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Klen tröst & fyra andra berättelser om pengar
Det här är en berättelse om fem människor.Eller fem berättelser om en sak. Den utspelar sig idet samtida glappet mellan skitsnack och lögn: enjournalist försöker intervjua en lyckad barnskådespelare som blivit en misslyckad tjuv; en lojal medarbetare missar sina mediciner och drabbas av klarsyn; en skådis håller en främlings tal vid ett bröllop.Klen tröst undersöker människors och pengars värde.Vilka blir vi när vi vinner? Vad kostar ett äktenskapom arvet står på spel? Och vad är egentligen skillnaden mellan skitsnack och lögn?
279 pages, Hardcover
First published March 19, 2018
53 people are currently reading
1915 people want to read
About the author
Ia Genberg
6 books194 followersIa Gabriella Genberg (born 5 November 1967) is a Swedish journalist and novelist.
Born in Stockholm, Sweden, she debuted as a writer in 2012 with the novel Söta fredag ("Sweet Friday"). Her fourth novel, Detaljerna ("The Details"), won the August Prize in 2022, the year of its publication. The English translation, by Kira Josefsson, was shortlisted for the 2024 International Booker Prize.
Author Picture: Sara Mac Key
Born in Stockholm, Sweden, she debuted as a writer in 2012 with the novel Söta fredag ("Sweet Friday"). Her fourth novel, Detaljerna ("The Details"), won the August Prize in 2022, the year of its publication. The English translation, by Kira Josefsson, was shortlisted for the 2024 International Booker Prize.
Author Picture: Sara Mac Key
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Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Longlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize
Marriage: there’s always a winner and a loser, one who makes more withdrawals than deposits, one whose investments turn out to be wiser in the long term, who seems to constantly repay their debts right before the interest rate goes up.
Small Comfort is Kira Josefsson's translation of Klen tröst & fyra andra berättelser om pengar by Ia Genberg. The Details from the same translator/author was previously shortlisted for the 2024 edition of the International Booker.
The original full title of Small Comfort could be translated as Small Comfort and Four Other Stories About Money, and the book rather does what it says on the tin, or perhaps better what the signature of the chief cashier says on the bank note.
I’m sure you saw the briefcase on TV, stuffed with globally accepted currency, and maybe you were surprised by the shape of the bills: the cash, their physicality, their potential rustling. Cash and digital money might be the same, but in actuality they aren’t. One is traceable, the other is not–though the real difference is about something else. For instance, the fact that the words for ‘cash’ are more numerous in most languages than the words for ‘darling’, and that these two words activate the same area in the amygdala. Or that the effort a person expends on making money can be enhanced by the physical experience of money, e.g. holding it in one’s hand, or having one’s face being placed in the draught produced by riffling through a wad of notes. Looking at an account statement or a stock exchange chart doesn’t have the same effect: no glands are activated, no salivation occurs, no muscles contract. Cash, on the other hand, like a strong scent from one’s childhood, takes the fast lane to the human heart.
Although these are more 5 novellas than 5 short stories - and all 5 outstayed their welcome for me, although the different formats adopted does maintain the reader's interest for the overall project. And there are links between them - some clear, other more subtle, and I suspect some too subtle for my attention span.
Success Greger has a reporter (called Ia Genberg) interviewing a former child actor Greger Johnson who, years ago, appeared in a movie based on Astrid Lindgren's Emil i Lönneberga books - the story a recording of their interview. The reporter is interviewing various of the stars of the film for a tribute to the director, who has died, but Greger is more interested in both theorising on life and telling her how he impulsively stole a car recently, and the odd events that followed.
Penance is a letter from an anonymous source (perhaps Weidar himself?) discussing the disappearance, and assumed murder, of a man, Sebastian Weidar, working for a large bit shadowy pharma conglomerate, his job to dispense cash bribes to doctors and others.
The more digital the world becomes, the more important is the cash-based choreography that constituted the frame of Weidar’s work. If you believe it’s all zeroes and ones these days, well, then you’ve never seen the hand an underpaid scientist will place on a fat, unaddressed envelope during a bistro lunch after a few months of lapsed academic integrity.
But he disappeared/was killed when he lost a large suitcase of cash - the loss we realise being an accidental side-effect of Greger's impulsive act.
[As an aside, Weidar's boss Janzon has, for some reason, an intriguing and unexplained Korean connection - serving bulgogi wraps at dinner parties; obsessed with photos of Korean cheesecake; and with strong views on the chemically disastrous combination of that staple of Korean birthday cakes - Kiwis on cream]
The third story, Speech At A Wedding is, indeed a speech delivered at a wedding, but one written by an uninvited and absent party, and delivered by a hired actress (and later we realise hired also for a more sinister act), condeming the groom, a business man.
The fourth The Loser's Claustrophobia draws, as is acknowledged at the start of the book, heavily on the work of social psychologist Paul Piff, and experiments he performed observing participants in clearly rigged games of Monopoly. One player gets to roll two dice the other one; starts with more money and collects more when they pass go; and cannot Go to Jail - but Piff's experiments revealed that both the advantaged player, and, but to a lesser extent, the disadvantaged one tended to attribute the former's inevitable win to skill and willpower rather than an inbuild advantage.
And disadvantaged players who received mid-game coaching, were convinced they could now win, or indeed were pulling back into the game, despite all the evidence:
P: If I’d only pulled myself together better, I could have won. Or had a chance.
E: But you didn’t get any hotels, and you only had two houses.
P: Sure.
E: While your opponent bought, let’s see . . . Right, he had Fenchurch Street, the Angel, Islington, Whitechapel, Marlborough Street, Coventry Street, Oxford Street and Mayfair after just three rounds. You had completed only one round, and had bought–ah . . . right, Piccadilly.
