Per Petterson, Out Stealing Horses
£
November 28th, 2009 by Andrew
We have come to call this novel The Ploughing Book… To be honest, there is no ploughing though there is a critical scene that revolves around 3 pages of hay-making. Elsewhere, there are other scenes that we joke revolve around ‘agri-business’. We joke about the novel perhaps because of a sense of lost time, of missed opportunity and a sense of loss that pervades the lives of the characters.
‘Out Stealing Horses’ is not an uplifting read but it is truly awesome. When we look back over which books have proven most popular since we opened in September, the popularity of this book among our regular customers – and those who have visited us for the first time because this novel was so highly recommended – has really surprised us because Per Petterson’s Dublin IMPAC Award-winning book has been around for a while and we’ve done no price-promotion on this book. Simply put, the popularity of this book locally is purely down to word-of-mouth recomendation.
Trond, the main character, is not an easy character for a reader to empathise with. He is old and he is miserable. The question is why.
The narrative alternates between Trond reflecting on how he lives now, hidden away in a remote part of the Norwegian countryside, and one magical summer from his youth, Trond reveals how small, insubstantial family dramas can forge a lasting legacy that haunts us even in our twilight years.
In interview, Per Petterson has revealed that on reading the English translation of his novel, he was astounded to discover an almost entirely new story. He is quoted as preferring the English version of ‘Out Stealing Horses’ to the original and this is testimony to the skill of the translator, Anne Born.
One of the most striking things about some books in translation is the sense of timelessness. I personally prefer his earlier, semi-autobiographical novel ‘In The Wake’ but as a dramatic account of the age-old struggle of fathers and sons to communicate clearly those feelings for each other that cannot always be expressed in words, it is ‘Out Stealing Horses’ which will endure and prove to be the greater, more popular, novel.
A full article containing an interview with the author, can be found on the website of The Washingon Post.
