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Laulu nousevalle myrskylle
On loppukesä 1955. Kambodža on itsenäistynyt ranskalaisen siirtomaavallan alta ja nyt edessä ovat maan ensimmäiset parlamenttivaalit.
Kampanjoinnin keskeltä tapaamme Sarin, joka tullaan myöhemmin tuntemaan nimellä Pol Pot. Julkisesti hän toimii oppositiopuolueen johtajan sihteerinä, mutta salaa hän edistää aseellista kommunistista vallankumousta. Jotta hän voisi mennä naimisiin mielitiettynsä Somalyn kanssa, opposition on voitettava vaalit. Tilanne on epävakaa ja avoin. Sitten tapahtuu uusi käänne, kun myös Sarin poliittinen päävastustaja, Sary, iskee silmänsä Somalyyn. Muutamien viikkojen kuluessa kolmiodraama huipentuu poliittisten juonittelujen kentäksi, jolla valtiovalta ei kaihda mitään keinoa murskatakseen häikäilemättä vastustajansa.
Laulu nousevalle myrskylle on Peter Fröberg Idlingin mestarillinen esikoisromaani. Se kertoo halusta, vallasta, rakkaudesta ja politiikasta, jossa tehdyt yksittäiset ratkaisut ajavat maata kohti kansanmurhaa 20 vuotta myöhemmin.
Kampanjoinnin keskeltä tapaamme Sarin, joka tullaan myöhemmin tuntemaan nimellä Pol Pot. Julkisesti hän toimii oppositiopuolueen johtajan sihteerinä, mutta salaa hän edistää aseellista kommunistista vallankumousta. Jotta hän voisi mennä naimisiin mielitiettynsä Somalyn kanssa, opposition on voitettava vaalit. Tilanne on epävakaa ja avoin. Sitten tapahtuu uusi käänne, kun myös Sarin poliittinen päävastustaja, Sary, iskee silmänsä Somalyyn. Muutamien viikkojen kuluessa kolmiodraama huipentuu poliittisten juonittelujen kentäksi, jolla valtiovalta ei kaihda mitään keinoa murskatakseen häikäilemättä vastustajansa.
Laulu nousevalle myrskylle on Peter Fröberg Idlingin mestarillinen esikoisromaani. Se kertoo halusta, vallasta, rakkaudesta ja politiikasta, jossa tehdyt yksittäiset ratkaisut ajavat maata kohti kansanmurhaa 20 vuotta myöhemmin.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
June 1, 2015
I enjoyed this novel and gave it five stars. I recommend reading it. When you do, it will probably annoy you as much as it did me, and perhaps for similar reasons, but I would not be wasting time on a review (filled with complaints alas) if I did not find it interesting and thought provoking.
This novel gives us a portrait of three characters, a dissident communist, a government minister and a woman to whom both are attracted. Each character is given a third of the book and, while this provides different perspectives on the same key event in Cambodia's history, as also of course on their love triangle, there is virtually no overlap when events are seen in turn from each point of view. They are living very different lives and for each of them, the others are merely actors in their separate dramas.
I found the revolutionary the least appealing, not helped by using a strange device which is best described with an example: "It was afterwards, when you had finished eating and gone your separate ways after arranging to meet later, that you saw him. You were taking your usual route..." By using the second person in this way throughout this account, the writer presumably invites the reader to identify with the character of the revolutionary. Maybe the author believes readers would otherwise resist such imaginative identification though I would disagree; we readers are open to imagining whatever writers care to throw our way, provided it is sufficiently interesting. In this case, I was disappointed that not enough happened to sustain my interest. I felt the same effect could have been achieved in half as many pages or even fewer. What I felt was lacking was the need for some interaction with the other key characters, but that was never allowed.
In the account of the government minister, there is a generous amount of political explanation for readers interested in the situation faced by Cambodia at the point when direct colonisation by the French was brought to a poorly planned and badly implemented end, while American interference was starting to become established. Nothing in the way France administered its empire was conducive to providing the locals with the human or material resources on which to build a successful democracy and nothing in the way America interfered suggested a desire to tolerate democracy. Communism was not the inevitable result but it was inevitable that, when democracy was made so difficult and oppression so easy, then people would turn to extremes of both Left and Right. It's just that America preferred the latter. All strong and meaty stuff - I am not sure that it was well conveyed in the novel. I am not even sure that the material was presented in a way that fitted well into a novel. A bit too much like reading occasional stage directions.