P: Right.
E: And after five rounds he had hotels on Park Lane and Mayfair.
P: Wasn’t that when I bought Old Kent Road, though?
The story itself consists of notes on designing the experiments and observations of the results, as well as a side-story (whose significance escaped me) about one of the experimenters and his relationship with a woman he met in a bar. The experimenters also talk about a famous person Simmons, who is in a coma after a murder attempt, which may link to the previous story.
This was perhaps the most interesting story in terms of it's observations on money - except one can glean the information from the source via Paul Piff's TED talk.
The fifth, and title, story has a divorced couple enacting their annual 'play', at the wife's family's island summer home, designed to convince her mother than they are still married, so she doesn't disinherit them. The economically unsuccessful divorced husband works on scripts to dub English cartoons into Swedish (so that the Swedish words fit the character's mouth movements); plans plots for crime novels he doesn't actually write (the plot sketches included in the story); and works nights as a taxi driver to make ends meet (in which guise he appears in other stories, for example giving Weidar a lift).
Perhaps the weakest of the longlist for me, although a worthwhile read. 2.5 stars.
International Booker judges' citation
‘A separated couple are forced to revert to married life for an annual holiday in order to secure an inheritance. A researcher using Monopoly to study societal inequality discovers for herself how love corrupts. Money makes the world go round and Ia Genberg has a deep, clear-eyed vision of how. The dramatic distinctness of the five stories that make up Small Comfort speaks to the might of Genberg’s imaginative powers, while the intricate threads tying them together are testament to her subtleness as a thinker. It couldn’t work without Kira Josefsson’s staggeringly flexible translation, which also stands out for the naturalness of its dialogue and wonderfully rhythmic prose. This duo’s writing zings and smarts in all the right places as we see ourselves reflected in the characters, warts and all. Breathtakingly original, profound but with a delicious dose of irreverence.’
Marriage: there’s always a winner and a loser, one who makes more withdrawals than deposits, one whose investments turn out to be wiser in the long term, who seems to constantly repay their debts right before the interest rate goes up.
Small Comfort is Kira Josefsson's translation of Klen tröst & fyra andra berättelser om pengar by Ia Genberg. The Details from the same translator/author was previously shortlisted for the 2024 edition of the International Booker.
The original full title of Small Comfort could be translated as Small Comfort and Four Other Stories About Money, and the book rather does what it says on the tin, or perhaps better what the signature of the chief cashier says on the bank note.
I’m sure you saw the briefcase on TV, stuffed with globally accepted currency, and maybe you were surprised by the shape of the bills: the cash, their physicality, their potential rustling. Cash and digital money might be the same, but in actuality they aren’t. One is traceable, the other is not–though the real difference is about something else. For instance, the fact that the words for ‘cash’ are more numerous in most languages than the words for ‘darling’, and that these two words activate the same area in the amygdala. Or that the effort a person expends on making money can be enhanced by the physical experience of money, e.g. holding it in one’s hand, or having one’s face being placed in the draught produced by riffling through a wad of notes. Looking at an account statement or a stock exchange chart doesn’t have the same effect: no glands are activated, no salivation occurs, no muscles contract. Cash, on the other hand, like a strong scent from one’s childhood, takes the fast lane to the human heart.
Although these are more 5 novellas than 5 short stories - and all 5 outstayed their welcome for me, although the different formats adopted does maintain the reader's interest for the overall project. And there are links between them - some clear, other more subtle, and I suspect some too subtle for my attention span.
Success Greger has a reporter (called Ia Genberg) interviewing a former child actor Greger Johnson who, years ago, appeared in a movie based on Astrid Lindgren's Emil i Lönneberga books - the story a recording of their interview. The reporter is interviewing various of the stars of the film for a tribute to the director, who has died, but Greger is more interested in both theorising on life and telling her how he impulsively stole a car recently, and the odd events that followed.
Penance is a letter from an anonymous source (perhaps Weidar himself?) discussing the disappearance, and assumed murder, of a man, Sebastian Weidar, working for a large bit shadowy pharma conglomerate, his job to dispense cash bribes to doctors and others.
The more digital the world becomes, the more important is the cash-based choreography that constituted the frame of Weidar’s work. If you believe it’s all zeroes and ones these days, well, then you’ve never seen the hand an underpaid scientist will place on a fat, unaddressed envelope during a bistro lunch after a few months of lapsed academic integrity.
But he disappeared/was killed when he lost a large suitcase of cash - the loss we realise being an accidental side-effect of Greger's impulsive act.
[As an aside, Weidar's boss Janzon has, for some reason, an intriguing and unexplained Korean connection - serving bulgogi wraps at dinner parties; obsessed with photos of Korean cheesecake; and with strong views on the chemically disastrous combination of that staple of Korean birthday cakes - Kiwis on cream]
The third story, Speech At A Wedding is, indeed a speech delivered at a wedding, but one written by an uninvited and absent party, and delivered by a hired actress (and later we realise hired also for a more sinister act), condeming the groom, a business man.
The fourth The Loser's Claustrophobia draws, as is acknowledged at the start of the book, heavily on the work of social psychologist Paul Piff, and experiments he performed observing participants in clearly rigged games of Monopoly. One player gets to roll two dice the other one; starts with more money and collects more when they pass go; and cannot Go to Jail - but Piff's experiments revealed that both the advantaged player, and, but to a lesser extent, the disadvantaged one tended to attribute the former's inevitable win to skill and willpower rather than an inbuild advantage.
And disadvantaged players who received mid-game coaching, were convinced they could now win, or indeed were pulling back into the game, despite all the evidence:
P: If I’d only pulled myself together better, I could have won. Or had a chance.
