“I’ll pick you up” by Gine Cornelia Pedersen – Reviews and recommendations

Gine Cornelia Pedersen is constantly on fire. Since his debut in 2013 with the novel “Null”, which won Tarjei Vesaas’ debutant prize, Pedersen has offered distinctive and energetic books. Her new novel, “I’ll pick you up”, joins this series. The novel’s acute situation – her boyfriend Harald has disappeared on the fourth day of the week and she who is to find him, the I in the novel, has not slept or eaten properly for over 60 hours – is reinforced by the similarities between I-narrator and author. For example, they have the same name: Gine. The reader may think that all this is true. The indicated level of reality is undoubtedly effective. In general, several of Pedersen’s impulses as a writer have found good ground in this particular project, this pull of a novel. MULTI-ARTISTS: Gine Cornelia Pedersen (top) is probably known to many from the series “Unge Lovende” which ran on news from 2015-2018, and in addition series such as “Valkyrie” and “Sigurd fåkke pult”. Photo: Birgit Solhaug / Monster Morbid intensity High tempo, either-or thoughts and the inability to calm down – the signs are seen in people in critical conditions, or can be features of someone’s personality. 25-year-old Gine in “I’ll pick you up” is probably a mixture of the two. Yes, Gine is among the restless among us. But anyone would go crazy from 60 sleepless hours with only alcohol and nicotine, on the journey home across the Atlantic while the lover has not given any sign of life for almost five days. Is he lying with a syringe in his arm? Is he hanging from a tree? Harald is the priest’s son, the poet. He sings, but does not write down his lyrics. He has experienced the darkest things. Together, he and Gine live in the “rough life”: playing havoc and falling asleep on other people’s sofas with their clothes on, under blankets. Harald is done with heroin, but gets high on different things. Gine only drinks (heavily). Rootlessness and restlessness are regulars with Pedersen, almost an expectation. Her new novel is particularly related to her debut “Null”. Back then, the violent – the desperation, the hope – was in a pathological light, all the time the I-person ends up in psychiatry. The boundary between madness and what is “just normal” is a key motif in Pedersen’s writing, and it is a basic assessment of every individual. What’s inside, and what’s sick? The novel’s uninterrupted reflection on its theme is its most important attribute. Gine is bothering me The narrative mostly consists of Gine talking. Long sentences with lots of commas, fast pace, repetitions – it’s believable given the circumstances, and it’s a little bothersome. The fact that the pace does not change after a jump in time where we know that Gine has slept and eaten is devastating. There is something pubescent about Gine. She thinks about people in an absolute and schematic way, divides herself into the “ramp” and the “barbie girl”, and categorizes people as straight or not straight: “the chosen people, look at me, the dirty kid” She often infantilizes herself herself, calls herself the “little girl”. Gine defines herself, she somehow stands outside in every social moment. It bothers her, this urge to get to the bottom of everything and not being able to trust anything. She has a thousand questions and no answers. I think the bothersomeness is a quality of the book, rather than a weakness. Suggests something real The novel is set in the year before Pedersen made his debut. Gine dreams of writing a book, and she will start at the Theater Academy (where the author, who also works as an actor, has attended). The brown pub Cacadou in Oslo is a haunt of both novelist and writer Gine (who publicly criticized the renovation of the place back in 2019). Implying a high level of reality in fiction releases automatically strikes a nerve. What is “true” may seem more important than what is “invented”. Regardless of whether this wild story about Gine and Harald actually happened or not, there is a lot of truth in the novel. This is not a stilted book created in a picture, no, there is a lot of lived life here. The last part of the book is one of the most exciting things I have read. Does Harald live, or does he not? “I’ll pick you up” goes into something absolutely essential in the meeting between people: the individual limits of what is acceptable, the potential disgust and contempt. This makes the novel an insightful read. news reviewer Photo: Cappelen Damm Title: “I’ll pick you up” Author: Gine Cornelia Pedersen Category: Novel Number of pages: 192 Publisher: Cappelen Damm Published: 26 February 2024 ISBN: 9788202818296



ttn-69