The Marvelous Misadventures of Ingrid Winter

Ingrid Winter #1

by Janne S. Drangsholt

Ingrid Winter is desperately trying to hold it all together. A neurotic Norwegian mother of three small children and an overworked literature professor with an overactive imagination, Ingrid feels like her life’s always on the brink of chaos.

Her overzealous attempt to secure her dream house has strained her marriage. She’s repeatedly reprimanded for eye rolling in faculty meetings. Petulant PTA parents want to drag her into a war over teaching children to tie their shoes. And an alarmingly persistent salesman keeps warning her of the potential dangers of home intrusion.

Clearly she needs to get away. But Russia? Forced to join an academic mission to Saint Petersburg to promote international cooperation, Ingrid finds herself at a crossroads while drinking too much cough syrup. Will this trip push her into a Siberian sinkhole of existential dread or finally give her life some balance and direction?

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Novels, Book Club, Audiobook

217 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Janne Stigen Drangsholt er en norsk forfatter. Hun debuterte med romanen Humlefangeren i 2011.

Drangsholt bor og arbeider som litteraturforsker i Stavanger, der hun er førsteamanuensis ved Institutt for kultur- og språkvitenskap ved Universitetet i Stavanger.
Drangsholt er dr.art. fra Universitetet i Bergen med en avhandling om den britiske forfatteren Ted Hughes.

Reviews

[Always Pouting · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book because I'm shallow and I saw the cover and I'm like this is going to be totally great and then it's title was The Marvelous Misadventures of Ingrid Winter and so I assumed that it would be something exciting or funny. The book wasn't really exciting at all because the whole plot line seems to be about them moving and doing work things and dealing with kids. Like there was barely a plot line and it was all kind of messy and didn't come together. Also I found the writing to feel awkward but apparently it's translated so maybe it just doesn't work as well in english? I liked the characters though but yeah there's like nothing to the plot itself.

[Bookphile · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm...not entirely sure what I just read. Maybe Ingrid's cough syrup fumes wafted out to me?

[Megan Gattone · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was slow and hard to follow. I honestly didn't understand most of what was going on in this book.

[Whistler's Mom · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you don't fall in love with Ingrid, maybe YOU are neurotic.

I don't know who wrote this book description, but I wish to lodge a vigorous protest against the use of the word "neurotic" to describe the heroine - Ingrid Winter. She's flaky, a raging hypochondriac, lacks a backbone, and has seen WAY too many sci-fi movies, but she's not neurotic. She is, however, surrounded by neurotics. Aren't we all?

This is one of those books where you start out wondering why the wife doesn't kill her humorless, over-bearing husband. Then you switch to wondering why the husband doesn't kill his spacey, irresponsible wife. Then you realize that marriage to each other beats a relationship with anyone else they know. It appears that Norway has a preponderance of both good-looking blondes and crazy people.

It helps that Ingrid is on the faculty at a local university. Sadly, higher education attracts some real nutters. Ingrid's work-enemy Ingvill is the poster-girl for Raging Neurotics. The thoroughly demented Ingvill has the worst case of Borderline Personality Syndrome I've seen in a long time. Typically, she's cordially hated by her colleagues, but tolerated since she's only slightly loonier than they are. We ALL know an Ingvill and you can consider yourself lucky if you're not related to one.

Being a parent of three young children exposes our heroine to even more lunacy. When did parenting cease to be a normal, everyday activity and become a competitive sport? Poor Ingrid is determined to be a great Mom, but her confidence is constantly undermined by the frenetic parents around her, not to mention the teachers who seek their revenge against unreasonable parents by upping the ante at every opportunity. Does your child's school/sports/recreational schedule leave you only five hours to sleep at night? Too much! Better add another activity or your poor darling will be short-changed and YOU will be a LOUSY PARENT.

As if her fellow Norwegians aren't giving her enough hell, Ingrid is coerced into making a trip to St. Petersburg, Russia to negotiate one of those international cooperation deals so trendy with universities now. Russia is even colder than Norway and the WIFI is iffy and the food's bad and they're surrounded by a shifting cast of menacing people. KGB or nervous academics clawing to stay afloat in their profession? Which is more dangerous?

