Friday, May 30, 2014

THE QUOTE, THE REVIEW, THE LIST for May 30. 2014

A BOOKISH QUOTE

As a kid, I lived almost entirely inside books, and eventually the books started returning the favor. A lot of my internal world feels like an anthology, or a library. It's eclectic and disorganized, but I can browse in it, and that hugely shapes both what and how I write.
-Kathryn Schulz



THE REVIEW

THE SON
by Jo Nesbø, translated by Charlotte Barslund

KIRKUS REVIEW

A deftly plotted novel that probes the deepest mysteries: sin, redemption, love, evil, the human condition.

After he seemingly brought Harry Hole back from the dead in his last novel (Police, 2013), Norway’s Nesbø gives his popular protagonist a breather, shelving the detective in favor of a stand-alone novel that plunges deeply into the religious allegory that has frequently framed his work (The Redeemer, 2013). In fact, the symbolism might initially seem laid on pretty thick for readers looking to solve a satisfying whodunit. Sonny Lofthus, the son of the title, is introduced as a prisoner with “healing hands,” one who was “prepared to take your sins upon himself and didn’t want anything in return.” Like Christ, he suffers for the sins of others and offers redemption. He is also a hopeless junkie. His back story suggests that Sonny was a boy of considerable promise, a champion wrestler and model student, proud son of a police officer. Then, when he was 18, he was devastated by the suicide of his father, who left a note confessing his corruption as the mole within the department, and the subsequent death of his heartbroken mother. After Sonny turned to drugs, he found himself in a web of evil; if he would confess to murders he hadn’t committed, the corrupt prison system would keep him supplied with heroin. Then a fellow prisoner comes to him for confession and reveals a secret that turns Sonny’s world upside down, inspiring him to kick his habit, plot an ingenious escape and turn himself into an “avenging angel,” delivering lethal retribution. The inspector obsessed with the case had a complicated relationship with Sonny’s father, and it remains uncertain until the climax (in a church, naturally) whether he wants to be Sonny’s captor or his collaborator. It’s a novel in which one character muses on “how innocence walks hand-in-hand with ignorance. How insight never clarifies, only complicates.”

One of Nesbø’s best, deepest and richest novels, even without Harry Hole.


Pub Date: May 13th, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-35137-9
Page count: 416pp
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: April 3rd, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15th, 2014


THE LIST

23 Places Where You's Rather Be Reading Right Now

5 comments:

  1. In the same way as other different things throughout everyday life, there ought to be time fixed for the gaming moreover. In the event that games are being played over exorbitant times of life, at that point this habit of game can decimate the wellbeing circumstance of the gamer. https://www.punctuationhelp.com/11-things-you-need-to-know-about-punctuation-checker-tool/

    ReplyDelete
  2. For keeping my family members together and for the redirection reason, I am used to organize a family game night at my home step by step. These events join family and keep the family combined. https://www.punctuationtester.com/why-should-i-punctuate-my-sentence-online-free/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Some online open games may in like manner have some comparability issues. Due to these issues, an individual will in all probability be not able play a couple of games. While in underpins, you can play each game dependent on your choice. http://www.sentencecorrection.org/your-text-will-be-flawless-after-you-run-it-through-our-english-sentence-structure-checker/

    ReplyDelete
  4. In this blog a young girl is desperate to share is love for the books and she waited fourteen years for it. Get more info form this site. We should learn from it that one who is willing to become successful must love to read books.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This blog has share such informative articles that how you can read a book easily for a long time. Try to go now online for amazing educational tips. This is the best technique that is required in these days. This article has done this very well for the understanding these things.

    ReplyDelete