Lars Mørch Finborud’s new novel is a complex affair. It spreads fragmentarily in several directions and gapes over a lot. At the same time, it is in long pieces very well written, warm, engrossing and interesting. But is it a novel before me, not a collection of more or less independent texts? The book is structured in three parts. The first is entitled “Roots cast no shadow” and begins with a short text that makes it clear that this is a lot about youthful life in districts west of Oslo. Think Pipervika, Ruseløkka, Skillebekk, Vika. The second text in this part tells about life on the rails, that is, the remaining tracks towards the old Vestbanen. A rhythmic and exhorting text about not entirely innocent play, tagging, early hip hop. Everything on the rails: Young in the gallery In the third text, we meet the art-oriented author, as a youth, in the National Gallery, looking for Axel Revold’s picture “Nude” from 1919. The high-flying, almost ostentatious, description – or understanding – arouses my curiosity in high gear. Even more so when my rather busy googling has to give up, I can’t find the image anywhere. And I wonder if it exists at all. In any case, this sequence is a foreshadowing of how Finborud will write about art in public ownership later in the book; experience, viewing art in passing, from a bus window, in streets, buildings. Nicely connected to the city itself. Elements such as these belong to the book’s finest parts. Botany and poems The second part is entirely designed in a form of poetry. In reading experiences, it swings from little pearls to the fairly ordinary. To the extent that the reader can trace some kind of action, it has been added to the Botanical Garden at Tøyen. Autumn to spring The texts are dated from October to June, autumn to early summer. The observations are often both striking and beautiful. The botany itself brings the reader closer, but so do the city’s more unusual everyday life, Roma people who settle down, drug addicts who have to be treated for an overdose, a couple who love in secret. Then examples are mentioned. Much that can please and amuse a reader, but I also cannot help thinking that the weaker parts could just as well have been formulated as ordinary sentences along the same lines, without noticeably changing their character. The city and art The last part of the book is called “Dead artists’ mist”. It is here that we are seriously taken on a literary city walk, or drive, among the city’s public works of art, visible to anyone who knows about them and wants to see. Finely built Finborud’s eye for composition in pictures and art is also reflected in some texts. The story of great-uncle Karl, the war sailor’s last days, begins with the old red telephone booth Riks, and ends with all the art that emblazoned the telephone cards during the swan song of the payphones. “We suffer from sun, we suffer from rain” has a lot to offer the reader. Sometimes it flies so high that the wings threaten to collapse, that the text becomes pompous. But more often it is quite the opposite. The observations are sharp and rewarding, well formulated. But what is it? If I struggle with something, it has already been mentioned at the beginning. It actually says, on the title page, that this is a novel. Certainly the term novel has been greatly expanded in recent years, not least in the autobiographical realm. And of course there are parts of the texts that maintain a high literary level. Maybe it’s not that important. I also don’t know if it is appropriate for me to expect a thread, an overarching connection in some kind of action. I’m having a hard time finding one anyway. The book remains a collection of texts in my eyes. To make matters worse, there is a note at the back of the book which states that certain texts in the first and second parts have been printed previously, now expanded and edited. It is more important anyway that the book is very readable, full of human observation, reflection and the joy of knowledge. news reviews Photo: Gyldendal Title: “We suffer from sun, we suffer from rain” Author: Lars Mørch Finborud Genre: Novel Publisher: Gyldendal Number of pages: 270 Date: September 2022 More recent books with action in Oslo:
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“We suffer from sun, we suffer from rain” by Lars Mørch Finborud – Reviews and recommendations