E: But you didn’t get any hotels, and you only had two houses.
P: Sure.
E: While your opponent bought, let’s see . . . Right, he had Fenchurch Street, the Angel, Islington, Whitechapel, Marlborough Street, Coventry Street, Oxford Street and Mayfair after just three rounds. You had completed only one round, and had bought–ah . . . right, Piccadilly.
P: Right.
E: And after five rounds he had hotels on Park Lane and Mayfair.
P: Wasn’t that when I bought Old Kent Road, though?
The story itself consists of notes on designing the experiments and observations of the results, as well as a side-story (whose significance escaped me) about one of the experimenters and his relationship with a woman he met in a bar. The experimenters also talk about a famous person Simmons, who is in a coma after a murder attempt, which may link to the previous story.
This was perhaps the most interesting story in terms of it's observations on money - except one can glean the information from the source via Paul Piff's TED talk.
The fifth, and title, story has a divorced couple enacting their annual 'play', at the wife's family's island summer home, designed to convince her mother than they are still married, so she doesn't disinherit them. The economically unsuccessful divorced husband works on scripts to dub English cartoons into Swedish (so that the Swedish words fit the character's mouth movements); plans plots for crime novels he doesn't actually write (the plot sketches included in the story); and works nights as a taxi driver to make ends meet (in which guise he appears in other stories, for example giving Weidar a lift).
Perhaps the weakest of the longlist for me, although a worthwhile read. 2.5 stars.
International Booker judges' citation
‘A separated couple are forced to revert to married life for an annual holiday in order to secure an inheritance. A researcher using Monopoly to study societal inequality discovers for herself how love corrupts. Money makes the world go round and Ia Genberg has a deep, clear-eyed vision of how. The dramatic distinctness of the five stories that make up Small Comfort speaks to the might of Genberg’s imaginative powers, while the intricate threads tying them together are testament to her subtleness as a thinker. It couldn’t work without Kira Josefsson’s staggeringly flexible translation, which also stands out for the naturalness of its dialogue and wonderfully rhythmic prose. This duo’s writing zings and smarts in all the right places as we see ourselves reflected in the characters, warts and all. Breathtakingly original, profound but with a delicious dose of irreverence.’
March 2, 2026
3.5. In five connected short stories, Genberg looks at the ways in which money consciously or unconsciously affects our behavior, our view of the world around us, and the relationships we have with other people.
Playing with form throughout, these stories take the shape of an interview between Genberg herself and a failed child star fixated on wealth and his lack of it, of a wedding speech delivered by proxy through an actress that builds to a dramatic conclusion, of a research log for a PhD student studying the effects of temporary wealth by modifying the rules of Monopoly.
Some of these stories worked better than others, though I often felt the way the theme "money makes people act in strange ways" was explored was a bit on the nose, simplistic, and just rather obvious? Nothing that anybody does, says, or thinks in these stories will surprise anyone and I think that's one of the reasons this wasn't a standout read for me. It's easy to look at the world around us and see even more extreme examples of the ways in which people do insane or unethical things for money and power and so this exploration felt a bit tame and self-evident. Perhaps I wanted it to probe deeper into the psychological and philosophical theories around the topic.
All descriptions say this book is about money, but I found it was equally about truth and the ways in which it is often irrelevant in the face of stronger forces. This goes hand in hand with the theme of money and its influence, but this angle interested me more with its relevance to the world around us and the ways in which the truth is denied or easily evaded by those with power and wealth.
Genberg's writing (as seen through Josefsson's translation) is stylistically straightforward and didn't capture me in the same was that it did in The Details.
A bit uninspiring for my tastes, but not one I regret reading.
Playing with form throughout, these stories take the shape of an interview between Genberg herself and a failed child star fixated on wealth and his lack of it, of a wedding speech delivered by proxy through an actress that builds to a dramatic conclusion, of a research log for a PhD student studying the effects of temporary wealth by modifying the rules of Monopoly.
Some of these stories worked better than others, though I often felt the way the theme "money makes people act in strange ways" was explored was a bit on the nose, simplistic, and just rather obvious? Nothing that anybody does, says, or thinks in these stories will surprise anyone and I think that's one of the reasons this wasn't a standout read for me. It's easy to look at the world around us and see even more extreme examples of the ways in which people do insane or unethical things for money and power and so this exploration felt a bit tame and self-evident. Perhaps I wanted it to probe deeper into the psychological and philosophical theories around the topic.
All descriptions say this book is about money, but I found it was equally about truth and the ways in which it is often irrelevant in the face of stronger forces. This goes hand in hand with the theme of money and its influence, but this angle interested me more with its relevance to the world around us and the ways in which the truth is denied or easily evaded by those with power and wealth.
Genberg's writing (as seen through Josefsson's translation) is stylistically straightforward and didn't capture me in the same was that it did in The Details.
A bit uninspiring for my tastes, but not one I regret reading.
February 20, 2025
Älskar Ia Genbergs skärpa och intellekt! Efter del 3 "Tal vid bröllop" var jag säker på att det skulle bli en 4/5 stjärnor i rating, men del 4 var så pass seg att ta sig igenom att mitt slutbetyg fick bli lägre. Jag gillade del 5 "Klen tröst", men avslutet var inte helt tillfredställande.
March 10, 2026
Begynte bra, men datt fort av. Kvifor denne er på den internasjonale Booker langliste er eit mysterium.
March 12, 2026
Considered and funny when she’s in a playful mood. New aspiration is to be a rich woman’s concubine
August 18, 2019
Briljant, rolig & skickligt skriven!