In the third part of the novel, the woman is transformed from the hollow subject of male fantasy to a surprisingly rich and interesting character, albeit trapped in a restrictive social space (but these types of constraints can make a fictional character more interesting, not less so). I fear that I would have to spoil the effect of the novel by spelling out the highlights as they struck me. In important ways, her story subverts some key impressions formed earlier and she emerges by far the most human of the three. In the first two sections she is just the incidental love interest for the two male characters, but for the novel as a whole, her humanity pushes their two dimensional portraits into the subordinate role. She is what makes the book worth reading as a novel and let's be clear, a novel is what we bought: not a history book.
We are told that the revolutionary and the minister carry on to play significant political roles in Cambodia's history, but I wonder if that is the core business of any novel. I do not believe that a sequel would be much in demand if it told their stories because I do not accept that their characters are sufficiently complex. (I do not care for the claim that the revolutionary will go on to become Pol Pot, made harsh by his disappointment in love. Pol Pot is extraneous to the novel and it makes no effort at all to incorporate anything about Pol Pot; apart from making the dust jacket more enticing perhaps, it is just neither here nor there.) But a sequel would certainly be fascinating if it built on the woman's story and described her later development.
Reluctantly I am dissatisfied with this book. As a historical portrait of a moment in Cambodia's history, it really is not sufficient. I am quite sure that few readers, certainly in Europe and America, will have much background knowledge to help them through. Europeans still visualise their countries as beacons of democracy and enlightenment and know as little as they can possibly manage about their imperial histories as experienced by their victims. Americans still have the delusion that their foreign policies were (are!) on the side of democracy, when they have nearly always been (and still are) violently the opposite.
As for the writing style, the experiments in technique are too clunky and even tiresome. They all have potential - but here they just look like creative writing in need of a good editor. As a novel it is weakly constructed and indeed its three major sections simply fail to support each other, but lead separate lives. Pulled apart and reassembled, the ingredients are there for something really impressive. That is what makes a really decent novel (I gave it all the stars! It is well worth reading!) so disappointing - it should have been much better.
So how could such material be incorporated successfully into a novel? It is possible. I can even give a good example for anyone questioning my judgement: The Quiet American, by Graham Greene. It even concerns the same region and period of modern history and addresses the same issues. It is a better novel and a simpler one and for that reason it turns out to make a far more effective and lasting political impact. Compare and contrast.
This novel gives us a portrait of three characters, a dissident communist, a government minister and a woman to whom both are attracted. Each character is given a third of the book and, while this provides different perspectives on the same key event in Cambodia's history, as also of course on their love triangle, there is virtually no overlap when events are seen in turn from each point of view. They are living very different lives and for each of them, the others are merely actors in their separate dramas.
I found the revolutionary the least appealing, not helped by using a strange device which is best described with an example: "It was afterwards, when you had finished eating and gone your separate ways after arranging to meet later, that you saw him. You were taking your usual route..." By using the second person in this way throughout this account, the writer presumably invites the reader to identify with the character of the revolutionary. Maybe the author believes readers would otherwise resist such imaginative identification though I would disagree; we readers are open to imagining whatever writers care to throw our way, provided it is sufficiently interesting. In this case, I was disappointed that not enough happened to sustain my interest. I felt the same effect could have been achieved in half as many pages or even fewer. What I felt was lacking was the need for some interaction with the other key characters, but that was never allowed.
In the account of the government minister, there is a generous amount of political explanation for readers interested in the situation faced by Cambodia at the point when direct colonisation by the French was brought to a poorly planned and badly implemented end, while American interference was starting to become established. Nothing in the way France administered its empire was conducive to providing the locals with the human or material resources on which to build a successful democracy and nothing in the way America interfered suggested a desire to tolerate democracy. Communism was not the inevitable result but it was inevitable that, when democracy was made so difficult and oppression so easy, then people would turn to extremes of both Left and Right. It's just that America preferred the latter. All strong and meaty stuff - I am not sure that it was well conveyed in the novel. I am not even sure that the material was presented in a way that fitted well into a novel. A bit too much like reading occasional stage directions.
In the third part of the novel, the woman is transformed from the hollow subject of male fantasy to a surprisingly rich and interesting character, albeit trapped in a restrictive social space (but these types of constraints can make a fictional character more interesting, not less so). I fear that I would have to spoil the effect of the novel by spelling out the highlights as they struck me. In important ways, her story subverts some key impressions formed earlier and she emerges by far the most human of the three. In the first two sections she is just the incidental love interest for the two male characters, but for the novel as a whole, her humanity pushes their two dimensional portraits into the subordinate role. She is what makes the book worth reading as a novel and let's be clear, a novel is what we bought: not a history book.
