When Me And God Were Little

by Mads Nygaard

Seven-year-old Karl Gustav is sent away to live with his grandma following the death of his big brother, Alexander. No one understands how Alexander, an excellent swimmer, washed up on a North Sea beach near the harbor of Hirtshals in Denmark.

Karl Gustav is left bewildered and at a loss. While everyone around him shies away from talking about the tragedy, he becomes increasingly concerned about death―not just of his big brother, but death in general. Like Chinese boxes opening one into another, Karl Gustav reveals all he knows about the tragedy and all he wishes he did not know, how his grandmother’s God fits into it―and how he does. But will he ever open his mouth and speak up?

262 pages, Paperback

First published February 3, 2022

About the author

Indstillet til Nobels Fredspris sammen med Venligboerne

Debut: Koalaens kærlighed.

Forfattere var herrer i egne hurlumhejhuse. Ingen synlige bosser og ingen faste mødetider. Således startede min forelskelse i skriveriet. Jeg anede ikke, hvad jeg skulle skrive om, men så længe chefer og tid forblev abstrakte, var jeg glad for min nye profession.
Jeg begyndte at sende stof til alverdens aviser, blade, magasiner og forlag og endte med at have to fjerne arbejdsgivere, nemlig Ugens Rapport og Ugebladet Hjemmet. I det ene skrev jeg grå sider, der for himlens og puberteternes skyld skulle være stærkt pornografiske og helst blottede for plot. I det andet skrev jeg dyrenoveller, små skitser fortalt gennem øjnene på hunden Pippi og katten Pjuske. Her var eneste krav, at dyrene skulle være sjældent artige og i fuldkommen strid med deres natur. Både hund og kat kom til forveksling til at minde om Ghandi, men Hjemmet var lykkelige.

Forlagene var straks sværere at overbevise. Der var mange kroppe og dyr i mine første romaner. De blev alle pure afvist med mange ønsker om ikke at have ødelagt min dag. Der fandtes altså anden ondskab end kyniske bosser med ur på. Mit samlebåndsskriveri havde imidlertid en skøn sidegevinst. Jeg opdagede, hvor glad et skrivebord, kaffekop, askebæger og blanke sider i skøn forening gjorde mig. Jeg slappede vidunderligt af med dansende fingre.

Efter seks års træning kom min debutroman til verden. Jeg græd gevaldigt, da en kvindestemme gennem tragten sagde, at mit arbejde ikke havde været spildt. Siden er det gået glimrende. Jeg sælger absolut ingen bøger, men jeg har en blind læser i Borre, og det ekstraordinært gode ved ham er, at han ved hver eneste udgivelse ringer til Det Danske Blindebibliotek og beordrer mine værker indtalt på bånd. Manden i Borre er en drømmelæser, og så længe han fortsat ringer hvert andet år og siger, at han godt kunne lide min nye roman, skal jeg ikke kræve mere.

Mads Nygaard deltog i 2005 i Viborg Bibliotekernes projekt De Fantastiske 20 og efteråret 2006 i DR's projekt: Fantastiske fortællinger

Inspiration
Jeg bryder mig ikke om transport og har ikke set én eneste turistattraktion i hele mit liv. Til gengæld går jeg vældigt op i, hvilken livret min nabo elsker. Og hvorfor han måske en dag tisser to gange i sin have i stedet for den vante ene gang.
Jeg er en nærsynet forfatter, der altid har kigget forfjamsket ned i jorden, når folk snakker om det store billede. Jeg synes, det er fint at gå i små sko, så længe snørrebåndene slasker løst omkring og et fald sagtens kan være lige om hjørnet. Menneskets ustandselige evne til at begå fejl og slå sig er mit brændstof.

Jeg elsker Chaplin og Keaton. Og samme graciøse talent for snublen og uheld finder jeg også hos Isaac Bashevis Singer, en forfatter jeg inderligt gerne ville dele bananskræl og fortov med. Han er desværre fløjet til himmels, men det skulle ikke undre mig, om han en dag falder ned i min urtehave. Indtil da vil jeg skrive videre og spinkelt håbe, jeg en dag når den kære Singer til højre fløj af hans ene lilletå.

Biografien er udarbejdet af Mads Nygaard

Reviews

[Jeanine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been thinking about how I would rate this book and since it’s not one I loved, I did enjoy it and gave it a 4. We read it as part of our book club. I hadn’t finished it by the time we met and it is the first book where there were a lot of differing opinions. I found the book funny and traumatic all at the same time. I wondered if the boy was on the spectrum, but nothing anyone read indicated such. I loved his innocence and how he described what he thought and experienced in a way we wouldn’t consider ‘normal’. I rated it a 4 because I ‘had to finish it’ based on the various opinions at book club and what people who had finished it took away from it. After finishing, my perspective is another variation from those in my club. If you have some time and want to experience something different, I’d recommend giving it a chance. It’s not a large read, so won’t take a ton of time.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story of a boy from young childhood to teenager as a translation from Danish. It combines some of the inventive language and metaphor of modern Irish novels with the exaggerated swagger of playground second graders, with overheard and misunderstood adult conversations, with a child's imaginative mythology used to understand a bewildering world. The story is fairly simple, yet complex in the way it develops. Young Karl Gustav's older brother was drowned in the North Sea, Karl loves playing soccer with a friend who was adopted from Africa by a Danish family, Karl's father was involved in some kind of shady business and spends time in prison, Karl's family has to move and he loses his friend as a result of his father's crime, Karl is a very poor and rebellious student, Karl matures and comes to love girls, and he becomes his father's assistant in the building trades. There are several well-nicknamed co-workers and helpful friends of his father. This is mainly a father-son story, although Karls' mother is loving and loves her husband. There is humor and touching tragedy. The tragedy of Alexander's death comes in nightmares and is finally faced in reality when Karl leaves childhood behind.

[Lanie Tankard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's my review from THE WOVEN TALE PRESS:

https://www.thewoventalepress.net/202...

[Lavanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This read was a little chunky, but you can feel the icy water winds on you from Denmark when you read it. Its a beautiful story, of coming of age, of loss, of dealing with death and moving places. Makes me want to read more translations from other countries. Love this book and would like to read it again sometime.