“Talk to the cat, he is the most careful in the garden”, says a poem by Olav H. Hauge. Who is this cat, anyway? A possible interpretation could be: The cats are the dictators. They are the ones who, when they are good, are the most careful in the farm, in the country, in the world. They draw the world while their hands are shaking. They have seen something! That’s why you feel like talking to them. Living machines Andrea Nicolaisen Brun is particularly fond of the machines we surround ourselves with. Those who have almost imperceptibly taken their place in our daily lives, and who behave to a greater and greater extent as if they were alive. It is about Paula, who is a psychologist. After a younger, male patient takes his own life, she flees to the family cabin in the mountains. But not everything is as it once was either. Outside there is a mysterious box and flashes. Nothing is the way it was inside her either. She feels guilty for what happened to her. But the relationship with the box out there is changing. She begins to like him. The girl loves the robot, as the pop group Röyksopp sings. The reflections around machines that think are one thing that stood out in Andrea Nicolaisen Brun’s debut book. It is as if she takes the subject matter of non-fiction writers such as Lena Lindgren and Inga Strümke into the realms of fiction. Blåmenet The other thing that is impossible not to notice is her almost voracious use of linguistic images. The metaphors, or similes, to be precise, come thick as hail, to put it with a linguistic image. The electric car is known as a “futuristic embrace”. The clouds hang in the sky “like blue jellyfish”. And: Fugitives from civilization It can be objected that Nicolaisen Brun has kneaded a little too much saffron into the literary cat. Is it really so rich in images in the world of thought of a person? Do we think in pictures? But it is also possible to look in other directions in this interesting book. For example, against this, it is women, not men, who choose to flee from civilization and into the wilderness. Is this also a sign of the times? Andrea Nicolaisen Brun builds the contrast between the country as it was, lumber and information boards at the municipal centre, and as it is now, apps that control the heating system in the cabin and solar cells on the roof. The old collides with all the new. Much of this has become so commonplace that we mostly don’t see it. In this debut novel, the machines we surround ourselves with come into view. The sight is both exciting and disturbing. news reviews Photo: Forlaget Oktober Title: “The world is drawn with a trembling hand” Author: Andrea Nicolaisen Brun Publisher: Oktober Genre: Novel Number of pages: 220 Date: 13 August 2023 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.
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“The world is drawn with a trembling hand” by Andrea Nicolaisen Brun – Reviews and recommendations