We are told that the revolutionary and the minister carry on to play significant political roles in Cambodia's history, but I wonder if that is the core business of any novel. I do not believe that a sequel would be much in demand if it told their stories because I do not accept that their characters are sufficiently complex. (I do not care for the claim that the revolutionary will go on to become Pol Pot, made harsh by his disappointment in love. Pol Pot is extraneous to the novel and it makes no effort at all to incorporate anything about Pol Pot; apart from making the dust jacket more enticing perhaps, it is just neither here nor there.) But a sequel would certainly be fascinating if it built on the woman's story and described her later development.
Reluctantly I am dissatisfied with this book. As a historical portrait of a moment in Cambodia's history, it really is not sufficient. I am quite sure that few readers, certainly in Europe and America, will have much background knowledge to help them through. Europeans still visualise their countries as beacons of democracy and enlightenment and know as little as they can possibly manage about their imperial histories as experienced by their victims. Americans still have the delusion that their foreign policies were (are!) on the side of democracy, when they have nearly always been (and still are) violently the opposite.
As for the writing style, the experiments in technique are too clunky and even tiresome. They all have potential - but here they just look like creative writing in need of a good editor. As a novel it is weakly constructed and indeed its three major sections simply fail to support each other, but lead separate lives. Pulled apart and reassembled, the ingredients are there for something really impressive. That is what makes a really decent novel (I gave it all the stars! It is well worth reading!) so disappointing - it should have been much better.
So how could such material be incorporated successfully into a novel? It is possible. I can even give a good example for anyone questioning my judgement: The Quiet American, by Graham Greene. It even concerns the same region and period of modern history and addresses the same issues. It is a better novel and a simpler one and for that reason it turns out to make a far more effective and lasting political impact. Compare and contrast.
August 16, 2014
Vähän rasittavakin monotonisuudessaan mutta ajatus - johtiko särkynyt sydän Pol Potin hirmutekoihin - vaikuttava.
May 19, 2014
I really liked this. Very interesting style and take on a subject I knew nothing about. I feel like I really learned something. Blog review here: http://wp.me/p1T6v8-RZ
August 19, 2017
Kapitulerar helt för hans förmåga att komma nära huvudpersonerna och skapa en ödesmättad, förtätad stämning genom hela boken. Ger samtidigt en intressant bild av det postkoloniala Kambodja, dess prioriterade klass och politiska motsättningar. Passion genomsyrar huvudpersonerna, och beskrivs med subtila men oerhört starkt och initierat. En författare att följa vidare. Hans nya bok sägs komma snart
January 25, 2025
A romantic political thriller with a central character who comes across as intense, idealistic and likeable. It carries a disconcerting element when you know that, in 20 years time (after the book has ended) he will be rightly vilified as he restyles himself as pol pot. The humanity in future inhumanity is unsettling and adds an element to a book that is well worth a read.
June 25, 2017
Tyckte att det var svårt att hänga med i språket. Hade för lite bakgrund för att förstå allt.
December 9, 2017
Avbryter läsningen vid obligatoriska 75 sidor. Långsam och tråkig sak. Vinner säkert Augustpriset på grund av sin pretentiösa tråkighet.
September 8, 2019
Never finished this as I found it too annoying that the author writes about "you" . -Who, me? No...
October 29, 2019
Alas, a bewildering babble of boring.
August 12, 2020
3.5/5?
July 30, 2017
Un libro poetico e molto intenso che racconta il momento in cui la storia della Cambogia ha preso la sua piega più drammatica, dando voce a tre dei protagonisti principali di questa svolta.
Uno stile particolare, una narrazione lenta e carica di suggestione, dalle pagine si respira l'aria densa del monsone...mi ha riportata in questo paese meraviglioso, la sua gente gentile e i suoi tempi che si dilatano all'infinito.
Davvero bello.
Uno stile particolare, una narrazione lenta e carica di suggestione, dalle pagine si respira l'aria densa del monsone...mi ha riportata in questo paese meraviglioso, la sua gente gentile e i suoi tempi che si dilatano all'infinito.
Davvero bello.