January 25, 2022
De första två novellerna var riktigt bra! De andra tre var också bra. En bok som säger sig handla om pengar, men det handlar såklart egentligen om människan, precis som det ska vara.
Want to read
March 6, 2026Small Comfort is an intricately built and wickedly humorous collection of five interconnected stories about money.
From an interview with a child-star-turned-thief to the mysterious death of an employee at a drug manufacturer – or the couple feigning marital bliss to keep their inheritance, Ia Genberg carefully unravels the value we place on both money and people.
What does it really mean to be in debt to someone? How does our financial worth permeate the ways we think and feel? And what do we lose when we supposedly win?
An original and thought-provoking short-story collection, Small Comfort skewers its characters, slyly implicating the reader along the way. It’s published in the UK by Wildfire. This extract is taken from the opening of the book.
From an interview with a child-star-turned-thief to the mysterious death of an employee at a drug manufacturer – or the couple feigning marital bliss to keep their inheritance, Ia Genberg carefully unravels the value we place on both money and people.
What does it really mean to be in debt to someone? How does our financial worth permeate the ways we think and feel? And what do we lose when we supposedly win?
An original and thought-provoking short-story collection, Small Comfort skewers its characters, slyly implicating the reader along the way. It’s published in the UK by Wildfire. This extract is taken from the opening of the book.
March 12, 2026
Thank you NetGalley and Headline for providing me a copy of this book. Small Comfort is longlisted for the International Booker Prize for 2026, and this is my first completed book from the prize. I found this just okay. Small Comfort is a collection of five short stories, two of them are on the longer side and three are on the shorter side. We follow different stories and characters, all in different financial situations.
Out of the five short stories, I only really enjoyed one story, and that was the first long one, where we follow the author doing an interview in prison with an actor who has turned into a thief. They had very nice dynamic and good banter. As for the other stories, I didn't much get them and didn't take out anything out of them. Although they all were beautifully written. The writing style is the strong side of this book. I am hoping that I will enjoy the other books on the longlist more than this one.
Out of the five short stories, I only really enjoyed one story, and that was the first long one, where we follow the author doing an interview in prison with an actor who has turned into a thief. They had very nice dynamic and good banter. As for the other stories, I didn't much get them and didn't take out anything out of them. Although they all were beautifully written. The writing style is the strong side of this book. I am hoping that I will enjoy the other books on the longlist more than this one.
December 4, 2023
Riktigt bra!
Fem olika noveller som handlar om pengar. Eller om människans relation till pengar och var den kan göra med oss. Mina favoriter var 1 och 5 men tyckte att alla var väldigt bra!
Fem olika noveller som handlar om pengar. Eller om människans relation till pengar och var den kan göra med oss. Mina favoriter var 1 och 5 men tyckte att alla var väldigt bra!
July 4, 2025
Den började starkt, men tappade bort mig redan i den tredje novellen.
March 15, 2026
Success Greger: 4/5
Penance: 2/5
Speech at a Wedding: 2/5
The Loser's Claustrophobia: 4/5
Small Comfort: 3/5
Penance: 2/5
Speech at a Wedding: 2/5
The Loser's Claustrophobia: 4/5
Small Comfort: 3/5
Did not finish
February 18, 2026DNF. Läste 3/5 berättelser och började på de båda andra men känner absolut ingenting för dem.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Lukas remains on his feet, ready for a rhetorical excursion, a Kantian struggle where the one with the best starting position inevitably emerges victorious, since there is technically nothing that can get at this introductory assertion. The truth is true, period. It's a sly strategy, partly since truth's defender is always the one who sets the rules of the game, and partly because only he is free to move his positions. All the loser can do is change the character of his dis-advantage. It's impossible to explain to someone in their late teens that the truth can be both slippery and relative. That it can be discoloured, unpleasant. That it tends to be banged up already when you take it out of its package. That it often ends up being small comfort. Few parents succeed; most give up halfway, perhaps right where I am now, side by side with Kant and next to the demanding ethics that marinate the brains of an eighteen-year-old in unbearable hubris.
Longlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize.
Originally published in 2018 and translated from Swedish by Kira Josefsson – the author and translator combination having been shortlisted for the same prize in 2024 for Genberg’s most acclaimed work “The Details” (originally published in 2022).
And the full title of the 2018 publication would translate as “Small Comfort and Four Other Stories About Money”, which accurately represents this collection of (in many cases almost novella length albeit quick to read) stories which are linked only tangentially character wise but much more strongly thematically – around the impact of money and economics on a variety or relationships.
The opening story is the slightly oddly named “Success Greger” and the set up is strong: a journalist (who share’s the author’s name) is writing the text for a retrospective about a famous director for a magazine, and is interviewing Greger Johnson – who was a one-hit wonder child actor playing Astrid Lindgren’s Emil of Lönneberga. But to her despair (the recording includes her own brief phone calls during breaks) Greger is far more interested philosophising on: work, money and wealth (including challenging the interviewees middle class views as being very different from the rich or poor); his main occupation buying up deceased’s possessions/estates on the cheap and hoping for a serendipitous find (a valuable book, some hidden money); and a recent incident where he stole a car (which he founds with its engine running) only to crash it into a ditch. With an intriguing promise the story seems to lose its way (despite being over 100 pages so with the space for a more thoughtful narrative arc) as the latter story (and in a second interview Greger’s apparent realisation that he has stumbled into serious trouble via his actions) dominates.
