Nils Vik wakes up on November the 18th and knows it will be the day he dies. He follows his morning routine as voices from his past echo in his mind, and looks around the empty house one last time, before stepping onto his beloved boat. His dog, dead these many years, leaps aboard with him, and then the other dead begin to emerge - from the woods along the fjord, from each of the ferry stops along the route, from his logbook full of memories and quotations and jotted-down notes about the weather conditions. The people from the past accompany him now, prodding him, showing him what he might have missed before, as he waits for his Marta, his late, remarkable wife, to finally join him on the boat again.
Gentle ... Each page is made marvellous ... Grytten’s characters are intriguing, unique and reassuringly flawed ... It’s these sweeping questions of life and death that are at the heart of this offbeat book.
A meditative, ethereal journey ... This is a taut, captivating, and deeply moving exploration of the universal consideration of how to live a good life.
his slight Norwegian novel is unforgettable and surprising, packed with remarkable characterizations and superbly translated into English by Alison McCullough ... Exquisitely crafted.
