Loves
By Tomas Espedal
Loves is a novel about death: the good death. The main character is looking forward to dying. He has had his fill of life; he is satisfied. But where and how should he die? He…
By Tomas Espedal
Loves is a novel about death: the good death. The main character is looking forward to dying. He has had his fill of life; he is satisfied. But where and how should he die? He…
Loves is a novel about death: the good death. The main character is looking forward to dying. He has had his fill of life; he is satisfied. But where and how should he die? He gives himself one more year to live. And in this year, he lives more intensely than ever before, precisely because every season, every month, and finally, each day, will be the last.
FOREIGN SALES:
Denmark, BatzerUK, Seagull
REVIEWS:
Norway
“Tomas Espedal’s Loves offers an insight into an uncompromising yearning for beauty and is literary art of the highest level.” Vårt Land
“There is a lightness to this novel that can appear superficial, but which is actually one of its strengths. Tomas Espedal’s precise, clear and alert sentences weave joie de vivre, sorrow and pain into a single-minded and entertaining narrative.” Dagsavisen
“Espedal is a brilliant stylist.” Dagbladet
“Regardless, this is literature at a high level, borne along by a form of resigned desperation – and there is no one right now who does this better than Tomas Espedal.” VG
Denmark
Politiken
INTENSITY IN EACH AND EVERY SENTENCE – 5 stars
“All in all, Loves offers variations across themes that are present in abundance in Espedal's other works, including existential surrender and an enthusiasm for romantic free spirits. Nothing is spared, except for the clichés – which, in its literary recycling of Loves’ photographic tableaux, the novel also consciously plays with.
Self-parody is just within stumbling distance, but the stupendous thing is that Espedal once again gets away with it. You can think what you like about the approach, but the style backs it up – in the novel's striking eulogy to loneliness, alcohol, love and – yes – life.
And that very life is in almost every sentence; it takes nothing for granted, but manages to create the intensity that, in Espedal's universe, is the aim and measure of everything."
Jyllands-Posten
LIFE IS A FLAME THAT IS LIT AND BLOWN OUT – 5 stars
“Now the reader will be wondering why a novel gets five stars when I'm so removed from it. But the distance is pure window dressing. It’s been more than easy to bury myself in Espedal's melancholy male universe.
Espedal is adept at describing farewells and loss, but this time even he pushes it to the limit – his I (and that is the main character's unusual name!) takes the decision to commit suicide, giving himself a year to clamber off the merry-go-round.
The ending is unbearable (and the language is masterfully executed by the author).”
