The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding  by Amanda Svensson, translated by Nichola Smalley

85 pages in and feels this is trying a bit too hard to be quirky.

It feels a bit The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who ... and not really a Booker book.

But another famous quirky author is Ali Smith and the author of this is her translator, so perhaps it heads that way.

Wish it was shorter though - it's also very slow paced (nothing's really happened in what's enough pages to write a novel)

I'm now on page 89 - that's about as fast as I can read this. It's annoying me quite a lot - the prose is very Janet and John

And it isn't the translator as she previously did Wretchedness which is rather different in style.

I was interested in this book, but now not so much. I remember dnf'g the hundred year old man just a few pages in

Well I've not actually read that so this may bear no resemblance. But I am not finding it very worthwhile.

A Book So Terrible It is Shocking

That was utterly dreadful. Think I malign the 100 Year Old Man and Scandi literature generally as it’s a very anglo-Saxon novel and the author actually lives in the UK (moved here post Brexit).

you finished it so quickly!
I'm halfway through and it's fine? Quirky and commercial. Still waiting for something to happen though.

I'm puzzled by this one. I feel like there's some crucial context I'm missing with it. The tone is pure camp - but without a queer sensibility I'm not sure what the point is.

I realize there aren't many fans in this group, but is there a generous account of what this is trying to do?

These reviews seem similarly puzzled and I'm not sure they know what Svensson was trying to do either:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...

Paywalled: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/19/bo...

I still haven't figured it out and anyone I ask gives me very generic answers.

This comes to mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9MlS...

Get longlisted for the International Booker by writing a biscuit book

You have tried this biscuit line about 5 times in multiple threads but no one is biting

David wrote: "Paywalled: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/19/bo..."

Interesting review, but what eclipsed the whole review for me was the word "nitid", which I've never heard before and will probably never hear again.

Nadine in California wrote: "David wrote: "Paywalled: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/19/bo..."

Interesting review, but what eclipsed the whole review for me was the word "nitid", which I've never heard before and will probab..."

that word still haunts me