Already on the first page, we understand that Margaret is someone who opposes a common perception of grief: The claim excites me in its assertiveness, and gives an acute desire to turn the page. On the next page there is the fumes of formalin, nitrile gloves and the white faces of fellow students – yes, the main character in “Margaret, are you in sorrow” is a young medical student who is now going to cut into a dead body. Margaret is a calm and rational doctor in spe. Well yes. This sight immediately evokes memories of the summer evening when she was six: her mother’s body on the bed, the face under the Rema 1000 bag, the blue lips… With novels about abuse and heavy drug use, Maria Kjos Fonn is truly a connoisseur of the dark. The previous book, the children’s book “Memoria”, was about the realm of the dead. Kjos Fonn has garnered good criticism for how she depicts the shadows in human life in a particularly realistic and at the same time poetic way. WRITING ABOUT THE DARKNESS: Maria Kjos Fonn (born in Oslo in 1990) made her debut in 2014 with the collection of short stories “I’ve never told anyone”. She broke through with the novel “Kinderwhore” in 2018, which was nominated for the Brage prize. Photo: Agnete Brun We enjoy the same familiarity in this novel: Death is not spectacular, performance-enhancing pills are actually quite common in a course as demanding as Margaret’s. Bit by bit, the line between the reasonable and the morbid is moved, until Margaret is so unwell from the feelings she has suppressed, that they completely break her. Lifelike characters The times I enjoy reading the most are when the novel’s characters emerge through dialogue and interaction – here Kjos Fonn is good. The girlfriend Ola, the father who is also a doctor and especially the mother, Rosemari, are lifelike. In the flashbacks to my childhood, I can see it so well: the flaming hair of the mother, the study where she sews and draws, all the fairy tales she tells her daughter – everything that sparkles and has colors. But the mother could also become a crow lady, “with narrow bird shoulders and sunken bird cheeks”. Margaret herself has several “Black Swan” moments where claws and feathers shoot out of her body – an image of the fear she has of ending up like her mother. She has the “blood of death”. Through the Night The novel’s five chapters follow a fairly standard development curve. Margaret has flashbacks and doesn’t deal with what’s tearing at her, taking Ritalin instead – ADHD medication that works like an amphetamine for neuronormals and as a catalyst for Margaret, who descends into the valley of shadows. From here, the novel resembles a classic psychiatry depiction: white surroundings, pills at the agreed time and a terrible feeling of unreality. Margaret is the typical reluctant patient, and it is frustrating that she resists the help she so obviously needs. Hear “Leseklubben” discuss Kjos Fonn’s novel “Heroin chic”: I especially like how relaxed Kjos Fonn is in the descriptions of the slightly dysfunctional. For those of us who think about death a little every day, and know that anyone can go with a bang, it is good to have this voice that is so familiar with the byways. There is a lot of wisdom here. The last part of the novel is about her way back to life before the rebirths of grief. After finishing reading, I feel that the narrative is somewhat effective. The template-like development slows down. A little artificial The language of Maria Kjos Fonn is good and figurative. Apart from the vivid scenes from childhood – which are so apt about the child’s perspective that it is completely heartbreaking – the novel’s strength is the often weighty reflection on the material: Sometimes the text feels contrived in its beautifying descriptions of the pain and the extremity of the situation, which strikes me as the author’s voice more than Margaret’s. We can calculate that Margaret was born in 2002 and therefore belongs to the Gen Z generation, which would never use the word “rouge”, but blush. They also don’t know what Lycra tights are, or who Nick Cave is. All of this is too “millennial”, and I think it is the author who shines through. Fortunately, the author is also funny, and this gallows humor gives balance to the drama: Sometimes the humor is a little too punchy. At the same time, this hardly saves us from overbearing sentimentality. Despite the gloomy content, I came to the conclusion that grief – no matter how lifeless it appears – is the life in us that speaks. We are sorry that the sparkling and colorful in the long run cannot be salvaged. “Margaret, are you in sorrow” is a thought-provoking tale about death whispering from the shadows. news reviewer Photo: Aschehoug Title: “Margaret, are you in sorrow” Author: Maria Kjos Fonn Genre: Novel Publisher: Aschehoug Number of pages: 180 Date: 17 October 2024 Listen to Maria Kjos Fonn as a guest in “Sommer i P2”: Published 25.10.2024, at 14.11
ttn-69
“Margaret, are you in sorrow” by Maria Kjos Fonn – Reviews and recommendations