The second story “Penance” is set up as a letter addressed to a woman giving details of the death of a mutual acquaintances – his body dumped in a deserts apparently after a hit ordered by a Pharma firm now subject of media speculation – the hit seemingly due to him leaving a briefcase stuffed with cash (designed for bribing doctors and scientists) in a running car (the one of course Greger stole). There are lots of intriguing side stories – the alleged victim going cold turkey from pills manufactured by his employer and which he had been taking for almost his whole life with the side effects, a character with a critical obsession with Korean birthday cakes, a riff on the enduring power of cash in a digital world (which dates the book as pre Covid) and so on – which I think might have been interestingly developed in a novel but which felt rather extraneous in a short story.
The third “Speech at a Wedding” (and by far the shortest) was I felt both contrived in plot and out of place in the collection – in essence an actress is hired to give an unasked for speech at a wedding - as part of a plot to get reputational (and later physical) revenge on a corrupt business man (possibly the boss of the Pharma firm).
The fourth “The Loser’s Claustrophobia” was the most intriguing – if heavily (as acknowledged) based on real life research by Paul Piff of Berkley, University of California based on explicitly one-sided/rigged games of monopoly where nevertheless the almost inevitable winners and losers attribute credit/blame to themselves and the richer player (entirely through circumstance) even modifies their other behaviour. The story is told as though from the researcher’s working notes on the design and results – and I have to say (having seen Piff’s TED talk) is actually more effective than the original research in drawing some of the lessons, including a fascinating part on coaching (which I am unsure if it was in the original research). Again there are some intriguing but extraneous details – although at one point two characters to seem to be discussing the incident in the third story.
The fifth titular story was I think by far the strongest – a really nicely observed story about a divorced couple (and their grown up children) who once a year perform as though still married so as not to blow a potential future inheritance – the husband is a taxi driver/wanabee crime writer/cartoon dubber and appears in at least one of the previous stories. But what makes the story is firstly some theorising on marriage which presents everything in economic terms (with the two parties gaining emotional, practical as well as purely monetary trading positions and balances) and some really intelligent repartee between the family members which even the narrator at one stage causes “priceless entertainment”.
Overall I had mixed feelings – I think its worthy of a longlist place, as it brings some welcome variety and was an always entertaining read, while often also thought provoking. However while the book reminded me of some of the writing of Edward St Aubyn or Tom McCarthy – I do feel that both those writers manage to weave in more ideas, more deeply explore those ideas and add a more developed fictional scaffolding – and I cannot help but feel that the collected story nature here, while perhaps easier for the author was far less satisfying for the reader.
My thanks to Headline for an ARC via NetGalley
I’m on the outside of that system. I go straight to the source, the money. I search for valuables, buy cheap and sell expensively. I am society’s revolving door, the nave where goods turn into money. The centre. Everything you see will ultimately end up in my hands, where it is assessed and sold or trashed. You see a dresser, your grandma’s dresser where she kept her jewellery and stationery. I see money. All I see is that dresser’s value. Or, rather, I find a hidden compartment that only Granny knew about, where she kept her real diamonds. And when I find them? I see money. There’s a price for everything. People don’t realise that, but you can put a price on everything. Everything can be transformed into money.
July 4, 2018
Personligen gillar jag novellformatet, men sällan lyckas författare så exceptionellt bra som Genberg. Samtliga fem noveller är kärnfulla och har en bra "fart". Genberg har även en otrolig blick på sin samtid, och på pengar. Och är man ute efter träffande samtidskritik så är det här verkligen värt läsningen.
Genberg skapar även en sammanhängde värld med sina berättelser, karaktärerna och problematiken dyker upp i flera berättelser och bildar tillsammans en tråd som ger ytterligare en stomme till samlingen utöver den utpekade gemensamma nämnaren, pengar.
Genberg skapar även en sammanhängde värld med sina berättelser, karaktärerna och problematiken dyker upp i flera berättelser och bildar tillsammans en tråd som ger ytterligare en stomme till samlingen utöver den utpekade gemensamma nämnaren, pengar.
May 4, 2023
Jag älskar Ia genberg! Genialisk bok, framförallt den fjärde novellen förlorarens klaustrofobi, men också bara hur alla noveller tillsammans i sina olikheter ger en sån bra bild av vad pengar gör med människor.
February 1, 2024
1 och 4 = super bra, men kunde tyvärr inte följa annars????
April 9, 2025
Jag läste bara en novell sen tappade jag lusten
February 26, 2026
Jeg er en soppelsker av rang, og hver høst de siste tredve årene er min form for lykke. Noen år er det så mye sopp at jeg blir lei. Noen år er det få og alt jeg finner regner jeg som skatter. Jeg får gåsehud, hjertet svulmer og jeg blir rørt, og hele meg fylles av gode hormoner.
Noen perioder leser jeg mengder av bøker og det er sjeldent jeg kommer over de virkelig store skattene. Men her fant jeg en skatt i skogen av ny litteratur. Økonomisk litteratur er en sjelden greie, eller for å si det på en annen måte, fiksjon med ulikhets-økonomi i dagens kapitalistiske samfunn er veldig sjeldent. Og det på tross av:
Boka består av fem noveller, og bokas tittel henviser til den siste - som var den første jeg leste. Jeg tror jeg kunne ha skrevet en avhandling om den. Ikke fordi den er komplisert, men fordi det er så mange lag, så mye meta, så mange innfallsvinkler og så mye virkelighet. Novella starter med
Gjennom hele novella forteller Lars, som er taxi-sjåfør om natta og en mislykka forfatter om dagen om alle ideene han har til forskjellige bøker han ønsker å skrive.
Taxi-sjåføren Lars dukker opp igjen i et par av de andre novellene, akkurat som Lars treffer folk fra de andre novellene i sin verden. Det er en lek med rammene for litteratur som ikke ligner mye annen litteratur jeg har lest. Kanskje en Jorge Luis Borges lite?
