Dear reader, Uka’s book letter starts a bit grumpily, because I don’t like being told that something is the sensation of the year before the book is out. Especially when it doesn’t measure up. Then we are going for a trip to the CIA and I have discovered a mythological treasure chest with our neighbors in the Norwegian Sea. Increasingly, books are launched as global successes even before they have reached readers. This year it is the thriller “Anna O”, which is described like this on the online store Amazon, in a bold headline: “The biggest novel for 2024 from an astonishing new voice in crime thriller fiction”. Named the greatest novel for 2024, that is, and that before the vernal equinox. Matthew Blake has worked as a speech writer for the British Parliament before making his debut with this thriller. Photo: Cappelen Damm /Peter Bartlett /news The buzz already started last summer, according to the Norwegian publisher. 16 short chapters written by an unknown debutant were sent around to publishers, dangling like a fat earthworm in front of publishers hungry for bestsellers. That method worked. It triggered a bidding war, the book was sold to over 30 different countries in two weeks, and the price for the rights in Great Britain and the USA was in the millions. Keen for a slightly different kind of excitement than sliding on icy pavements, I too took the bait, and downloaded the audiobook before the Norwegian translation was in the store. It’s an exciting start: Anna Ogilvy, the young rich man’s daughter, is in a deep sleep from which she hasn’t woken up in four years. The last thing she did was stab her two best friends 20 times. Could Anna O really have killed in her sleep, or is it a cunning way to avoid punishment? The story is mainly told in the mouth of psychologist Benedict Prince (the last name should make sure you catch the rose-thorn reference). He is a specialist in crimes committed in his sleep(!) and is assigned to wake up the sleeping Anna O, so she can be brought to justice. In addition to the psychologist’s voice, Anna Ogilvy’s mother also speaks, as well as the psychologist’s wife, who happens to be a police officer, and we get access to Anna O’s diary. Everyone speaks in the present tense, like a football commentator describing the match live. This narrative move gives me a rash. Perhaps I can explain why through an example from 18th century England. BEST SELLER: 18th-century Englishmen loved epistolary novels Photo: Mason Chamberlin / Wikimedia/Prabhat/news Samuel Richardson’s “Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded” from 1740 is considered by literary historians to be one of the first English novels. The title character Pamela is a poor and virtuous 15-year-old servant girl on an estate. Through Pamela’s letters to her parents and diary entries, we learn that the landowner, Mr. B, makes increasingly ongoing sexual advances towards her. Pamela preserves her virtue through a series of hardships, which she recounts continuously throughout the letters. The book became a bestseller among English readers. Letters and diaries can certainly be an exciting narrative technique, because can we really trust the person who writes to tell the truth? The form also has its limitations. When absolutely everything that happens has to be narrated as a diary entry, it quickly becomes artificial. Not least when the person writes in the present tense, it easily becomes something like this: “Ugh, now I’m being raped here”. Yes, how about defending yourself then, instead of writing a diary in the middle of the abuse? Henry Fielding was a contemporary and equally important writer as Samuel Richardson. He thought “Pamela” was so silly that he immediately sat down and wrote a parody which he called “Shamela”, Pretty fun to publish a parody novel with a silly title! Photo: SNL In Fielding’s novel, we meet another side of Pamela. Here it turns out that her real name is Shamela and is a cunning, sleazy lady who poses as the virtuous Pamela, in search of money and reputation. This is how Fielding points out that we readers should be careful about trusting narrators who present themselves as virtuous heroines. It’s just as if writers of modern psychological thrillers have picked up the thread after “Pamela”, because they love to tell the plot as diary entries. It’s obviously meant to heighten the tension – this is happening RIGHT NOW – but it feels so artificial! Who is the main character telling this to? Where is he when he tells it? Eventually, in such thrillers, doubts arise as to whether the narrator is truthful: Are we dealing with a Pamela or Shamela here? A hero or a murderer? The thriller genre can be incredibly satisfying, because it chases you through the chapters, with your nerves on edge. Think Stieg Larsson and John Grisham. I love a good thriller. But a number of recent psychological thrillers have deeply disappointed me. Normally, I would be careful about writing negatively about a debutante, but when the publishers go so hard with Matthew Blake’s book, you have to fight back strongly. I experienced the same disappointment when I read two other hyped bestsellers in the same style: “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn (“Flink pike” in Norwegian) and “The Silent Patient” by Alex Michaelides. Perhaps Fielding’s “Shamela” rings too strongly for me to be able to take them seriously. . GONE GIRL: Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike played married couple Nick and Amy Dunne in the 2012 film adaptation. Photo: 20th Century Fox Was “Anna O” worth all the dollars the publishers shelled out for the script? Was the audiobook worth 13 hours of my life? I say like Simon Callow: It’ a no from me. Do you agree, or do you think I’m grumpy? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section. Nordmann reviewed by the CIA Not many Norwegian authors can boast that their book has been reviewed by the CIA, but Lars Fr. H. Svendsen. The author and philosopher has found a niche in writing in an easy-to-understand way about big topics. He is particularly known for his series of seven books so far on, among other things, “The Philosophy of Evil”, “The Philosophy of Boredom”, “The Philosophy of Work”, etc. It is the book “The Philosophy of Lies” that the American intelligence agency has read and reviewed. Photo: Kagge / Reaktion Books If you enter the CIA’s headquarters, you will think they value truth. The following Bible quote is engraved on the marble wall: “And Ye Shall Know the Truth and the Truth Shall Make You Free.” Paradoxically, the intelligence agency’s search for truthful information depends on a lot of lying. The reviewer systematically reviews the ways in which the Norwegian book on the philosophy of lies is relevant for CIA employees. Svendsen writes, among other things, that a true friendship must be based on truth and trust. In the intelligence service, friendships are often established with the aim of recruiting new agents. Not exactly lucky for further trust. Governments often find themselves forced to lie to their people to protect agents in the field. And more existentially: How does having to lie to oneself through many years of living with a false identity affect a person? Part of the reason I love spy novels is this play between truth and lies. After this review, it became even clearer to me how demanding the life of a secret agent is. Why haven’t I heard of the seal people before? I devour almost anything British crime series, and when the action is added to a dramatic Scottish coastal landscape, I’m sold. British Nicola Walker became a favorite with the public after the fabulous crime series “Cold Tracks”. Now she is back as a police investigator in the series “Annika”, which is shown on news TV these days. This Annika is supposed to be Norwegian, and sings byssan lull to her daughter and talks about spice cake with an unconvincing accent. What makes the series a little extra fun for us bookworms is that each episode has a clear literary theme. Nicola Walker with a copy of Walter Scott’s historical novel “Waverly”. Photo: Graeme Hunter Pictures Annika speaks straight into the camera and tells us about a book or author that is relevant to the plot. I learn something new and am inspired to pick up the books she talks about. When a murder leads her to Edinburgh, we learn about the great Scottish writer Walter Scott, who is considered the founder of the historical novel. I have only read the chivalric novel “Ivanhoe” by Walter Scott as a children’s book, and “Rob Roy” I have only seen as a film, so it is possible that I will get some Scottish 19th century novels. HISTORICAL: Walter Scott is actually considered the founder of the historical novel. and several of his books have been made into films. Photo: Penguin/ Wordsworth Classics But, what I was immediately hooked on came in the first episode: Scottish ballad. Annika tells about a legend about a selkie, as known in the folk song “The Selkie of Sule Skerry”. A woman sits nursing a child. Suddenly her father appears at the foot of her bed. He is a selkie, a seal that can take human form. The selkie is here to retrieve her son, and gives her gold in exchange for the child, which he takes to the sea. He predicts that the woman will marry a trapper who will shoot and kill him and their son. Quite sad. I’ve heard of mermaids and sea monsters, but never of seals! Do you have? The episode sent me down a rabbit hole of research. I checked versions of the song on Spotify, googled Scottish words, studied maps and ordered the book “The Isles of the West” from the library. It turns out that there is a separate mythology from Scotland and the surrounding islands, such as Orkney and Shetland. It also extends to the Faroe Islands and Iceland, places Norwegians have sailed to for years. Nevertheless, this mythology seems little known in Norway, even though we share the sea with them. In a longer version of the folk tone, the woman is actually a Norwegian maid. There must be inspiration here for Norwegian writers? SEAL WOMAN: The Faroe Islands have another legend about the seal people, and a separate statue of a female selkie, on her way out of her sealskin. Photo: Wikimedia My favorite version of the song is this one. A little long prelude, but if you like folk tunes, you’ll love it. Elsewhere: The listeners’ novel prize is on the radio! You can choose to devour all the author interviews on news Radio, or you can listen to them on P2 on Fridays. There are both requests to let children play with knives and stories about MDMA’s liberating effect. Here is an overview of the episodes: Talking! Siss Comment What do you think of psychological thrillers? Do you agree with me or am I being too strict? Is there anything worth reading out there? Hello! Welcome to dialogue at news. Since you are logged in to other news services, you do not have to log in again here, but we need your consent to our terms of use for online dialogue
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Book letter #29 Thriller sensation Anna O disappoints – Siss Vik’s book letter