The humor in this book is delightful. I lost count of how many times I laughed out loud. This author has a great talent for describing appearances and how they relate to her characters' personalities. Beauty may be only skin deep, but let's face it, you can frequently judge a book by its cover.

Of course, there are cultural differences. In lamenting her slide into semi-grungy motherhood, Ingrid admits that she hasn't shaved her legs or armpits in a month. Mothers everywhere can relate to the fact that a Mom doesn't have time to lavish on her looks. However, an American mother might neglect her family, friends, health, job or give up paying bills or eating. But she ALWAYS shaves.

I thought it was odd that Ingrid's life seems to have started with marriage and becoming a mother. Through most of the book, we hear nothing of her family other than one story about getting drunk on vodka at an in-law's house. Right at the end of the book, when Ingrid is processing what her Russian escapades have shown her about herself, the author hints at childhood tragedies. What they are isn't made clear, which makes me wonder if this book is the first in a series. If it is, I'll be reading the next one as soon as it's available. As flaky as Ingrid is, she's a sympathetic and endearing woman. I'd love to know how her life goes on.

PS If your e-reader isn't equipped with a dictionary, you need to look up "replicant" before you read this book. Unless you're a sci-fi fan. In which case, forget I said anything. Really. I apologize. And I'm NOT a replicant.

[l myers · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst books I've ever read!!!!!

This is one of the dumbest books I have ever read. It wasn't the least bit funny. I honestly couldn't figure out what the point of the story was. It only cover the day to day life of a neurotic woman rearing a family and juggling a job. It is set in Norway so some things make no sense to Americans.
Save your time and money on this book. It is a giant waste!!!!!

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a stressed mom-of-three who is also "desperately trying to hold it all together" I thought reading a book about another one would be comforting, solidarity-style. That was a poor choice. Remind me that books about people who are stressed just make me stressed.

Beyond that, the last 40% of this book was nonsensical. I'm thinking a lot was lost in translation and cultural differences? Ingrid was supposed to be neurotic, not psychotic. And, FYI, finally selling your house does not cure metal illness. Nor does being drunk cause it.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Marvelous Misadventures of Ingrid Winter by J.S. Drangsholt is a cautionary tale regarding the tragic consequences of spending an excessive amount of one’s life obsessing over a single subject paired with the concomitant failure to develop basic social skills followed by the systematic institutionalization of said persons and then gleefully watching the resulting carnage like some sort of malevolent deity. Or to repeat myself, a story about university faculty. Our heroine is Ingrid Winter who despite her scattered and whimsical thought processes manages to find herself as the most rational of all her academic colleagues, but only by the thinnest of margins. Her department finds itself in the midst of an reorganization by the villainous administration and responds with the refined thought and mental clarity possessed by those who have achieved employment in higher education only could. With complete and utter anarchy, discord and rebellion. The story follows her perilous journey to Russia to save herself from reassignment to a dreaded new department and a number of other fabulously poor life choices that result from her magnificent intellect. This is a fantastic read for anyone with friends or associates in higher education, or just the possession of a plain morbid curiosity, who wants to experience the inner happenings of life in the ivory tower

[Rowan Greene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my free Kindle Prime read and I'm so glad I picked it! Home.Run. Best book I've read in a while.

Ingrid is slightly neurotic and extremely passive with a knack for getting herself into some sticky and/or awkward situations. The premise was unique and well developed. The pacing was perfect and the dialogue is the best I've read in a long time--snappy, witty, and perfectly executed. The characters are all well-developed as well and they leap from the page. Her colleagues--especially the Department Chair, Peter and Invgill--are all total nightmares and it was comical navigating the workplace with her for that very reason. We all have a Peter and an Ingvill in our own offices and can relate. The Russia trip was also priceless, especially the unexpected outcome and the parallels between Ingrid's group and their Russian counterparts. (Tip: don't drink Russian cough syrup.)

The author gets major points for weaving in a number of Blade Runner references. Voight-Kampff!

