Vivid ... Girl, 1983 is...deft in its experiments, subverting conventional ideas about fiction’s use of the truth ... Ullmann has not just written an autobiographical novel; she has suggested that every autobiography might be a novel in the first place ... Both distinctly personal and universally true.
Girl, 1983 powerfully transmits the feelings of shame and guilt that are deflected on to the innocent victim ... Martin Aitken’s translation conveys a spare style in which rage and fear are subsumed into a simple need to confront.
A disquieting tale, gracefully translated from the Norwegian by Aitken ... In precise, lyrical prose, Ullmann creates a captivating portrait of a woman in search of herself ... An engrossing, intimate narrative.
Intense ... The solemn tone never wavers, which some readers may find stultifying, but the narrator’s vivid memories of her youth...culminate in an unflinching description of the fateful encounter with the photographer. The result is a mesmerizing act of recollection and reconstitution.