February 14, 2015
This remarkably accomplished debut novel is a chilling political thriller set in Cambodia in 1955 on the eve of the country’s first democratic elections. Over the course of 30 days we follow the three main characters as they manoeuvre their way through a dangerous political minefield. The novel is divided into three sections, each narrated in the three distinct voices and from the perspective of each of them, giving the reader an in-depth and all-round insight into what is happening in the country.
Sar is the first person we meet. He is playing a dangerous game of double dealing as he works for the Democrats whilst secretly being allied to the Communists. We know him as Pol Pot, the evil genius behind the Khmer Rouge revolution.
Sary is allied to Prince Sihanouk and is a rival in love to Sar for the attentions of Somaly. The suggestion is that if Sar had won the battle for Somaly’s heart he would never have set out on his cruel path of destruction. This sounds far-fetched but the author makes a convincing case for it. It must be remembered that this is indeed a work of fiction, although it is firmly based on real events and the author heard the story of Sar’s broken heart from survivors of the Khmer Rouge whilst he was doing research for a non-fiction book. At the very least it’s an intriguing and thought-provoking idea.
Whatever the truth of the matter, this is a riveting and totally compelling political thriller which brings a time and place and historical moment vividly to life and gives the reader a glimpse into the long-vanished society of 1950s Cambodia. Highly recommended.
Sar is the first person we meet. He is playing a dangerous game of double dealing as he works for the Democrats whilst secretly being allied to the Communists. We know him as Pol Pot, the evil genius behind the Khmer Rouge revolution.
Sary is allied to Prince Sihanouk and is a rival in love to Sar for the attentions of Somaly. The suggestion is that if Sar had won the battle for Somaly’s heart he would never have set out on his cruel path of destruction. This sounds far-fetched but the author makes a convincing case for it. It must be remembered that this is indeed a work of fiction, although it is firmly based on real events and the author heard the story of Sar’s broken heart from survivors of the Khmer Rouge whilst he was doing research for a non-fiction book. At the very least it’s an intriguing and thought-provoking idea.
Whatever the truth of the matter, this is a riveting and totally compelling political thriller which brings a time and place and historical moment vividly to life and gives the reader a glimpse into the long-vanished society of 1950s Cambodia. Highly recommended.
April 19, 2015
Roman om Pol Pots ulykkelige Kærlighed, tyve år før han blev Pol Pot. Den har gode takter, men er desværre mestendels lidt kedelig.
Historien kender Pol Pot som leder af De Røde Khmerer, der tog magten i Cambodja i 1975 ved en blodig revolution (og omdøbte landet til Kampuchea), og derefter indledte et veritabelt folkemord, som endte med at koste mere end 1,7 millioner mennesker. Begivenheder, der nok kunne give anledning til en del romanstof.
Journalist Peter Fröberg Idling (f.1972) har med sin debutroman Sang til den storm, der skal komme imidlertid sat sig for at fortællle en anden historie fra Cambodja.
Romanen udspiller sig i løbet af august-september 1955 i ugerne før og efter afholdelsen af de første såkaldt demokratiske valg til nationalforsamlingen i Cambodja, der nyligt har fået sin selvstændighed fra den franske kolonimagt og nu ledes af en regering under den tidligere konge, prins Sihanouk.
Romanen indeholder et interessant tidsbillede af Cambodja i den politisk skrøbelige overgangsperiode. Men grundlæggende er der tale om en kærlighedshistorie, et trekantsdrama mellem den cirka trediveårige Sar (som vil blive til Pol Pot tyve år senere, ved vi som læsere allerede fra bogens bagsidetekst), hans forlovede Somaly og den lidt ældre Sary, der er minister i regeringen.
Læs hele anmeldelsen på K's bognoter: http://bognoter.dk/2015/04/07/peter-f...
Historien kender Pol Pot som leder af De Røde Khmerer, der tog magten i Cambodja i 1975 ved en blodig revolution (og omdøbte landet til Kampuchea), og derefter indledte et veritabelt folkemord, som endte med at koste mere end 1,7 millioner mennesker. Begivenheder, der nok kunne give anledning til en del romanstof.
Journalist Peter Fröberg Idling (f.1972) har med sin debutroman Sang til den storm, der skal komme imidlertid sat sig for at fortællle en anden historie fra Cambodja.
Romanen udspiller sig i løbet af august-september 1955 i ugerne før og efter afholdelsen af de første såkaldt demokratiske valg til nationalforsamlingen i Cambodja, der nyligt har fået sin selvstændighed fra den franske kolonimagt og nu ledes af en regering under den tidligere konge, prins Sihanouk.