This is a very enjoyable, light read and I highly recommend it. I'll be looking for more books by this author for sure.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this. Ingrid is very easy to sympathize with even with all of her faults. Maybe it's because I am the same age as Ingrid that I identified with the character. However, I don't have one kid let alone three so reading about her juggling family life with multiple children and two working parents just gave me a bit of anxiety. It's no wonder Ingrid is so neurotic.

All in all a great read that was wrapped up very nicely.

Fans of Where'd You Go, Bernadette or The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old or The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared would enjoy this.

[Lise Forfang Grimnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fornøyelig! Løper videre til neste.

[Janne Merete · Rating 2 out of 5]

Satt igjen med samme følelsen etter denne som med Shopoholiker-serien til Sophie Kinsella. Morsom i begynnelsen, og man er litt sjarmert, men så begynner hovedpersonen å irritere deg, og gjør dummere og dummere ting, og alt blir veldig teit og du går lei av hele greia. Det eneste som redder den inn til to stjerner er at den er litt morsom i begynnelsen. Ja, og at det tar kun en times tid å lese den, så du kaster ikke bort for mye tid.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Marvelous Misadventures of Ingrid Winter, by J. S. Drangsholt, was written in Norwegian and translated charmingly into English. It is another in the long line of university-set fiction – are they all set in literature departments? It offers a twist. This is the first (that I remember) to address issues of retrenchment or, in the more interesting (and accurate) British descriptor, redundancy.

There are other twists on this old story. The narrator, Ingrid Winter, is the mother of three young daughters and is constantly attempting to balance these two challenging jobs, frequently failing at both. She is intensely neurotic and hypochondriacal. Her hands and feet tingle; she faints, vomits, and feels feverish. She is self-absorbed, but avoids problems, partially by talking too much.

Because I was scared. Scared of the past, of the future, of the other people, that love would end, that I would be alone, that death was something dreadful, and that I would never, ever, ever have a home (Loc. 2540).

This, then, is a story of universities and the fighting and in-fighting often found there, apparently not only in the US. (Henry Kissinger famously said, "University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.") More than that, though, this is a story of facing one's demons and coming out on the other side.

This is a goofy narrator and book, but it doesn't feel dumb. It feels, instead, like it uncovers a deeper Truth and does so while leaving you laughing at and with Ingrid – while laughing at and with yourself.

[Francesca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Under overfladen, er denne romanen verken "chick lit" eller en lettlest humoristisk roman, men heller et surrealistisk grep på hvordan det føles å spasere litt for nær kanten til det indre mørket. Humoren er absurd og selvironisk, men med en kant av bitterhet som gjør at den nesten føles for ekte. Janne Drangsholdt avslører hvordan noen mennesker, uansett hvor vellykket de er, alltid lever kun ett skritt unna selvødeleggelse; og lar oss se vår egen nevrotisisme og angst i hvitøyet, med en endelig lovnad om at alt vil, faktisk, enten gå bra eller over.

Beneath the surface, this novel is neither "chick lit" nor an easy-to-read comedy, but rather a surrealistic take on what it feels like to take a stroll a little too close to the edge of one's inner darkness. The sense of humor is absurd and self-deprecating, but with an edge of bitterness that makes it feel almost too real. Janne Drangsholdt reveals how some people, no matter how successful they are, always live just one step away from self-destruction; and allows us to look our own neuroticism and anxiety in the eye, with a final promise that everything will, in fact, either go well or go away.

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

LOST IN TRANSLATION

I really don't know what to make of this book, the author, the plot, the characters or the translation. I'm not stupid, so I don't think that I've missed the point of the book (although I might have done) and can only assume its the translation.

I've read Scandinavian literature before - Stig Larsson, Jo Nesbo etc and have always found them a little quirky but readable, I've also read books outside my normal genre before and enjoyed them - Little Coffee Shop in Kabul for example, but this was probably a step too far. To me this was a semi-farcicle tale of a semi-neurotic woman buying a house she can't afford, being weird at work and going on a random trip to Russia where she acted like a complete fool.

Clearly a decent number of people find more in this book that I did, but definitely not one for me.