Novella Bot minner meg om The Constant Gardner av John le Carre, også fiksjonslitteratur med kritikk av kapitalismen som nav, men er mye mer leken og stiller også en annen appetitt jeg har, den med fiksjonens muligheter. Hvem er skribenten? Hvem er død? Hva vil skje med oss hvis vi velger den røde pilla i stedet for den blå, eller rett og slett slutter med piller?
Er det tilfeldig at den småkriminelle sannhetsfortelleren Greger i den første novella Framgång Greger heter det samme som Ibsens største idealist? Jeg tror ikke det. Dette er et tett drama i et lukket rom, på alle måter på en scene.
Språket til Ia Genberg er så presist, så effektivt at det av og til kan mangle litt hjerte - som en annen her på GR sa det. Hun er journalist, og det merkes. Som journalist slår hun til med setninger som:
Boka er mer en kampskrift enn bøker vanligvis er. Det fins forfattere som skriver mye om ulikhet og som skjuler det mye bedre enn Ia Genberg gjør. Jeg tror ikke dette er en bok for alle, og jeg er egentlig litt overraska over at den befinner seg på Booker Internationals langliste. Det er et politisk manifest, det nærmer seg sakprosa, faktisk vil jeg si at novellen Förlorarens klaustrofobi er sakprosa.
Og hadde det ikke vært for den, som egentlig er oppsummert så mye bedre i videoene i Barry's Economics på YouTube så ville jeg gitt boka 5 stjerne. Nå får boka bare 4,99 i stedet.
Fantastisk bok, anbefales alle som er interessert i samtiden. Og jeg skal ut å finne flere bøker av denne forfatteren.
Noen perioder leser jeg mengder av bøker og det er sjeldent jeg kommer over de virkelig store skattene. Men her fant jeg en skatt i skogen av ny litteratur. Økonomisk litteratur er en sjelden greie, eller for å si det på en annen måte, fiksjon med ulikhets-økonomi i dagens kapitalistiske samfunn er veldig sjeldent. Og det på tross av:
Det är ju inte berättelserna som är grejen, utan perspektivet.Sist gang jeg leste det var i fjor, The Trading Game: A Confession av Gary Stevenson.
Boka består av fem noveller, og bokas tittel henviser til den siste - som var den første jeg leste. Jeg tror jeg kunne ha skrevet en avhandling om den. Ikke fordi den er komplisert, men fordi det er så mange lag, så mye meta, så mange innfallsvinkler og så mye virkelighet. Novella starter med
Jeg heter Larsog når den er over er det én ting man kan være sikker på, dette er ikke Lars.
Gjennom hele novella forteller Lars, som er taxi-sjåfør om natta og en mislykka forfatter om dagen om alle ideene han har til forskjellige bøker han ønsker å skrive.
Taxi-sjåføren Lars dukker opp igjen i et par av de andre novellene, akkurat som Lars treffer folk fra de andre novellene i sin verden. Det er en lek med rammene for litteratur som ikke ligner mye annen litteratur jeg har lest. Kanskje en Jorge Luis Borges lite?
Novella Bot minner meg om The Constant Gardner av John le Carre, også fiksjonslitteratur med kritikk av kapitalismen som nav, men er mye mer leken og stiller også en annen appetitt jeg har, den med fiksjonens muligheter. Hvem er skribenten? Hvem er død? Hva vil skje med oss hvis vi velger den røde pilla i stedet for den blå, eller rett og slett slutter med piller?
Er det tilfeldig at den småkriminelle sannhetsfortelleren Greger i den første novella Framgång Greger heter det samme som Ibsens største idealist? Jeg tror ikke det. Dette er et tett drama i et lukket rom, på alle måter på en scene.
Språket til Ia Genberg er så presist, så effektivt at det av og til kan mangle litt hjerte - som en annen her på GR sa det. Hun er journalist, og det merkes. Som journalist slår hun til med setninger som:
... glest som en mening utan verb.Hun får meg til å føle meg smart. Generelt kan jeg aldri få nok av forfattere som får meg til å føle meg smart.
Boka er mer en kampskrift enn bøker vanligvis er. Det fins forfattere som skriver mye om ulikhet og som skjuler det mye bedre enn Ia Genberg gjør. Jeg tror ikke dette er en bok for alle, og jeg er egentlig litt overraska over at den befinner seg på Booker Internationals langliste. Det er et politisk manifest, det nærmer seg sakprosa, faktisk vil jeg si at novellen Förlorarens klaustrofobi er sakprosa.
Og hadde det ikke vært for den, som egentlig er oppsummert så mye bedre i videoene i Barry's Economics på YouTube så ville jeg gitt boka 5 stjerne. Nå får boka bare 4,99 i stedet.
Fantastisk bok, anbefales alle som er interessert i samtiden. Og jeg skal ut å finne flere bøker av denne forfatteren.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
A quintet of eclectic style that resembles a watercolour series where ideas and themes bleed across each piece. The fourth story, ‘The Loser’s Claustrophobia’, serves as the primary pigment. It is here that I realised the main idea of the book and how it informs the rest of the work. To quote it:
‘Many scientists research poverty, but there are surprisingly few contemporary studies on wealthy people. Other than statistical facts about lifestyle habits and consumption patterns, there is little formation about this group's social behaviour and their attitudes to the world. Perhaps this study of temporarily wealthy people's behaviour and attitudes can serve as the basis for a future study of the chronically wealthy, with a focus on concepts like 'fairness', 'deserved success' and 'self-made luck.'
If it rings academia-speak, it’s because the fourth story is presented to us as a research log from a study that uses a rigged Monopoly game, to look at how our behaviour changes when we are in possession of temporary wealth. I found the methodology and the result write-up so convincing and interesting that I’d to look it up (and yes, there was an original work by a UC Berkley team on this).