Romanen indeholder et interessant tidsbillede af Cambodja i den politisk skrøbelige overgangsperiode. Men grundlæggende er der tale om en kærlighedshistorie, et trekantsdrama mellem den cirka trediveårige Sar (som vil blive til Pol Pot tyve år senere, ved vi som læsere allerede fra bogens bagsidetekst), hans forlovede Somaly og den lidt ældre Sary, der er minister i regeringen.
Læs hele anmeldelsen på K's bognoter: http://bognoter.dk/2015/04/07/peter-f...
June 22, 2014
Boken har ett poetiskt, ibland vackert, ibland gymnasialt, språk. Problemet är att den är tråkig. Det är en skildring av tre sinsemellan sammanlänkade personer i Kambodja under sensommaren 1955. En av dem heter Sar och är den blivande Pol Pot. Jag tycker att en skildring av honom borde vara mer intressant än denna. Vem var han innan han blev en folkmördare? Boken ger bara ett vagt svar. Ännu mer ointresserad blir jag av hans politiska och romantiska motståndare Sary. Berättelsen svävar genom politiska möten, tankar på skönhetsdrottningen Somaly, som båda männen eftertraktar, och i och för sig suggestiva miljöbeskrivningar. I bokens avslutande del följer vi Somaly. Vi lämnar den politiska arenan och får i stället en inblick i livet som uttråkad, drömmande jet set- och sällskapsdam. Min kvarstående tanke efter att ha läst boken är att Peter Fröberg Idling fick en bra idé om personer som det vore spännande att berätta om, men att han tyvärr inte lyckades hitta på en gripande berättelse om dessa.
October 21, 2013
Ok, never do this, I never stop reading a book,...this one I couldn't read, I like the plot, and the story that isn't the problem. It's actually a great story...but I didn't like the style of the author. Maybe it is the translated version that isn't good, maybe it's much better in it's original language, but translated, each sentence starts with ''you.....'' (''you sit in the car....'' ''you drink a coffee'', ''you ...'' ''you...'' and again ''you'') It's kind boring...and you know already when you read the first sentence what there will be in the second. This way I couldn't feel the characters....so I couldn't read any further, which is a pity because I liked the story....
November 16, 2012
Ett lysande språk. Sinnligt men poetiskt, filmiskt. Ljus och mörker, faran inne i dunklet, de tunga dofterna, de plötsliga skyfallen... Och en fängslande, störande politisk diskussion i en nyligen frigjord koloni, mot den obevekliga fonden att vi sitter med facit - Pol Pots och röda khmerernas terror - i hand.
May 10, 2014
i'd give it a 3.5... the novel describes a linear sequence of events in Cambodia in the 1950's from three different people's viewpoints, all members of a love triangle. through the novel we get to experience the different individuals take on the political turmoil in newly independent Cambodia and events that set up the later revolution and the rise to power by pol pot.
January 23, 2015
Title: Song for an Approaching Storm
Author: Peter Hoeberg Idling
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction
Series: N/A
Star Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
This book was given to me through the publisher by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at page 123. The constant political talk was really hard to follow--this book was just not for me.
Author: Peter Hoeberg Idling
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction
Series: N/A
Star Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
This book was given to me through the publisher by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at page 123. The constant political talk was really hard to follow--this book was just not for me.
October 22, 2012
Tvekar att sätta min första 5:a, men gör det faktiskt. Det är en så lysande bok; trolsk och vacker och med ett ovanligt upplägg. Jag tycker att den sackar en smula i tredje delen, men utan den tredje delen hade boken inte varit komplett.
March 4, 2014
Detta var en bra bok. Jag gillade stilen och språket väldigt mycket. Jag tror att detta är en bok som kanske behöver läsas två gånger för att allt ska sjunka in och för att man ska förstå den. Men trots detta gillar jag den skarpt!
April 11, 2016
This book seemed to be a good one, when I saw it in the library. However, it was a disappointment. I really, really tried to read it several times, but I had to give up. It was just too boring. What a pitty.
January 9, 2013
Fantastiskt språk! Har ni inte läst författarens "Pol Pots leende" tipsar jag gärna om den! Läs gärna den före denna. Ger mkt fakta.
July 28, 2013
Språket var fint men det hjälper inte boken i stort. Den fångade mig inte alls. Inte i närheten av så bra bra som Pol Pots leende.
December 4, 2015
Een schitterend boek over de honger naar macht, de schaamte over je afkomst en de wil om te ontsnappen.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews