Burnt-out from a demanding job and a bustling life in the city, Emelie has left town to spend a few days in the country. Once there, in the peaceful, verdant hills, down by the river she encounters a mysterious group of seven people, each with personal stories full of pain, alienation, and the longing to live differently. They are misfits, each in their own way, and all led by the enigmatic and charismatic Sara. How did they end up there? Are they content with the rigid roles they've been assigned? And what happens when an outsider appears and is initially drawn to their alternative lifestyle but cannot help but stir things up?
Disturbing, engrossing ... Her observations are intercut with chapters focusing on each of the Colony’s members, in the past and present. Norlin is in full command of her characters’ histories and marshals a tremendous level of detail ... My admiration of The Colony is equally an appreciation for Alice E. Olsson, whose work to bring the story into English is so precise and vibrant that I often forgot I was reading a translation ... The story’s open-ended questions...arise organically, without forcing stale answers.
That the book fails to properly explore any of these ideas is a major shortcoming. Indeed, Norlin spends so long on backstories for the Colony’s individual members and their practical motives for seeking isolation that there’s not only less space but less narrative necessity for them to share a philosophy ... The low intensity of dialogue and debate is baffling, especially given the early signs of discontent that Norlin carefully plants ... If only the whole story had been told from Låke’s curious and blinkered perspective, The Colony might have ended up more show than tell, and the more eloquent for it. As it stands, the characterization is thin, the motivations are overdetermined, and the Colony’s endurance demands too steep a suspense of disbelief.
What makes this book so clever is that you unwittingly follow Emelie’s trajectory of thought about the Colony: suspicious at first, then slowly seduced, before realising that things are not as perfect as they seem ... The novel is testament to the power of writerly discipline. Even though it contains murder, rape, inherited trauma and an unfortunate encounter with a bear, the author never caves in to melodrama, gushy lyricism or sentimentality. The result is an intriguing tale that I’ve been turning over in my mind since finishing it. On further reflection, I’ve decided not to abscond to a commune.
