Hey there! Yes, it certainly hurts when buds burst. Karin Boye’s poem is perfect for May, when you can literally hear buds bursting forth on twigs and stems. The Swedish poet naturally uses nature’s buds as an image of a transformation in people, and various forms of transitions and transformation are a common thread in today’s Bokbrev. I have spoken to a shooting star who puts into words a confused sexual identity, you get a travel report from Middle-earth and I recommend good books for confirmations. The word of the week is one that I fear is on its way out of the Norwegian language. When Tobi Lakmaker was 17, his name was Sofie and he dreamed of becoming a genius. People around her wanted Sofie to have long hair, make-up and be a cute girl. She would rather have short hair, spend her free time on the football field and be known for writing something big. The wish has come true. The Dutchman has had a smash hit with his debut novel “Historien om min sexualitet”, which will be published in Norwegian next week, and in ten other languages. When I meet Tobi Lakmaker (29) at Teams, he says that he is proud of himself, but also happy that the book is not TOO good. – Just look at JD Salinger. His first book was so perfect that he was never able to outdo himself. The comparison with the classic “The Catcher in the Rye” is completely relevant. Protagonist and narrator Sofie Lakmaker has features in common with Holden Caulfield. But in addition to other teenage problems, Sofie is also struggling to figure out her sexuality. She proceeds with the trial-and-error method. Sofie agrees to lose her virginity to recruitment consultant Walter, who is boring (and nervous in bed), because that’s how it’s supposed to be done. Quote from the novel On the bed we lay and kissed for a long time, and after fifteen minutes I said: “Let’s just do it.” Walter was terrified, I noticed that too, but I had no time to lose – I thought. He was twenty-six and I, as I said, seventeen, and that’s what’s strange: The more time you have, the more urgent it is. After several (unsuccessful) relationships with men, she tries with women, but it doesn’t go well either. Sofie’s narration is so smart and snappy and infectious that I started thinking like she was talking after I closed the book. But the emotions she portrays are quite dark. I wondered how Tobi has balanced the pain in the book with the humor. – A reader told me that it was typical Jewish humor. Making jokes out of things that make you cry is typical for my family, and I probably used that a little unconsciously in the book. Lakmaker’s mother was Jewish on the father’s side, and her death is the saddest and most serious thing in the book. The title “The History of My Sexuality” plays on Michel Foucault’s philosophical work “The History of Sexuality”. But Lakmaker’s story is largely a personal story about failing. Tobi says the novel is actually a tribute to making mistakes. He wanted to write a book about confusion, and show that it is not always wrong to be wrong. You can be happy to hear that, regardless of orientation, gender and age. I cringe when I think back to how much weirdness I did in my teens and early 20s. But for me as a CIS person (and SISS person), I still had it a little easier than the experiences Lakmaker describes. If I was unsure about gender and sexuality, I was still within society’s main norm. Being inside the head and feelings of Sofie opens my eyes to how it can be experienced to go across the norms for gender and sexuality. Here is a sensitive person who already struggles with anxiety, who feels that she is growing up in a void. Who will she desire and how? Sofie finds no stories about her that can guide her in her choices. Tobi told me that a film adaptation of the book is underway. He wants Timothy Chalamet in the role of himself. I support it. Photo: Siss Vik “The story of my sexuality” opens with a prologue in which Sofie says that she has so far in her life asked the wrong questions and therefore only received the wrong answers. I ask Tobi to elaborate on what Sofie learns through the book. – Like all young people, Sofie looks around and asks: What do those around me expect of me? Sofie gets caught up in other people’s stories about her. She must therefore find her own story, says the author. Or, at least she learns to ask her own questions. Obviously, Sofie had enjoyed reading her own book. I highly recommend it. Word of the week May is a busy month for everyone, not least for the farmers, who must revive winter-dead fields. Norway has had an abrupt transition from a fishing and farming society to a high-tech oil-financed nation. Activities that were quite common for my parents to participate in, such as hashing and jumping, are now left to machines. This is also noticeable in the language. I discovered that when I spoke to a colleague from Skjetten, who had never heard of this word: Scrape out the whole picture I was a little surprised, but have realized that today’s urban youth (if we include towns like Skjetten in urbanity😝) have little contact with how the food is grown. “Onn” comes from Norse and means hard work or effort. I myself only indulge a bit in a grow box in the backyard, but crossword puzzles keep the word warm in my vocabulary all year round. “Work with three letters” is often ONN in crosswords. The two most important bins in agriculture are spring bins and autumn bins, but there can also be more specific ones such as hay bins and potato bins. If onning disappears from the Norwegian language, many texts and books from recent history will be difficult to understand. Norwegian academic dictionary mentions examples of literary use of onn by Ibsen, Hamsun, Wassmo and Roy Jacobsen. So take a spring for the word evil, and spread it to everyone you know, like manure on the fields! Now I don’t know if lambing is part of the spring season, but it is at least hard work for the farmer, which gives incredibly sweet results. Author Sigmund Løvåsen recently shared a photo of a newborn lamb on his neighboring farm on Facebook. My heart almost hurts from sweet shock. Photo: Sigmund Løvåsen For the picture, it might be appropriate to share one of Løvåsen’s own poems, inspired by growing up on the farm Furyly in Trysil, where he regularly participated in the lambing. It is from the fine-fine collection “With the