With debutantes, you never know what you’re going to get, and “Saltstøtten’s son” is a story I really didn’t see coming. Carl Henrik Berge, a 30-year-old young journalist from Bergen, has chosen to tread in rather large footsteps. The question then becomes: How does he get out of it? And then: What comes out of it? Unrest and pillars of salt History takes us between different cities where strict, but not necessarily wise, gatekeepers decide who is allowed to enter. Funny things send people wandering: A cloud turns into a floating city – how long will it stay floating? Things get messy, dangerous infection comes within the gates and yes, in Ironsengen’s city, people turn into pillars of salt. Apart from the salt supports, all of this could have happened today. But neither cities nor people have names that place history in time and space: We are in the “Marble City” or the “Sea City” and similarly people are identified as “the blacksmith’s wife” or “the boy”. Nature points towards the Middle East. Well-known props such as salt pillars and reed baskets with newborn children underline that we are in a biblical landscape. At times the language builds up under this: The wanderers meet people who give enigmatic answers, answers which do not always require great wisdom, but which often have an aura of wisdom and mystery about them, God on the periphery Even though the Bible offers both brutality and various bodily practices, the associations occasionally slide in the direction of “Game of Thrones”. No Old Testament prophet offers such details. Another feature that kept drawing my mind to “Game of Thrones” is the religion. Here, as there, he is not central to the people. Some talk about God’s punishment, others about gods or spirits, but it mostly seems like figures of speech. Here there are neither clear ideas about the divine, nor ritual actions to speak of. Religion does not help to explain either the universe or everything that happens. What does this story want? The language is what prompts this novel. It is brutal, beautiful and unusual image-making. I imagine the iron bed, the lepers, the blacksmith’s wife, the marble city and the walk through the mud after the scum has receded. This is a great quality. A few episodes are repeated, such as when the boy backs the salt support, which was once his father, onto the horse when he is about to flee. But here there are many people wandering, who meet different people with cryptic messages and who knock on gates to let them into towns where very different living conditions await. And although the novel ends in a nice ending to the story of the boy, I am unable to find keys to a more overall understanding of the whole story. “Saltstøttens son” is a linguistic feast and a distinctive image cavalcade. Few can do it after Berge. But the novel left behind a vague atmosphere, more than something that really took hold. I miss that. But both the strong and the weak aspects of the novel make me more than usual excited for the next book. news reports Photo: Kolon forlag Title: “Saltstøttens søn” Author: Carl Henrik Berge Genre: Novel Publisher: Kolon Number of pages: 138 Date: Autumn 2022 Hi! I am chief critic of fiction at news. Feel free to read my book reviews of “The Surgeon” by Ida Hegazi Høyer, “Løpe ulv” by Kerstin Ekman or “Matrix” by Lauren Groff. In the link below you will find tips for good books and other information about books and reading. The book letter to Siss Vik comes every week.
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“Saltstøtten’s son” by Carl Henrik Berge – Reviews and recommendations
