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Naive. Super
 
 

Naive. Super (Paperback)

by Erlend Loe (Author), Tor Ketil Solberg (Translator)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 208 pages
  • Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd; New edition edition (7 Jul 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1841956724
  • ISBN-13: 978-1841956725
  • Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 10.9 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 4,635 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Erlend Loe's cult novel Naïve. Super, about a 25-year old who is unable to find any meaning in his life, was a huge success in his native Norway, and a bestseller throughout Europe--and it isn't difficult to see why.

The narrator has given up on doing his Masters and gone to stay at his brother's house. His brother is away on business and needs his mail redirecting via fax. Aside from that there is nothing to do. So he makes lists, worries about time, befriends a small boy who lives next door, worries about his good friend and his bad friend and tries to understand what being, and being here and now, means. In mostly very short, sometimes elliptical, wry but never ironic chapters Loe works at his character's fear of the meaningless and works meaning into the slightest of material. There is a lovely moment toward the end of the novel when the narrator's brother picks up and plays with the child's toy he has previously berated the narrator for holding on to. Sometimes, we feel, imputing meaning to the simpler things may well be the only route to understanding the more complex ones.

The novel is reminiscent of "60s" writer Richard Brautigan at his best, has the knowing artlessness of Douglas Coupland and shares a love of lists with Nick Hornby but Loe has bagfuls of his own unique charm. This is a beautifully unaffected, funny book, refreshingly free of cynicism, which manages to raise serious existential questions while retaining throughout the lightest of touches and the quirkiest of observations.--Mark Thwaite --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



Review

"It displays a canny lightness of touch and a great deal of charm. An effortlessly hip and savvy antidote to the rainy day blues." Sleazenation; "Loe certainly has some of Salinger's lightness of touch, and the often comic voice of his unnamed narrator recalls Salinger's Holden Caulfield. A charming debut novel." The Times; "A book overflowing with creative talent... Well-calculated naivety" Dagbladet (Norway); "It is a fascinating how much depth this young author can convey in simple language - a major talent." Oldenburgische Volkszeitung (Germany); "I devoured Erlend Loe with giggling excitement." Arbetet (Sweden)"

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Customer Reviews

27 Reviews
5 star:
 (20)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (27 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Naive. Simple., 29 Jan 2007
After having ordered this item off Amazon, I read the blurb and I seriously thought I'd made a wrong decision in ordering it because although I tend to like most books I read, I'm only sixteen and I was in need of something light to read, not something about a struggling twenty-five year old.

After reading the first couple of lines, however, I was hooked on to it and now I am in need of something similar to read.

This is definitely one of the best books I've ever read.
Because it made me re-believe.
In trees, and bikes and in people.

It's simple. Nothing too bad happens. Nothing too exciting.
It's real.
It's everything we're short of in today's society.
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely unique, 25 Nov 2002
This review is from: Naive. Super (Paperback)
Unfortunately, it is want of some people to always want to compare books to others they like or appreciate. While this works well sometimes, I feel that comparisons tend not to do "Naive. Super" much justice at all. It is completely unique. I do not remember reading a book quite so fresh. Erlend Loe's childlike narrative voice is spiritual. It make you yearn for the immediacy and wonder that many attribute to the years of childhood.

Indeed, the "story" is really secondary. When I first read the description of what happens in the book, it sounded interesting but perhaps a little derivative. Not until you read this brief, delightful book - and I so recommend that you do - will you realise that it is only the descriptions of the book that are derivative. One of the best books I have read this year, without a doubt.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars magic, 25 Dec 2002
By Mr. M. Hartley "bulletproof_cupid" (Notts, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Naive. Super (Paperback)
The narrator of this story is a 20-something, and with the use of simple sentences and his naive/childlike take on the world around him, gains him a certain empathy from the reader that makes this book a joy to read.
the story concerns the narrator and his attempts to figure out 'what it's all about'. It takes in a trip to new york, making new friends, sorting out his love life, a hammer and peg, and trying to understand the theory of relativity.

at times sad, at times laugh out loud funny yet always beautifully written...a must read.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars good and relax book
is very easy reading, and take you to a different perspective of live! how many times have you been lost and didn't stop a minute to see the map.....
Published 2 months ago by Rui Miguel Salazar

5.0 out of 5 stars Naive. Super
This book is very simple. There is no extensive plot, nothing too complex in it. It's the everyday observations of a man in his twenties who is housesitting for his brother, mixed... Read more
Published 2 months ago by amazonian117

5.0 out of 5 stars Just read the book
I have just finished reading this book. It is amazing! It is just as its title suggests, naive and super but also poetic and fragile in an unexpectedly relevant way. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Pain Killer

5.0 out of 5 stars So good! and difficult to pin point why
This is one of the best books I've ever read, although its not immediately obvious as to what makes it so special. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Yan Saluki

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Read
I'll keep it brief: Naïve. Super is the best book I've read all year.

The plot is simple, easy-to-follow. Read more
Published 5 months ago by C. Brady

3.0 out of 5 stars A strangely affecting little book.
At first it seemed a bit too 'naive' to me. The language is so simple that it doesn't read true as coming from a 25 year old. Read more
Published 5 months ago by noc

5.0 out of 5 stars Plain Super
If you are or have been a twenty-something that's a bit lost, this book will appeal to you. If you're not, it will still appeal because of its charm. Read more
Published 5 months ago by A. Stevenson

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Plot
If you ever read The Alchemist of Coelho, you should read this book. For people looking for a book that inspires, surprises and makes you laugh so hard. Love it!
Published 6 months ago

3.0 out of 5 stars Are you in your early 20s and don't know what you're doing with your meaningless existence? You're not alone...
I think I enjoyed this while I was reading it, but hindsight keeps on telling me it wasn't that good. Read more
Published 7 months ago by G. E. S. Ruffer

3.0 out of 5 stars Short, sweet, overrated
This is a strange little book, written in very flat prose. It doesn't really hang together as a novel as each chapter is more of a short vignette about the life of our anonymous... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Peter Lee

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