Across these stories, we glimpse real-world microcosms where such interaction between 'the winner' and 'the loser' plays out. It questions our reaction not only in possession of wealth but also in the proximity to it, how the situations we found ourselves in, luck, and our ideas of justice shape our perception of what we 'deserved', what happens when conscience win, and ethics and moral factor in, what about when love and wealth are so closely linked; does falling in love means falling for the wealth? What happens when the love is gone, but the game has not yet ended and you keep throwing the Monopoly dice because you’re so confident in the promise of another round, certain that this time you’ll win.
I have so much love for the craft and its thought-provoking nature. I hope this finds its readers if you enjoy modern commentary with a touch of economic, or simply something a little different.
Many thanks to NetGalley & Headline Publishing Group for the digital ARC.
‘Many scientists research poverty, but there are surprisingly few contemporary studies on wealthy people. Other than statistical facts about lifestyle habits and consumption patterns, there is little formation about this group's social behaviour and their attitudes to the world. Perhaps this study of temporarily wealthy people's behaviour and attitudes can serve as the basis for a future study of the chronically wealthy, with a focus on concepts like 'fairness', 'deserved success' and 'self-made luck.'
If it rings academia-speak, it’s because the fourth story is presented to us as a research log from a study that uses a rigged Monopoly game, to look at how our behaviour changes when we are in possession of temporary wealth. I found the methodology and the result write-up so convincing and interesting that I’d to look it up (and yes, there was an original work by a UC Berkley team on this).
Across these stories, we glimpse real-world microcosms where such interaction between 'the winner' and 'the loser' plays out. It questions our reaction not only in possession of wealth but also in the proximity to it, how the situations we found ourselves in, luck, and our ideas of justice shape our perception of what we 'deserved', what happens when conscience win, and ethics and moral factor in, what about when love and wealth are so closely linked; does falling in love means falling for the wealth? What happens when the love is gone, but the game has not yet ended and you keep throwing the Monopoly dice because you’re so confident in the promise of another round, certain that this time you’ll win.
I have so much love for the craft and its thought-provoking nature. I hope this finds its readers if you enjoy modern commentary with a touch of economic, or simply something a little different.
Many thanks to NetGalley & Headline Publishing Group for the digital ARC.
March 17, 2026
“It would only be fair - that’s how I felt. I basically thought it was my right, that it would be my turn. That it wasn’t even a question.”
Small Comfort is a collection of short stories primarily about money and how it affects people and their lives and relationships.
'Success Greger' is an interview transcript in which a reporter (called Ia Genberg) interviews an ex-child actor for a piece she is working on. The ex-child actor barely engages with her questions, preferring to wax lyrical about his life philosophies and make assumptions about Genberg.
'Penance' is an anonymous report on the disappearance of someone who works for a big, corrupt pharmaceutical company.
In 'Speech at a Wedding', we are reading the speech an actress is hired to give at a wedding, on behalf of someone who wasn't actually invited.
'The Loser's Claustrophobia' is primarily a research write-up looking at what participants interpret about themselves and each other based on the outcomes of an obviously rigged game of Monopoly.
And finally in the title story, 'Small Comfort', each year a divorced couple pretend that they are still married on a family holiday so that the wife will not lose her inheritance.
I loved all of these ideas but the execution varied. In 'Penance' and 'The Loser's Claustrophobia' especially, I felt that the format made the content less interesting than it would have been simply told as an ordinary narrative story. I also think that all of the stories could have done with some editing down - the same ideas conveyed more concisely would have packed a much greater punch.
Also, these are pitched as 'linked' short stories and while they technically are, most of the links are very subtle and not necessary - because these are marketed as 'linked', I was expecting them to tie up in some way and feel like a more cohesive narrative, and this limited my enjoyment of the book because I was just expecting something slightly different. I would strongly recommend going in thinking of these as five distinct stories, as I think they each stand stronger on their own.
Overall though, this was a good collection - it held my interest, the prose was smooth and easy-to-read, and it contained lots of food for thought.
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International Booker Prize 2026 review 4 of 13
Small Comfort is a collection of short stories primarily about money and how it affects people and their lives and relationships.
'Success Greger' is an interview transcript in which a reporter (called Ia Genberg) interviews an ex-child actor for a piece she is working on. The ex-child actor barely engages with her questions, preferring to wax lyrical about his life philosophies and make assumptions about Genberg.
'Penance' is an anonymous report on the disappearance of someone who works for a big, corrupt pharmaceutical company.
In 'Speech at a Wedding', we are reading the speech an actress is hired to give at a wedding, on behalf of someone who wasn't actually invited.
'The Loser's Claustrophobia' is primarily a research write-up looking at what participants interpret about themselves and each other based on the outcomes of an obviously rigged game of Monopoly.
And finally in the title story, 'Small Comfort', each year a divorced couple pretend that they are still married on a family holiday so that the wife will not lose her inheritance.
I loved all of these ideas but the execution varied. In 'Penance' and 'The Loser's Claustrophobia' especially, I felt that the format made the content less interesting than it would have been simply told as an ordinary narrative story. I also think that all of the stories could have done with some editing down - the same ideas conveyed more concisely would have packed a much greater punch.
Also, these are pitched as 'linked' short stories and while they technically are, most of the links are very subtle and not necessary - because these are marketed as 'linked', I was expecting them to tie up in some way and feel like a more cohesive narrative, and this limited my enjoyment of the book because I was just expecting something slightly different. I would strongly recommend going in thinking of these as five distinct stories, as I think they each stand stronger on their own.
Overall though, this was a good collection - it held my interest, the prose was smooth and easy-to-read, and it contained lots of food for thought.
