Why did I love this book?
Jon Fosse’s prose is incantatory. I’ve heard him once describe it as “mystical realism,” and in Septology, it reaches its pinnacle: the sublime becomes quotidian, and the quotidian becomes sublime.
I will return to it, I’m sure, as I get older and its pages reveal another, previously hidden portion of themselves to me.
1 author picked Septology as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
WINNER OF THE 2023 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE
2022 International Booker Prize, Finalist
2022 National Book Award, Finalist
2022 National Book Critics Circle Award, Finalist
New York TimesEditors’ Choice
Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker and Bookforum
What makes us who we are? And why do we lead one life and not another? Asle, an ageing painter and widower who lives alone on the southwest coast of Norway, is reminiscing about his life. His only friends are his neighbour, Åsleik, a traditional fisherman-farmer, and Beyer, a gallerist who lives in the city. There, in Bjørgvin,…