“Wake Nights” by Christine Nitter – Reviews and recommendations

The doctor Agnes tells the story. It is her husband and doctor Eivind who get cancer. It is novel debutant and doctor Christine Nitter who is the author behind “Våkenetter”. But when a colleague states that Eivind has cancer that has spread to several organs, medical science falls short. Although both the novel’s characters and the author understand what is written in Latin in the paper from the colleague, the novel is about adjusting to the unthinkable: One will die, the other will live on without the life partner. Everyone understands that it is hard and dramatic. But Nitter takes death into all the details of everyday life. What happens to Eivind when he does not manage to do all the Eivind things? And how does Agnes react? This perspective makes “Våkenetter” a novel worth noting. To live on through others Eivind and Agnes play doctor already as children, inspired by Agnes’ father and her own curious. The town was a small northern Norwegian island. And yes, childhood fills in the picture of the two, but this is first and foremost a triangular drama between her, him and death. He blames him for waiting too long to investigate. He started making lists of everything he has to teach Agnes so she can live on in their place until the end of her days. He still spends his free time arranging things. Is it care, or is it a way to live on through her? For Agnes, there is a limit when he has bought sexy lingerie that she can wear when she meets other men, Eivind already has a couple of suggestions. Agnes’ biggest concern is that she is unable to get in touch with her son Jens (9), who is a daddy boy, for reasons the reader probably understands better than Agnes. Large mood register It’s close. It is northern Norwegian winter, there are pee bottles and morphine syringes. It is a beloved body that shows all the signs that death is approaching. It is Eivind who will be buried in a boat. There are hurt feelings, such as when the very sick Eivind insists on being part of Jens’ Christmas closing: It is hardly to control the speed that she stares at the speedometer. Here are crises, tense breaks and tender reconciliation. Brutal and indirect The alternation between the brutally direct and more indirect ways of telling is one of several very good choices in the novel. Letting nature have a big and obvious place in the lives of the two is another good choice. It is also a plus that both Agnes and Eivind have difficult sides, which are seen at the tip after a quarter as death gets closer. Although they are specialists in medical science, they are not specialists in either dying or being relatives. The only thing I stumble upon here is how key secondary characters such as Agnes’ mother and son Jens do not appear other than as markers. Despite this, “Våkenetter” is an unusually strong and well-written debut novel, which manages to capture the nuances of a life crisis without becoming elaborate. news reviewer Photo: Forlaget Oktober Title: «Våkenetter» Author: Christine Nitter Genre: Roman Number of pages: 191 Publisher: Forlaget Oktober Published: 2022



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