axes they fall in.” Unborn I bring my hand slowly into the lake Find hooves and wet wool Look for nose and ear and eye Before I start to leave, I let my hand rest for a while on the warm head Touch the unborn, stay there for a little while. Imagine being able to literally feel the unborn life? It is a reminder to be close to the miracle of life. Travel report from Middle-earth You commissioned me to read “The Lord of the Rings” as my debut into the fantasy world, and I have promised to report. I have to say Tolkien delivers on plot in the first volume. Our party has already been in mortal danger several times and met countless scary creatures. It is a job to navigate personal and place names, because all places and creatures have names in elven, dwarven and human languages. “The Lord of the Rings” is worse than Russian novels in terms of complicated name gallery. I quickly skim through the longest songs. Hope it’s ok. Tolkien is a little too fond of songs. The map, on the other hand, I take very seriously. I have acquired a magnifying glass to be able to follow our friends’ journey through Middle-earth. Photo: Siss Vik Flere was dismayed that I had not read the actual “bible” in fantasy, and yes, I see that there are good reasons to read this reference work. Among other things, I see how strongly JK Rowling has been inspired by “The Lord of the Rings” in “Harry Potter”, and I reckon that applies to many a book. I also discover where well-known cultural phenomena have their reference from, such as the Norwegian band Burzum taking their name from the inscription on the ring. And could it be that Bombadilla Life, the country scourge from 1989, is based on the merry figure Tom Bombadil? That a new species of butterfly has just been named after the evil Sauron shows that mythology is certainly alive and well. What’s also fun is that people keep talking to me about The Lord of the Rings. I have had nice conversations at the coffee machine about the book with opera reviewer Eystein Sandvik and Helvete director Håvard Braathen. Drivkraft-Larsen now ironically calls me “the fantasy queen Siss Vik”. It’s like being initiated into a new family. I haven’t experienced my husband since “everyone” read Knausgård’s “Min kamp” and we talked about it in shops and on the street. I hope more people will hang on to Tolkien with me. Dad (79) has ordered the book from his local library and I’m excited to see if elves, orcs and hobbits are his cup of tea. In any case, he is a bit tired of contemporary Norwegian novels about his own emotional life, so who knows, maybe this is exactly what he needs. I will soon finish volume 1, but I have to have a little break to prepare for the literature festival in Lillehammer at the end of May. The difficult gift of comfort A sure sign of spring are small clusters of fur-clad people who stand out in the urban and rural landscape. May and June are confirmation time, and social media is filled with pictures of 14-year-olds and their proud parents. Perhaps you have been invited to confirmation this spring and are wondering what to give? Nowadays, many people choose to give money, but if everyone tilts the gift, it can look a bit awkward on the gift table. I think books can still be a great graduation gift, but finding the right book is a real pain! You have to signal that the young person is welcome in the ranks of the adults. But will a 14-year-old be happy with Snorre’s royal sagas? It is probably smart to first inquire with the parents about book gifts in order to probe the field of interest and level. Here are some options: Rompy and touching about Munch Every Norwegian must know our greatest painter, Edvard Munch. Steffen Kverneland’s drawn biography is suitable for both young and old. There is a lot of tongue-in-cheek humour, while the story of Munch’s life is gripping. This is the first comic book to win the Brage prize in the non-fiction category. Askeladden story from the football field Zlatan may not be the hottest on the football field anymore, but the story of his life is just as strong. Erik Thorstvedt confided to me that his son devoured the Zlatan biography in one go when he was a child. This book is suitable for most people interested in football. For girls who only love boys in books. This series is a hot tip from a real 14-year-old. Vera says this dystopian series is suitable for girls who hate boys in real life, but love boys in books. Within fantasy and Young adult, there are a number of great book sets with the entire series, such as this one, often in English but also some in Norwegian. Ask for help in the bookshop! Nice classic series Skald publishing house publishes classics in new translations into Nynorsk in a very nice design. Here you can choose some titles suitable for young people, for example Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”, Jane Austen’s young adult novel “Northanger Abbey” or Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”. (Mary Shelley was only 19 when she wrote this masterpiece.) Then the confirmand can expand with new titles as she matures. Character growing up in Iran Behind the slightly mysterious title “Persepolis” hides a fabulous story about growing up in Iran during the victory of the Islamic revolution. Marjane Satrapi has created a modern classic with her drawn autobiography. At the age of 14, she is sent from Tehran to Austria, where she is very unhappy and returns home. Here you will find drawings of veiled girls who acquire Iron Maiden cassettes in alleyways. The book is rock and absolutely beautiful. My colleague Anne Cathrine Straume has made a nice list of good new books for young people, where you can also find good gift ideas. For example, the “Handbook for young anti-racists” is a great gift. Do you have more tips for others in need of a confirmation gift? Share them in the comments! Comment So, back to the confirmation nut: Is “Kristin Lavransdatter” still a good confirmation gift, or will it remain unread on the bookshelf? What kind of book gifts are suitable for 14-year-olds? Go ahead with tips and opinions! Hello! Welcome to dialogue at news. Since you are logged in to other news services, you do not have to log in again here, but we need your consent to our terms of use for online dialogue
ttn-69
Writing funny and sad about confused sexuality – Siss Vik’s book letter
