Director Margreth Olin is known for her close, personal films. She has a special look for the checkered, those who are a little different, or who don’t quite fix their lives. She preserves this perspective in her debut novel “Song to mother”, a love letter to her parents and to the powerful nature that frames their lives. The book follows in the footsteps of the documentary “Fedrelandet”, which was Norway’s Oscar candidate last year. For a year, Olin and his father wandered around the Oldedalen in Nordfjord, through the forest, up the mountain sides, and over the glacier with its long blue tongue that stretches out into the fjord. The fear of the inevitable Nature gives and nature takes, we learned in the film: In Lovatnet lie 18 of Tipoldemora’s relatives, taken by a tidal wave. Several of the movie lines are repeated on paper: the fear of losing a spouse, a parent. The attempt to come to terms with the inevitable. Because on 5 August last year, just hours after the film had its outdoor premiere in his home village, with his parents as guests of honour, what Olin fears most happens: Mora falls over. She is transported by helicopter over the mountains to Haukeland. The daughter holds her hand the whole way, watches her face. While the storm Hans rages outside, the mother is in the hospital. A few days later she dies. The struggle for existence Who is Margreth without her mother? And who was the mother before Margreth? “Song til mor” is somewhere between novel and biography. Had it been published in the US, it would have ended up under “memoir” in the bookstore, but perhaps we can call it a memoir? This is not a chronological narrative, the memories come in spades. Olin remembers her mother as a humming, warm presence in her daughter’s life. The one she calls when she wants to go home after five days as a student in Bergen. The one who welcomes her with open arms when, many years later, she faces a major life crisis. But everything is not just cozy here; The mother has had her share of struggles. Olin writes himself into his mother’s own memories, tells of a life filled with hard work. Magnhild had to help on the farm early on, she milked cows before school started and had such long days that she could fall asleep with her head against a warm cow stomach. She defended her little brother who was bullied because he had Down syndrome, and she was silent from the age of twelve. Did she dream of something else, the narrator wonders. How far was it really possible to dream for a girl raised in a western village during the war? Mora passed on her dreams to her daughter, encouraging her early on to write, and Olin writes as she creates pictures on the canvas, we can imagine it. The glacier arm is “embroidered in ice, shaped like a trail on a wedding dress”, the sky gets “black drawings” of birds. The sentences are tight-lipped, like the parents themselves. Warming “You said you had to leave first, I know why now”, says Olin’s father when he says goodbye to his lover of 62 years. The grief of losing a loved one is almost unbearable. For some, Olin’s song will be experienced in a minor key in several ways. Not everyone has had the chance to experience what she or her parents have had: The safe, unconditional, lifelong love. news reviewer Photo: Oktober publisher Title: “Song til mor” Author: Margreth Olin Publisher: Oktober Date: 3 October 2024 ISBN: 9788249528868 Hello, book lovers! I am a freelance writer and review books for news. I love everything from dizzying page-turners to short short stories and narrative non-fiction. The last book I read in shreds was “Jævla menn” by Andrev Walden, and my heart beats extra hard for Lorrie Moore and Geoff Dyer. Please contact me if you have input for the review or tips on books I should read! Published 17.11.2024, at 06.15
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“Song til mor” by Margreth Olin – Reviews and recommendations
