Den åbne dør

by Anders Bodelsen

I 1954 samles en gruppe unge mennesker i Sverige for at overvære en total solformørkelse. På turen forsvinder den omsværmede Frida, sporløst, for aldrig mere at dukke op igen. En anden af turens deltagere, Allan, beslutter fyrre år efter at opklare mysteriet.

Genres: Danish

104 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just reread again again. Used it in my High School teaching. Unlike so much else I have used, I really liked this one. So much atmosphere and splendid characterization. Don’t get the low ratings here on Goodreads.

[Agnieszka · Rating 3 out of 5]

In summer 1954 small group of Danish friends went to Swedish Småland to observe the last total eclipse of the Sun in that century in Scandinavia. Organizer of the venture was the youngest of them, fascinated by astronomy Allan. Among the rest of participants were: his brother’s girlfriend Ulla, her sister Frida, lovers of the last one. In total twelve persons. The trip has ended tragically. Frida had disappeared without a trace. Neither she nor her body was ever found. And now, after forty two years Allan is writing to all participants of past events with request for theirs reminiscences. He’s going to solve the mystery and symbolically close the doors. As he says, all his life he had a feeling of something inexplicable and unfinished, as if he was sitting in the room and someone has gone without closing the doors.

Allan gets nine letters in which everyone’s depicturing how remembered Frida and these three days in June of 1954. Yes, memory plays tricks on us. We see the same events from different points of view. We don’t learn of what kind of person Frida really was or what happened. Was she beauty, wise, modest or just the opposite, calculating floosie ? Was she lonely girl, emotionally unstable, lasting in toxic relationship? Maybe she was tired of life or maybe wanted the new start ? Murder, suicide, escape? What’s happened to Frida? Our self-taught astronomer is depicturing all of them comparing to solar system, with Frida of course being the Sun, the closest to her were planets and others were the moons.

Wait a moment, did I say twelve persons? Let’s count:Allan, Frida and nine persons who sent the letters. It makes eleven. And there are eleven persons on the photography from these days as well. So,who was the twelfth person?

It’s a slim novella, only eighty pages written in the form of letters. It’s not a classic thriller, rather psychological story with mystery in the background. And unluckily for its author was written before the boom for Scandinavian thrillers has began.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this one and am a little surprised at the low ratings. It has a great premise: in June 1954, a group of young people travel from Denmark to Sweden to view a total solar eclipse. One of them disappears without a trace. Now, 42 years later, one of them has been haunted by these events his whole life and tries to get to the bottom of the mystery by writing letters to everyone who was on the trip, asking for their recollections. Through the twelve letters, a nuanced and complex picture of the missing girl and the events leading up to her disappearance emerges. A slim, haunting book that's hard to put down.

[Ida Sofie Marstrand Mechlenborg Bang Ohlsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a nice book.
No masterpiece, but it makes you think and I found myself wanting to just finish another chapter, when I put the book down

Its biggest strength, (and where its charm lies), is definitely within the characters, which are all both interesting, endearing, relatable and mostly realistic, perhaps with the exception of one.

Overall, I can definitely recommend that you read this, whether or not you like crime books.
Its probably not going to change your entire worldview, but it is definitely enjoyable and engaging.

[Lars Dradrach · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I read a multiple of Bodelsen’s books in my teens and enjoyed them very much, so this late for me unknown story was a nice return to that period and to my native language.

The story is some kind of murder mystery, but also a clear characterisation of a group of people from the mid fifties Denmark, told with Bodelsen’s sure hand and well known prose.

But surprisingly it’s also a very elegant play with a fixed concept, where the whole story is told by letters told in a specific order.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Især stærk i den indirekte persontegning

[Stig Kjær · Rating 5 out of 5]

Denne gåde fangede mig med det samme. Opbygningen som breve fungere godt. Og ja hvem har så egentligt gjort det?

[Hjalte Odin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bare nice quick read, fungerede ret godt med brevform >:)

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ikke en bog, jeg selv ville have valgt at læse, men jeg fik den stukket i hånden af min dansklærer og blev derfor tvunget til det. Jeg er dog glad for, jeg læste den. Det er en spændende (og utraditionel) krimi, som er svær at lægge fra sig, når man først er kommet i gang. En vaskeægte pageturner, hvor man ikke kan lade være med at vende næste side for at læse endnu et vidnesbyrd. Selv bladrede jeg frem og tilbage mellem brevene for at sammenholde de tilstedeværendes udsagn og se, om de er troværdige; om det, de skriver, stemmer overens med den måde, de andre udlægger det på.
Efterhånden går det op for læseren, at der er huller i flere af de medvirkendes fortællinger. Læseren kommer derved også selv på prøve og skal prøve at få puslespillet til at gå op.

[Henni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alternativt opstillet bog, med et kapitel (Brev) fra hver deltager på turen til Sverige, hvor den unge Frida forsvinder.
Det er sjovt med de forskellige vinkler på personen Frida, der afspejler de forskellige deltager her 42 år efter.
Absolut værd at læse, men der skal nok gå så lang tid imellem så man glemmer plottet, ellers kunne den godt blive små-kedelig.

[Miriam Brickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,75
Jeg elskede den indtil afslutningen