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Monday 20 June 2011

Johan Harstad launched in the USA

Norwegian author Johan Harstad has just been launched in the USA. His novel Buzz Aldrin. What happened to you in all the confusion? got good reviews by critics and amazon readers alike. I read the books years ago, and I think it's great that it's getting a larger audience.

The Norwegian publisher posted a link to an interview with Harstad about the book:




I really loved a later novel by Harstad, Hässelby, which is a metafictional work about Swedish author Gunilla Bergström's beloved childrens book "hero" Albert Åberg, Alfie Atkins in English, Alfons Åberg in Swedish, or Willi Wiberg in German (I LOOOOOVED him as a kid - and still do!). It tells the story of the adult Alfie Atkins, who is trying to make sense of his life after his father passes away. We learn more about the years that have passed between the character as we knew him in the children's book, and up until the present story, in which he is 42. We get the story of Albert's journeys to Hong Kong, Germany and France, and I especially love the star wars stormtroopers photoshoot references. As the story progresses, the tone becomes more ominous, and certain elements in the narrative reminded me of Paul Auster's New York Trilogy. Read it!

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