”NORRBOTTEN. The northern region is like 120 miles long. 60 per cent of Sweden’s surface.” In the Promise Laksos impressive debut, ”So fucking cold” to criticism about such cases to call everything above Gävle, Sweden. The purpose is the same as in the Laura Fitinghofs classic children’s book ”the Children away from Frostmofjället” (1907): to give visibility to the people and environments who are marginalised in Swedish culture.
like Fitinghofs a travelogue. The shape is smart. The trip is a grateful subject. From Homer’s ”Odysseus” to Selma Lagerlöf’s ”Nils Holgerssons wonderful journey” or Jack Keruacs ”On the road” works the journey as a narrative engine. New people, places, and experiences will be on the fly.
”So damn cool” is the seven small värnlösa the children are replaced with three cocky 17-year-olds and instead of the goat Gullspira they have the sick dog Hemingway. Like their predecessors, they will go out on a road trip, the journey from Piteå and down through the country. Berättarjaget Karla is the driving force, she want to get away from the cold, to the warmth and the light from all the movies, tv series and books. Friends Kaja and Aziz have a more nuanced picture of Norrbotten. Lakso use their calls to skillfully weave in several current issues in the story. Persian Aziz irritating to the example of Karlas attitude. The sea she longs to smell like death. ”People are fleeing from paradise. By paradise. My family has fled. They have fled to here.”
We had to learn to draw Sweden as a sausage with a bulge in the middle. Bulan was in Stockholm.
Although it has been over a hundred years between the two Norrlandsskildringarna is dominated, above all, ungdomslitteraturen still of books about the locals. I grew up in Stockholm and remember that my first reader took place there. We had to learn to draw Sweden as a sausage with a bulge in the middle. Bulan was in Stockholm. It took several years before I understood that we are not living in the middle of Sweden. In other words, Laksos novel important.
”the Children away from Frostmofjället” is ”So damn cold” is also well written and entertaining. The portrayal of the cold and the winter is both poignant and beautiful. Thigh lose sensation in thin pantyhose, vomit that freezes and is left in weeks, ”avgasfärgade” chunks, vinternattens ”omörker” and a thousand shades of blue. Laksos images are constantly on the fine line between the trite and fun, original and solemnly.
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