Out Stealing Horses, by Per Petterson

I put off reading this because of the title. I had it on my list because it has received honors from several places. But the title made me think of...stealing horses....and I did not like the idea. I thought maybe it would be cowboyish, that horses would come in for some ill treatment.

 But the title doesn't mean what it says. It has more than one meaning in the book, but neither has to do with actual stealing of horses. Trond Sander, 67, has chosen to live the rest of his life alone, in a remote cabin in snowy Norway. He'd had his city life and family but now he just wants to be alone with his thoughts. And his dog. His thoughts bring back memories of his youth, in particular the most significant events of that youth, the time his father left him.

The young Trond, 15, is on vacation with his father for the summer. The two travel by train a long way to a cabin in the country, near the border with Sweden. His father had acquired the cabin long ago, initially a mystery to Trond because the family's finances had never been great. But he loves being there, working side by side with his father on the cabin, on other tasks, and just being there by himself. He becomes friends with a neighbor boy and the two do everything together, until one day Trond says something that triggers a response in the other boy, making him suddenly remote.

It isn't long before he discovers what caused his friend to go quiet. But although Trond had nothing to do with the tragedy, he has still lost a friend. It is only later that pieces start to come together, glued by what a friend of his father's tells him. The story is both simplified and made more complex. And now, in his later yet still fit years, Trond has chosen to live with nature. But it doesn't end there. He meets his nearest neighbor by chance and discovers that he actually knows him from those many years ago. In a way, the circle closes.

 Elegantly and simply written, a story of love and loss. Isn't that what life is?

Out Stealing Horses - Wendy's Review

We were going out stealing horses. That was what he said, standing at the door to the cabin where I was spending the summer with my father. I was fifteen. It was 1948 and one of the first days of July. Three years earlier the Germans had left, but I can’t remember that we talked about them any longer. At least my father did not. He never said anything about the war. - from Out Stealing Horses, page 15 -

In his sixty-seventh year, Trond Sander purchases a house in the Norwegian countryside and seeks the solitude and silence for which he longs.

All my life I have longed to be alone in a place like this. Even when everything was going well, as it often did. I can say that much. That it often did. I have been lucky. But even then, for instance in the middle of an embrace and someone whispering words in my ear I wanted to hear, I could suddenly get a longing to be in a place where there was only silence. - from Out Stealing Horses, page 5 -

Trond’s only company is a dog named Lyra and an older man who lives in a cabin near the river not too far from Trond’s home. There in the desolate and beautiful wilderness and as he gets to know his neighbor, Trond begins to remember the summer of 1948 when he was fifteen years old and on the cusp of becoming a man. It is these memories which drive the novel forward - a slow unraveling of one fateful summer where everything changed. As Trond reveals the multiple layers of his past, he comes to grips with his present and begins to gain an understanding of the man he has become.

Out Stealing Horses is in part about a boy’s relationship with his father which is both touching and compelling. Trond’s father is a complex man with a mysterious past - a man who worked for the Norwegian underground during the Nazi occupation, and who has formed connections which the young Trond is just beginning to understand.

Of course I had my father, but it was not the same. He was a grown man with a secret life behind the one that I knew about, and maybe even one behind that, and I no longer knew I could trust him. - from Out Stealing Horses, page 174 -

Petterson seamlessly moves between the past and present, gradually revealing each character and putting together the pieces of Trond’s life. This is a novel rich with emotion, one that explores pain, betrayal, identity, and loss. The language of the novel is evocative, simple and luminous.

I was mesmerized by this book. Seemingly a simple tale, it later reveals itself to be a complex study of grief and loss. This is not a book to be read quickly, but one which should be savored.

Highly recommended.

Out Stealing Horses - 3M's Review

Per Petterson's book, which won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the 2007 Dublin IMPAC Award, is one to read slowly and savor. It's definitely character driven, but oh, what a beautiful read. It also gives a strong sense of place for Norway.