---
International Booker Prize 2026 review 4 of 13
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Small Comfort is a sharp, clever collection of short stories that orbit the theme of money—financial, emotional, and social debt—and the quiet, often uncomfortable ways it shapes lives and relationships.
The narratives initially appear separate but gradually reveal subtle connections between characters and situations, creating the sense that these lives are overlapping in the background. One story follows a journalist interviewing a washed-up former child star now infamous for petty crime and bad decisions, exposing the painful gap between past fame and present reality. Another tracks a researcher studying inequality through a board-game experiment, only for his own personal life to blur the lines of his work. A darker piece examines a pharmaceutical employee grappling with a colleague’s death and the corporate culture that enabled it, while a more humorous tale features an actor hired to deliver a speech at a stranger’s wedding, turning into a meditation on performance and the roles we play. One of the most affecting stories centers on a separated couple pretending to still be happily married to secure an inheritance, forcing them to confront their tangled history.
Genberg’s prose is precise, observational, and often satirical, peeling back layers to reveal the small lies, bullshit talk, and quiet compromises people make to navigate debt in all its forms. The writing is intelligent and quietly incisive, though some stories can feel more like mini-studies or abstract sketches than fully fleshed-out narratives, occasionally leaving a sense of distance or a desire for more closure.
Still, this is an intelligent, thought-provoking collection that lingers, underscoring how deeply money and human relationships are intertwined—often more messily than we care to admit. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy sharp social commentary served with ice-cold wit.
Many thanks to Headline and NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book in return for an honest review
The narratives initially appear separate but gradually reveal subtle connections between characters and situations, creating the sense that these lives are overlapping in the background. One story follows a journalist interviewing a washed-up former child star now infamous for petty crime and bad decisions, exposing the painful gap between past fame and present reality. Another tracks a researcher studying inequality through a board-game experiment, only for his own personal life to blur the lines of his work. A darker piece examines a pharmaceutical employee grappling with a colleague’s death and the corporate culture that enabled it, while a more humorous tale features an actor hired to deliver a speech at a stranger’s wedding, turning into a meditation on performance and the roles we play. One of the most affecting stories centers on a separated couple pretending to still be happily married to secure an inheritance, forcing them to confront their tangled history.
Genberg’s prose is precise, observational, and often satirical, peeling back layers to reveal the small lies, bullshit talk, and quiet compromises people make to navigate debt in all its forms. The writing is intelligent and quietly incisive, though some stories can feel more like mini-studies or abstract sketches than fully fleshed-out narratives, occasionally leaving a sense of distance or a desire for more closure.
Still, this is an intelligent, thought-provoking collection that lingers, underscoring how deeply money and human relationships are intertwined—often more messily than we care to admit. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy sharp social commentary served with ice-cold wit.
Many thanks to Headline and NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book in return for an honest review
March 17, 2026
🇸🇪 International Booker #4: A solid collection of often funny stories revolving around the different ways money shapes our lives and ways of living. Some worked a lot better than others, which is part of the reason I’m not always a fan of short story collections (the inconsistency). The ones that did work were very enjoyable, and I especially liked the way Genberg writes dialogue and her eclectic cast of characters.
That being said, it was fun to read, but I’m not entirely sure why this was longlisted. Genberg touches on ideas like class consciousness and the myth of meritocracy well enough, but her commentary on money unfortunately isn’t particularly interesting- felt like the main takeaway was just “money affects people”? All ended up feeling a little safe and Scandinavian.
That being said, it was fun to read, but I’m not entirely sure why this was longlisted. Genberg touches on ideas like class consciousness and the myth of meritocracy well enough, but her commentary on money unfortunately isn’t particularly interesting- felt like the main takeaway was just “money affects people”? All ended up feeling a little safe and Scandinavian.
May 1, 2023
Noveller, som alla behandlar temat pengar och alla är skrivna på olika sätt, de flesta lite udda former. En inspelad intervju som inte riktigt går som den ska, en forskningsrapport med fria anteckningar, ett brev till en minister, ett tal vid ett bröllop (hållet av en skådespelare). På många sätt leker novellerna med perspektivet och vad som är ett narrativ, och ibland känns det lite avkapat för snabbt, men i regel får vi en tydlig berättelse trots formen. Temat är också intressant, det blir en absurd bild av hur vi människor beter oss kring och ser på pengar.
October 24, 2023
Fem noveller sägs det men de går in i varandra och hör ihop även om de går att läsa fristående. Lite segt i början, intelligent javisst men lite småtråkigt. Men det tar sig, de två sista novellerna är genialiska både till innehåll och stil. Beskrivningarna av äktenskapet som ekonomi är otroligt roliga och snyggt skrivna.
December 4, 2023
Det känns snålt av mig att ge boken en trea, för det är väldigt tydligt att här finns en begåvad författare med snyggt finlir i språk och människokännedom. Men samtidigt har den tagit tid och känslan är att jag under långa passager har "harvat på" för att komma vidare. Så subjektivt fick det bli det betyget.
June 29, 2023
Hon är skicklig! Har bestämt mig för att läsa allt av Ia Genberg. Med detta sagt så är noveller inte min favorit genre - vill alltid ha mer av en historia. Boken har jämförts med Didions noveller och jag förstår varför. Kan rek ffa till en novellälskare.
January 18, 2025
It was probably my lack of focus rather then the book, but it took me ages to finish. Beautiful character portraits that really stick with you, but the stories they're in lack progression and storytelling.
May 1, 2023
Skriven med huvudet. Inte med hjärtat. För mycket form, för lite innehåll.
May 6, 2025
nja, ett intelligent försök men jag vet inte jag
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