Love: the spiritual key to the absurd randomness of it all — we...more
This book came at the right time (don't they all choose the right time to come to us, always?), I was craving simplicity and was striving to find some meaning, and it was exactly what this book had to offer to me. I don't know if it gets any better than that.
There were a few moments when I wasn't completely sure if the narrator was mocking modern culture or naively adoring it with praise, but I loved every other part of his journey to 'find perspective', as he puts it.
You should read it in calm...more
There were a few moments when I wasn't completely sure if the narrator was mocking modern culture or naively adoring it with praise, but I loved every other part of his journey to 'find perspective', as he puts it.
You should read it in calm...more
Som vanligt med Loes böcker är det så otroligt underhållande. Det kan ibland göra att man inte blir medveten om de egentligen tragiska livsöden som de beskriver. Eller egentligen kanske Naive. Super beskriver den vardagliga människan genom en person. Språket, strukturen, kapitelrubrikerna gör att man börjar undra om det inte även finns ett djup här, lättheten, humorn och det modäna blir ett fönster in mot de djupare frågorna om mening. Är detta människan belägenhet? Det finns få författare som l...more
Somehow I expected this book to be better than it turned out to be. I know that its genius was supposed to be the simple and naive way it was written, the systematic way the protagonist solved the small and big problems he'd started to have with the meaning of life and what it's all about, but I guess I prefer eloquent and deeper books. I liked it, anyway, although it didn't offer me many new bright ideas or "liberating laughs" like the back cover promised. The non-existent plot leaned much on t...more
This book really didn't do much for me. I didn't like the way it was written, and the story was almost non-existent. Like, really, I've read a lot of books on the subject of losing your gusto, questioning the meaning of life and all that.. but this book didn't even get anywhere.
I skimmed some of it. A lot of it. Heck, most of it.
Maybe it's better in norwegian. I don't know. But I can tell that the english translation is less than perfect. And anyway, if you're not norwegian some parts of the st...more
I skimmed some of it. A lot of it. Heck, most of it.
Maybe it's better in norwegian. I don't know. But I can tell that the english translation is less than perfect. And anyway, if you're not norwegian some parts of the st...more
A cool little book about the narrator's mid-life crisis starting on his 25th birthday, although all through the book he sounds as though he is more like 12. He is trying to find out what to do with his life and ends up asking all sorts of deep questions about space and time, but in a simple way, like a child would ask them. However confused he is about life, he seems to have plenty of fun, and never really gets depressed, he is more curious and bored than anything else. This adds to the impressi...more
I read this several years ago and enjoyed it immensely. As I recall... I found it at the library the other day and could not for the life of me remember what it was about! Oh, well, the pleasures of Alzheimers - nothing to joke about really - but even a bad memory can give you new experiences all over again.
It was the Norwegian philosopher, Arne Naess, who suffers from Alzheimers but taught me you can joke about it. Riding the train up to his mountain cabin he told the reporter that the beautif...more
It was the Norwegian philosopher, Arne Naess, who suffers from Alzheimers but taught me you can joke about it. Riding the train up to his mountain cabin he told the reporter that the beautif...more
When you're lost in life, and not sure where you're going and if everything is going to be OK - this book will not give you the answers to all your questions. But it will give you comfort. You're not alone in your thoughts. There are people like you out there.
Short sentences. Chaotic but organized. It's very human, very alive, and therefore - comforting. Sort of like a friend who listens to you when you're lost and don't really know how to put it in sentences.
It will not give you answers. But ma...more
Short sentences. Chaotic but organized. It's very human, very alive, and therefore - comforting. Sort of like a friend who listens to you when you're lost and don't really know how to put it in sentences.
It will not give you answers. But ma...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Erlend Loe is a Norwegian novelist. He worked at a psychiatric clinic, and was later a freelance journalist for Norwegian newspaper Adresseavisen. Loe now lives and works in Oslo where in 1998 he co-founded Screenwriters Oslo - an office community for screenwriters.
In 1993 he debuted with the book Tatt av kvinnen, and a year later published a children's book, Fisken, about a forklift operator name...more
More about Erlend Loe...
In 1993 he debuted with the book Tatt av kvinnen, and a year later published a children's book, Fisken, about a forklift operator name...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“A human being weighing 70 kilograms contains among other things:
-45 litres of water
-Enough chalk to whiten a chicken pen
-Enough phosphorus for 2,200 matches
-Enough fat to make approximately 70 bars of soap
-Enough iron to make a two inch nail
-Enough carbon for 9,000 pencil points
-A spoonful of magnesium
I weigh more than 70 kilograms.
And I remember a TV series called Cosmos. Carl Sagan would walk around on a set that was meant to look like space, speaking in large numbers. On one of the shows he sat in front of a tank full of all the substances human beings are made of. He stirred the tank with a stick wondering if he would be able to create life.
He didn’t succeed.
”
—
33 people liked it
-45 litres of water
-Enough chalk to whiten a chicken pen
-Enough phosphorus for 2,200 matches
-Enough fat to make approximately 70 bars of soap
-Enough iron to make a two inch nail
-Enough carbon for 9,000 pencil points
-A spoonful of magnesium
I weigh more than 70 kilograms.
And I remember a TV series called Cosmos. Carl Sagan would walk around on a set that was meant to look like space, speaking in large numbers. On one of the shows he sat in front of a tank full of all the substances human beings are made of. He stirred the tank with a stick wondering if he would be able to create life.
He didn’t succeed.
”
“We shall never meet, but there is something I want you to know. My time is not the same as your time. Our times are not the same. And do you know what that means? That means that time does not exist. Do you want me to repeat that? There is no time. There is a life and a death. There are people and animals. Our thoughts exist. And the world. The universe, too. But there is no time. You might as well take it easy. Do you feel better now? I feel better. This is going to work out. Have a nice day.”
—
11 people liked it
More quotes…
Apr 10, 2013 12:27pm
Apr 10, 2013 12:51pm