[Hayley · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Pointless book

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, quirky book. I liked the characters. I am not sure I would have liked it as much if I didn't work in academia. There was a lot of relatable, funny stuff. I loved the main characters honesty about parenthood.

[Pam S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered this book as I was fervently searching for something out of my usual reading wheelhouse of non-fiction, memoir, true crime, and dystopian fiction. It was one of only a handful I saw that intrigued me and I was surprised to see so many lukewarm and negative reviews of this title. I suspect that maybe, as others have mentioned, there is something being lost in translation; a deeper cultural meaning for Scandinavians that American readers may not readily pick up on. That said, I am a great fan of Scandinavian Crime Fiction and I think that having read dozens of books in that genre might have given me a distinct advantage when it came to my enjoyment of this series. I really like the character of Norwegian Ingrid Winter, the English Literature Professor and mother of three who wallows in existential ennui at every possible opportunity. She is labelled as “neurotic;” a designation that may or may not apply, given the day of the week, or even the hour of the day in the life of the character. This is, I believe, actually part of her inherent appeal; her absolute vulnerability to the foibles of being human. Ingrid Winter seems more like an actual person, flaws and all, than a character in a novel, and I think that maybe this is part of her problem. Through clever writing, the author alludes to this here and there throughout the story as well; it is as if Ingrid’s personality, with all its flaws, both real and imagined, is a narrative device to show the reader just how not extraordinary; in fact how normal she really is. I would argue that one major flaw of the translation is the title; many readers have expressed disappointment and even anger at this book not being a “marvelous misadventure” in many (if not most)respects, and I don’t disagree with that assessment on the surface. I do think however, that a closer reading of the text warrants a softer view; that Ingrid Winter is not marvelous in anything other than being ordinary, but it is her interior thoughts that hedge into the fantastic territory (and not always in a good way). Winter’s tendency to catastrophize every minor detail in her (mostly) usual life is what makes her endearing in my eyes. After all, who hasn’t had a bad day, week, or month in which the worst case scenario seems ever looming, only to be displaced by the most wonderful form of ordinary life? In her endless and often misguided quest to live a more “normal” life, Ingrid Winter sometimes encounters the unusual, and this is what ultimately makes her happy.

[Heather Gawiser · Rating 5 out of 5]

After the mixed reviews on this one, I was nervous to start it and had very low expectations; however, this little translated book surprised me in the best ways. I really loved the honesty. I could relate to how Ingrid felt and how frustrating and fast-paced life moves when you're juggling so much. She is a little neurotic but I think she's also meant to be a caricature of a typical stressed out mom. The fact that the author takes the premise of this woman's mom life and is able to blend it with some suspense, surprise twists and drama was another delightfully welcome surprise. I really enjoyed this read and felt heart-warmed at the end of it. I thought the performers on the Audible version did a great job of reading it with feeling that I could relate to.

[Kenneth Aus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Den første halvdelen var morsom og en pagetuner. Boken tar midtveis en vending som ikke er like underholdende som begynnelsen. Forfatteren pirker veldig bra borti de små tingene i hverdagen, som er litt irriterende eller morsomt - noe jeg skulle ønske hun hadde klart å fortsette med videre i boken.

[Marianne Barron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fort gjort, lettlivet og småmorsom, spesielt morsom siden jeg har hatt forfatteren som foreleser på UiS og sett hvor hyper/engasjert/mindfuck'ende (sistnevnte, sitat fra boka) hun kan være under forelesningene. Jepp! Festlig og på kornet!

[Ida · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tja, ikke helt overbevist. Morsom til tider, men samtidig så urealistisk på grensen til irriterende. Hva Ingrid Winter holder på med eller tenker, vet jeg ikke. Dessuten er Ingvill den teiteste og urealistiske karakteren noensinne - forhåpentligvis er det med vilje.

[Henrik Akre Thorup · Rating 4 out of 5]

Denne var veldig morsom. Mye min type humor.

