The Other Name: Septology I-II in Around the World in 80 Books

Jan 11, 2024 Steve rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

Maybe 3 1/2, and then rounding up since I know I missed stuff. Almost lost me with that brown rowboat, but once that late in the book moment passes, with its fragmenting narrative, it was then that I realized how much control and design Fosse was employing. All of this was a mask for a coming reveal of a past trauma, and not a writer losing his grip. I know I have jumped into a late moment in the book, but it's such a difficult book to review or explain anyway. There are a couple of reviews by F Maybe 3 1/2, and then rounding up since I know I missed stuff. Almost lost me with that brown rowboat, but once that late in the book moment passes, with its fragmenting narrative, it was then that I realized how much control and design Fosse was employing. All of this was a mask for a coming reveal of a past trauma, and not a writer losing his grip. I know I have jumped into a late moment in the book, but it's such a difficult book to review or explain anyway. There are a couple of reviews by Fosse fans that do a much better job than I could.

Basically, the story is about an aging artist (Asle) during Advent week. He has a very limited circle of friends, virtually a recluse. One, Åsleik, in a nearby farmer and fisherman, and the other a gallery owner in town who handles the selling his paintings. His conversations with Åsleik comprise most of the present day dialogue (though what is "present" is fairly fluid). Asle is evidently good at painting, since he has no trouble selling his paintings. The book opens with Asle putting the finishing touches on an unusual painting, but he's not sure what it is or if he should even consider it a finished work. It's unlike anything he has painted before. Åsleik later tells him the painting resembles a St. Andrew's Cross, a symbol freighted with all kinds of Christological meanings. The novel is heavily populated with all kinds of religious symbolism, much of which probably flew right by me since its mostly covered by mundane everyday routines and conversations. Numbers, Advent Season, Catholicism, etc., keep popping up, along clearing the driveway of snow, grocery shopping, and painting.

Complicating things further is another Asle, who also happens to be an artist, about the same age, living in town. He's an alcoholic, twice divorced mess. Asle number 1 actually saves him from a snow bank and gets him to a hospital. The use of doppelgänger(s) in this book bothered me at times, especially so when time and characters blurred or bled into each other. There's not a lot action in this book, but a lot of repetition that shuttles back between daily activities and memories. It sounds boring, but it isn't. I suspect Fosse using these repetitions and routines as an Everyman's Liturgy of the Hours. But that's my inner Catholic spidey sense kicking in. There are even times when the book gets profoundly beautiful and moving, especially so when describing a young couple (Asle # 1 or # 2 or both) clearly in love. And there is Evil, or at least the memory of it, which disrupts the seemingly endless musings and praying that Aisle experiences. He may have put on the new Adam in Christ, but he is still haunted by memories of the old Adam and Sin. I'm undecided whether I'll continue with the other two books in the series, but I'm glad, challenging as it was, that to have read it. ...more

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Apr 18, 2024 Fee rated it really liked it

The first in Jon Fosse's Septology series, contemplating the blurred lines between life and art and how our connections with others converge and diverge over time. This is a slow, contemplative work that demands your full attention. The rambling real-time monologues are meditative, almost hypnotic, and the lulling, rhythmic repetition of specific words and phrases is reminiscent of the Rosary. If you enjoyed Fish Have No Feet by Jón Kalman Stefánsson, I think you'll love this.

I think, I think, I ...more

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