The story flashes back and forth several times between Trond's childhood and the present. The story starts out in the past, near the time of WWII. Certain events take place, and later, as an adult, Trond's understanding of them shifts. In the present, he lives self-sufficiently and, except for his dog, alone. He also reflects on significant events in his adult life and tries to understand his reaction to them. Everything falls a little more into place for him when two people search him out, one from the present, and one from the past.

My library has another of his books in translation, To Siberia, and if I don't read it this year, I'll definitely be picking it up in 2009.

Highly recommended.

2003, 2005 in the UK, 2007 in the USA; 250 pp.

Wendy's 2008 Challenge List

November 8, 2008 - Officially COMPLETED the 2008 Challenge. There are several books on my alternates which I may still read this year...but I'm counting this one done for now. I will be participating in 2009, but will wait until December to create my goal list!

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This year I way overextended myself, choosing 20 books from the NYT Most Notable list. I will be very lucky to read 15 of those before 2007 closes out!

In 2008, I'm going to be a little smarter and more realistic. I'm choosing 8 books to read from several lists on this site.

My preliminary list (subject to change):

1. The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Moshin Hamid (from PW Best Books - 2007 and NYT Most Notable-2007) - Completed January 11, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review.
   
2. The Gathering, by Anne Enright (from NYT Most Notable-2007) - Completed March 9, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review
   
3. Let The Northern Lights Erase Your Name, by Vendela Veda (from NYT Most Notable-2007) -Completed September 30, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review
   
4. After Dark, by Haruki Murakami (from NYT Most Notable - 2007) - Completed October 28, 2008; rated 2/5; read my review.
5. The Secret River, by Kate Grenville (from ALA Most Notable - 2007) - Completed October 13, 2008; rated 5/5; read my review.
   
6. Bridge of Sighs, by Richard Russo (from NYT Most Notable-2007) - Completed June 7, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review
7. On Chesil Beach, by Ian McEwan (from NYT Most Notable - 2007) - Completed August 11, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review.
8. The View From Castle Rock, by Alice Munro (from NYT Most Notable - 2007) - Completed September 28, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review.
   

Alternatives:

Zoli, by Colum McCann (from Christian Science Monitor Bests - 2007)
Heyday, by Kurt Anderson (from Christian Science Monitor Bests - 2007)
There is No Me Without You, by Melissa Fay Greene (from ALA Most Notable - 2007)
Out Stealing Horses, by Per Petterson (from NBCC Best Books- 2007 and NYT Most Notable-2007)
The Septembers of Shiraz, by Dalia Sofer (from 2007 Christian Science Monitor Best Books AND NYT Most Notable-2007)

Amy's List

I have finally come up with my list of Notables to read for 2008. I will definitely be reading these:

• The Space Between Us - Thrity Umrigar (Kiriyama)
• The Archivist's Story - Travis Holland ( PW)
• The Madonnas of Leningrad - Debra Dean (ALA)
• The Septembers of Shiraz- Dalia Sofer (CSM, NYT)
• The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid (NYT and PW)
• What the Dead Know - Laura Lippman (PW)

And I would like to read these if I have time:

• Brother, I'm Dying-Edwidge Danticat (NYT and NBCC)
• The Gathering -Anne Enright (NYT)
• The Ministry of Special Cases- Nathan Englander (NYT)
• Fieldwork - Mischa Berlinski (PW)
• In the Country of Men - Hisham Matar (NYT)
• The Worst Hard Time - Timothy Egan (ALA)

The NBCC Best Recommended List for 2007

The National Book Critics Circle has created a Best Recommended List by polling its 800 members The list reflects not which books have sold best but which books have been read and enjoyed the most.

Beginning in 2008, the Best Recommended List will appear monthly.

2007 Winners are:

Fiction

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
2. Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
3. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
4. Exit Ghost by Philip Roth
5. Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson

Nonfiction

1. Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat
2. The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
3. The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
4. Schulz and the Peanuts by David Michaelis
5. Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner

Poetry

1. Time and Materials: Poems 1997-2005 by Robert Hass
1. Collected Poems: 1956-1998 by Zbigniew Herbert
1. Gulf Music by Robert Pinsky
4. Next Life by Rae Armantrout
5. Elegy by Mary Jo Bang