[Aurora · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first part of this book is a hilarious take on the calamities of everyday life. We follow Ingrid Winter, a working wife and mother of three, as she attempts to navigate the petty world of university-politics, sell her house and not roll her eyes at her co-workers. At least not as often. Which is hard, and understandably so, since her co-worker happen to be neurotic, overbearing, overzealous monsters, who should probably be locked up in some kind of bunker for the good of society. (The fact that so many reviewers have said things like "We all know an Ingvill" actually concerns me, cause no?? And I don't want to??)

In the second half of the book Ingrid is sent to Russia with two of these co-workers, where they're supposed to secure a bilateral agreement between their university and one in St. Petersburg. An accidental art-theft, a bottle of questionable Russian cough-syrup and some poor life choices later, this low-key comedy about the absurdities of daily life takes a strange turn and morphs into something like a fever dream mixed with what I imagine the plot of an Austin Powers movie to be. Depending on who you are this is either a very good or a very bad thing. For me it was unfortunately the latter. I guess I just prefer the mundane made absurd over the absurd made mundane.

That being said, I really enjoyed this book. Drangsholt is a great writer with a special talent for crafting laugh-out-loud-funny dialogue. So funny, in fact, that reading four lines of it was enough to convince me I needed the book immediately. Despite the rocky ending I look forward to reading more of Drangsholts writing and being reunited with the marvelous Ingrid Winter in the second book. (Fingers crossed for more PTA-meetings and fewer spies)

[Dav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Veldig morosam og mange nydelege formuleringar. FAU-møtet var eit høgdepunkt. Elles tapte den seg ein del i Russland-biten av boka. Der vart det plutseleg for mange karakterar, og dei russiske karakterane var verken spesielt morosamme eller interessante. Men fire stjerner fordi den var sjukt relaterbar i historiene frå arbeidslivet, stort sett godt driv og morosam.

3,5/5

[Eirin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morsom, rar, gøy bok som tar ting i hverdagen på kornet.
Befriende å lese om denne gøye karakteren.

[Kristine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Faen det dummaste eg nokon gong har lest. Trur den skal vera morosam og sjarmerande. Det er den ikkje. Den er òg blottlagt for plot. Og hovudpersonen må ha røykt sokkane sine samtidig som ho går på syre. Styr unna med mindre du driv med mental sjølvskading.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not really sure how to rate this book. It was well-written. It was cute. It was weird. It was a bit confusing. It was not funny (didn't even inspire an actual smile, let alone a laugh) but it was amusing. And I actually really enjoyed reading it. I guess I'd give it 3 1/2 stars and I think I'd read more, if this turns out to be a series.

[H.A. Titus · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly didn't get this book. I consider myself a head-in-the-clouds dreamer with poor social skills, but this went beyond that. The MC needed professional therapy. She also needed to grow a pair and stand up for herself. Her husband was a jerk. Her coworkers were idiots. The only plausible part of the book were her kids (who I surprisingly didn't find bratty--a rather uncommon occurrence in books nowadays.) I couldn't force myself through the train wreck any more and bailed halfway.
Maybe I'm just not the target audience for this, but I couldn't find any of it funny. It was just cringeworthy.

[Tifo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spennende og morsom!

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is weird. I can only assume that there is something seriously lost in translation. In parts is reads like someone stuck it into Google Translate and published the bizarre, disjointed, nonsensical results. None of the characters are likable or relatable. Ingrid has her moments, but in the end she's psychotic and self-destructive. It's hard not to root for her husband who's a stick in the mud but clearly the one keeping their family from imploding in Ingrid's hands. The plot is all over the place. It's as though there are two completely different stories - the one with Ingrid's family drama in Norway and the one where Ingrid and her coworkers inexplicably cause an international "incident" in Russia. The Russian mocking and stereotyping made me uncomfortable in places.

The prose itself jumps all over the place. It wants to be deep and meaningful, with sections of almost straight poetry in place of true description, but then all of a sudden Ingrid throws in a million and one random references to both American pop culture (mainly sci-fi movies - enough with the Blade Runner already!) and Norwegian clichés (multiple mentions of Pippi Longstocking?) And all the literary mythology stuff - Tehom and whatever - I have no idea what she was even talking about. I shouldn't have to go get a dictionary to read such an otherwise shallow novel.