"It was over, I thought to myself. At least for now."
Karl Ove Knausgaard is a Norwegian author. His bibliography goes back to 1998, and he's extremely popular in his own country. His books, which often touch upon Christian theology, have won several awards, though almost all of these awards are specific to Scandinavia, and to books written in Scandinavian languages. I'm not sure what to make of the Wall Street Journal's claim that he's "one of the 21st century's greatest literary sensations," especially since we're only 22 years into the present century.
In The Morning Star several people in small town Norway go about their daily business, their routine interrupted by the appearance of a new star in the sky.
And then...
...nothing. Really, nothing. They do something, something else happens, and then they notice the new star in the sky. That's it. This book comes to no conclusion, unless you count the essay at the end, in which the author discusses the possibility of life after death. No one learns anything, no obstacles are overcome, and no one is better or worse off. The narrative - if the whole thing can be called a narrative - just ends at a certain point, without any kind of resolution.
Call me crazy, but in my opinion the author's half-baked ideas on religion, history and culture weren't worth the effort it took to get there. Life after death? How about writing a complete novel? How about fulfilling the unspoken promise you made when you wrote the first chapter? The ending of this book - if you can call it an ending - just screams writer's block to me, and after forcing myself through the 666 pages of The Morning Star I can only come to the conclusion that I shouldn't have bothered.
"One of the 21st century's greatest literary sensations?" The New York Times and I will have to agree to disagree on this one.
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