The moment I really get hooked on Siri Helle’s little book is when she starts talking about planting potatoes. She does this in such an educational way that one begins to wonder if it is not high time to do the same yourself. What’s stopping me from putting the spade in the ground and planting the Troll potato variety? Maybe put some newspapers underneath, and then wait in breathless suspense throughout the spring and summer in sun, wind and rain, and with constant new attacks from slimy brown slugs. Siri Helle is an agronomist and columnist in the weekly newspaper Dag og Tid. She has previously written books about taking back power over the food in the shop, and about the value of practical work, which she believes must be adjusted both in our lives in general and in the school system in particular. What is a home? In the previous book, she limited herself to building an outhouse outside the family cabin. In “Trollefossvegen 23. Back to the village”, she expands her perspective in several directions. This time she is buying a house together with Asle, whom she met on a sailmaking course in the village where she grew up. We follow the two through four seasons, where they try to create a home in the deepest sense of the word. Because what really is a home? What does it mean to feel at home? Is it even a good idea to settle down in District Norway with a man 22 years older when you’ve lived in a backpack all your life? Gives the reader faith in himself In purely literary terms, we can perhaps say that Siri Helle engages in a form of interchange. It is a very personal story, in which both the man, the cat, the chickens, the ducks, the neighbors and the people in the village of Askvoll are allowed to participate. But she also has her own ability to describe the practical challenges in such a way that the reader is led to believe that it may be possible to do something similar themselves. Isn’t it high time for a compost bin? Or to get over the threshold of starting to bake with sourdough? Aren’t there any currants nearby right now, so I too can have currant jelly for the meatballs all year round? What changes do I need to make in my everyday life to become “someone like that” who does not contribute to destroying the planet? What does this mean in practice of duties and renunciation? Or as she writes: A twinkle in the eye All these timely words swirling in the air – whether it’s sustainability, short travel, reuse or circular economy – are tested here against the concrete Westland reality. Is life outside the city possible without becoming lonely, divorced, broke and unhappy? I won’t reveal how things are going with the two in Trollefossvegen. What is absolutely certain is that Helle writes about these topics with great ease and a built-in twinkle in her eye. In order to endure everyday life, she and her husband agree that they will create the hashtag #halvferdig, as a kind of tribute to everything that is shaken in the home and in life in general. We readers live with that, because in literary terms, Siri Helle is completely level here. news reviews Photo: Samlaget Title: “Trollefossvegen 23: back to the village” Author: Siri Helle Genre: Nonfiction Publisher: Samlaget Number of pages: 213 Date: August 2022 Hi! I read and review literature in news. Please also read my review of “Kairos” by Jenny Erpenbeck, “Etterliv” by Abdulrazak Gurnah or Franz Kafka’s “The Process” translated by Jon Fosse.
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back to home” by Siri Helle – Reviews and recommendations
