Out Stealing Horses in Around the World

Aug 04, 2009 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read2010, location-norway

My only regret is waiting to read this. Amazing storytelling, and I'm just in love with books from Scandinavia lately.

We do decide for ourselves when it will hurt. ...more

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Feb 11, 2010 Friederike Knabe rated it it was amazing

The atmospheres created by northern landscapes have always held a strong attraction for me. Whether by personal exposure or when represented in paintings, music or literature, the vastness of space, rugged coastlines, deep dark forests and, above all, the crystal clear colours brought on by the specific climates, their lure can be ever so powerful. In Per Petterson's OUT STEALING HORSES sixty-seven year old Trond Sander is profoundly drawn to such a place: he leaves Oslo and settles in a remote The atmospheres created by northern landscapes have always held a strong attraction for me. Whether by personal exposure or when represented in paintings, music or literature, the vastness of space, rugged coastlines, deep dark forests and, above all, the crystal clear colours brought on by the specific climates, their lure can be ever so powerful. In Per Petterson's OUT STEALING HORSES sixty-seven year old Trond Sander is profoundly drawn to such a place: he leaves Oslo and settles in a remote cabin somewhere in north-eastern Norway. Skilfully portrayed by the author, the character superbly fits the environment: he is somebody who responds completely to that lure of tranquility, the promise of harmony with his surroundings that gives time for contemplation of his life and keeps him occupied with the daily chores required to fix up the very basic cabin he had bought. And finally, he may also find some answer to a question that has been with him ever since one summer vacation in a comparable place when he was fifteen years old...

Trond Sander has all the time in the world now, as he ponderously goes through the daily chores of a self-sufficient hermit. Time is taking a different meaning for him as he reflects early on:

Time is important to me now, I tell myself. Not that it should pass quickly or slowly, but be only time, be something I live inside and fill with physical things and activities that I can divide it by, so that it grows distinct to me and does not vanish when I am not looking.

An encounter in the middle of the night with another apparent recluse, who lives down the river, annoys him initially as an interruption of his private time. Yet, when he realizes who the man isk, his peace of mind is disrupted in a fundamental way. Memories come to the fore that were long buried in his mind, or were they really?

The reader is transported into a narrative that alternates between Trond's descriptions of daily activities in the here and now and the events during the summer vacation with his father when he was fifteen. Delicate in its description, the reader is inescapably drawn to Trond and his surroundings. There are allusions to the reasons for his father's surprising familiarity with the small village... While father and son have a close relationship in many ways, there is a certain verbal awkwardness between them and it needs an intermediary to explain to the son what the father is and was all about. Strange? Maybe, but it completely matches the impression the reader develops of the central characters.

Trond, now with the hindsight of some fifty years, can make more sense of events of the past. From the outset his present day reflections are interspersed with subtle hints to the past and, once the reader knows the story and goes back to read the beginning a second time, they will fall into place perfectly. Will he be able to answer that one life-long question? Well, maybe.

Petterson's language is spare and efficient in its use of imagery and evocation of atmospheres, both internal and external to his protagonist. While it is correct, as other reviewers have stated, that very little happens in the novel and the story unfolds ever so slowly, a reader like myself is easily fascinated by the character and completely drawn into the two sets of situations, past and present. With a narration style that leaves the reader to ponder, compare, and visualize, and fill in mental spaces, Petterson has achieved a remarkable work of fiction. ...more

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Dec 09, 2009 Claire rated it really liked it

Wonderfully written book of a man looking back, it shares the wisdom of an older man and also the naivety of his awakening to what really is going on around him as teenager and how the former continues to affect him as an adult. It is about the things we learn as we grow and the mystery of how each individual uses those learnings to carve out a life. Brilliant.

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May 05, 2009 Emma rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nordic-scandinavian-lit, recommended

Another Norwegian stunner, quietly and deeply introspective. One to be read slowly.

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Sep 04, 2012 Toni rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: norway, general-fiction

Lovely, lyrical prose, but at the end I am left feeling unsatisfied. It seemed to me that there was more of Trond's tale to be told. I wanted to hear it, but it was not there for me. ...more

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