I Live a Life Like Yours

I have a congenital muscular dystrophy. I use a wheelchair. I have a college education, a job. I’m a family man. On the surface, I’m well-off. What had to happen for me to reach this point?

I Live a Life Like Yours is about life in a vulnerable body. It is a story about work, about dreams and a longing to live like everyone else. It is a book about life, both common and uncommon.

"Into the unknown: we don’t know where we’re going. We are sailing in a leaky boat; we know that we’re dying animals. With dreams of Byzantium, we bail out as much water as we can, sailing onward, together. We are Argonauts, astronauts, adventurers, explorers. This is our journey."

Foreign sales Sweden, Weyler USA, Farrar, Straus & Giroux UK, Pushkin Press Netherlands, Uitgeverij Oevers Iceland, Iceland University Press Denmark, Gutkind Korea, Book 21 France, Le bruit du monde Italy, IperboreaArabic Edition, Al Arabi PublishingWinner of P.O Enquist Prize 2021Winner of the Literay Critic's Prize 2018Nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2019

* A New York Times Editors' Choice * Publishers Weekly Best Nonfiction Books of 2021 *

Praise

…“A quietly brilliant book that warms slowly in the hands… Artful”Dwight Garner, The New York Times

“Compelling, unconventional and powerfully told... His genius becomes evident in his mastery of language”Michael J. Fox, The New York Times

"This stunning work isn’t to be missed."Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“An elegant meditation on what it’s like to be a body that does not resemble most other bodies, but it’s also about aging, parenthood, memory, academia, and love. A tart and spare palate cleanser.”Vulture/New York Magazine

"Absorbing, insightful reflections on being human"Kirkus Review (starred review)

“… a restrained and stunning meditation on what it means to be human […] ’I Live a Life Like Yours’ is not an account of suffering and deprivation, nor is it a redemptive tale of survival against the odds. It is a restrained, dazzlingly intelligent and self-excavating examination of what it has meant to be disabled and visibly different, not ’normal’. It beautifully describes ’the work of being myself in the world’‚ and this work becomes a meditation on what it is to be human, what it is to be lonely and full of hope and yearning. […] I started off by writing everything that most profoundly moved or excited me in I Live a Life Like Yours into my notebook, but quickly found I was almost copying out the book verbatim. Every sentence works hard for its place. It is smart, moving and original (and superbly translated). It clears a space for itself, brushing worn-out language and familiar ideas to the margins and forging its own ’secret history’ in order ’to take back the world’. It makes you read carefully and think feelingly and I’m grateful that it is now in my head and heart, working change.”Nicci Gerrard, The Guardian

“I Live a Life Like Yours, which won the Norwegian Literary Critics Prize, is a quietly wonderful memoir.”The Independent

‘For Grue’s part it is in many ways a life against all odds. He describes it so beautifully and wisely that it makes one think about the great masters of the genre, like American Joan Didion (...) A literary masterpiece that is highly recommended!’Dagbladet

“So sympathetic, so successful, so precise, with such a light literary touch.”Bok365

‘A masterpiece of own life.’Stavanger Aftenblad

‘Jan Grue’s portrayal of his life is better than most Norwegian autobiographical non-fiction. [...] The book will, in all likelihood, linger as a milestone signifying that a new maturity is reaching autobiographically based literature in Norwegian non-fiction, too.’Morgenbladet

‘What fascinates, moves and makes me think is the extraordinarily successful combination of the deeply personal and the universal. This is not just about the author himself, but what it means to be human. If anyone asks about my favourites from the current rich variety of Norwegian non-fiction, this book will be up there with the best of them.’Vårt Land

‘Jan Grue blends elements of both fiction and non-fiction and the result is a vital, meditative and learned investigation of what it means to be a different person in the world, at the mercy of a body that does not function as normal bodies do. [...] Grue delivers original observations and a supreme degree of reflection.’Dagsavisen

‘It is an exploration of identity, of premises, boundaries and transgressions in which Grue opens up a broad horizon in language that is free and refined. The outcome is literature of relevance and greatness.’Dag og Tid

‘Reality literature has almost become synonymous with washing one’s dirty laundry in public. That’s not how it is in this flawless autobiography, which has instantly assumed a place high up in the Norwegian autobiographical canon. Everyone who has read something by the author before knows what he is capable of, but with this text he arouses anticipation on just about anything. Exemplary and transcendent.’Morgenbladet (Books of the Year)

‘Great language, enormous skill and a great deal of reflection. This is Grue’s story, but it’s also a tale of what it is to be human. [...] A powerful and important book!’Romerikes Blad