As if to put two lines under exactly that, her new book comes out in an unusual square format. The pink, watercolor-painted cover is also unusual. So high that it almost becomes trendy. Nor is her Nynorsk quite A4. I don’t know if they say addiction when they are dependent on something in Stord, the birthplace of the author. But the word is not particularly beautiful. Also purely linguistically, Furre offers defiant resistance. But what does it do, when the word appears in unexpected contexts like this: After it has been a bit of an introduction, the novel finds its form. It gradually turns out that the form has advantages. The approximately 120 square pages with lots of blank margins are perfect for small comments scrawled in pencil in the margin. And as the plot progresses, there will be many of them. Sorgsirkel The book is about a twenty-five-year-old woman who is in mourning. The weasel brother has died of cancer. The self-portrait is so-so with it. She firmly believes that it is she who should have passed away: She lives in an abandoned house, which formerly housed a student collective. A real crow’s castle, called Technotika after a student association that used to be held there. University education has been put on hold. She goes to meetings in a grief circle, where she meets other relatives who have in common that they have lost someone far too early. Nor is death particularly A4 with Heidi Furre. Especially not when he comes too early. Or what should one say to a father who has lost his son to shellfish poisoning? We get to go back to the last months of my brother’s life, which take place in the palliative ward, i.e. the hospital ward where those with truly life-threatening cancers are placed. INCOMPLETE A4: Author Heidi Furre, born in Stord in 1986, publishes her book in a square format. Photo: Julia Maria Naglestad Smaklau’s jelly And here it completely takes off. The grieving sister speaks directly to the dead brother about the last time they had together. “Technotika” is also a hospital novel. The institutional sadness is not lessened by the fact that someone has tried to decorate with battery-powered candles and a vase of pampas grass. The tragicomedy occurs when terminally ill people order Foodora food to avoid the “greasy sauce” and the tasteless lemon jelly. And here, but not before, it begins to dawn what Furre wants to achieve. There is nothing beautiful, pretty or nice about cancer. It’s crazy. Here it is as if the novel is looking for a more precise description of what there are actually no words for. The calculation doesn’t seem to add up completely. And is it actually acceptable to live in a society where the funeral agency thinks we should place a coffin using a QR code? But there is also hope. It can be expressed in a sudden hug from an overworked nurse. When there is dancing (swing) in the pub with Allan from the mourning circle. And then there’s a cute guy behind the counter at the local gas station. While the tumor spreads like silver threads in the brother’s body, it becomes clear that things are not much better in the world outside the hospital. It all takes place in a slightly dystopian setting. Out there, the world has just almost come off its hinges. Criticism of civilization There is a simmering rage here, at inheriting a world that looks like it does. Parent regeneration has capitulated. They can’t even agree on a tombstone. In the mention of the divorced parents comes the book’s saddest sentence: The market economy that we have chosen to adapt to will follow us right into death. There is a sting here, against a capitalist system that sells the best cancer medicine to the highest bidder. Heidi Furre made her debut in 2013 with “Paris Syndrome”. It was the definitive escape to Paris after the break-up novel. Since then, four novels have been published, in which there is no shortage of serious themes. And black humour: “I already thought that life had no drama”, notes our heroine, after she has had a spontaneous abortion on a bus on the way to Auschwitz (!). It can also be said this way. It’s just that no one else would think of saying it like that. Heidi Furre is definitely not quite A4. news reports Photo: Cappelen Damm Title: “Technotika” Author: Heidi Furre Genre: Novel Publisher: Flamme Number of pages: 120 Date: 5 September 2024 Hi! I read and review literature in news. Please also read my review of “Kairos” by Jenny Erpenbeck, “Details” by Ia Genberg, or Franz Kafka’s “The Process” translated by Jon Fosse. Published 10.11.2024, at 11.40
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“Technotika” by Heidi Furre – Reviews and recommendations
