Hans Windelband finds himself, at age 26, among the living dead. He lives alone in a small apartment in Oslo, his life a mere hollow of an existence, without purpose or direction. This wasn't what he had expected; somehow his life has gone terribly astray, but caught in a web of uselessness and despair, he lacks the strength or desire to try and determine precisely what went wrong -- until he opens the morning newspaper and reads his own obituary! Was this a mistake?, a macabre joke?, who was behind this? -- and why? Who had stolen his identity and will be buried with his name in the West Cemetery in just three days? Hans Windelband has been given a purpose, a kind of second chance. The hunt begins! Norwegian novelist Lars Saaybe Christensen has written a brilliantly crafted crime fiction that will simply mesmerise readers from beginning to end!
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About the Author
Lars Saaybe Christensen
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
By ArtsEater
Amazon Verified Purchase
This is one of Lars Saabye Christensen's early novels - and his only piece of crime fiction (as far as I am aware) that has been translated into English. It was originally published in Christensen's native Norway in 1981 (and translated into this English edition in 1991).
The narrator, Hans Windelband, wakes one morning and reads his obituary in a newspaper (very Kafkaesque and existential!) How did this happen? Is it a sick joke? Who stole his identity and why? The remainder of the novel concerns Hans' journey to find out the answers about who is responsible for his 'death' and why.
Hans' life is that of a loner - he is an outsider (a familiar theme in Christensen's later work). He lives alone in a small apartment in Oslo and his life lacks purpose or direction and, in a sense, it has become meaningless. This isn't the life he planned to live and the novel slowly unravels how Hans arrived at this disappointing point in his life. Does the obituary confirm a fundamental truth about him i.e. that Hans is actually 'dead' on the inside?
I don't think the crime aspect of this novel works so well. Without spoiling the plot, I found it a little difficult to believe the (complex) reason for why Hans' obituary appeared in the local newspaper.
However, in saying this, the main reason I found this novel of great interest is because Christensen is one of my favourite novelists. His later works such as 'Beatles' and 'Half Brother' have deservedly won numerous awards both inside and outside of Norway. 'Joker' contains themes that arise in Christensen's later (and, in my opinion, much better) works. For example, Christensen, like Ibsen, looks at relationship between lies and truth. Is it more humane to lie to somebody if the truth will hurt them too much? That is would Hans be better off telling his friends' mother that her son is dead? Or is it be more humane to allow her to continue to live with the lie that her son is alive and will return home one day.
Christensen's writing is wonderful - even if the translation jars at times. The 'Joker' flows so well and the characters in this novel are so well drawn. I just wish I could read his novels in the original Norwegian. I always suspect the translations lacks something of the original.
My main complaint about 'Joker' actually concerns the translation. It's been translated into American-English which irritates on occasions as you just cannot imagine a Norwegian using such mid-west Americanisms such as 'y'all'.
I've given this novel 3 stars because I don't think the crime-aspect of the novel works too well. However, because Christensen has such a wonderful writing style and draws characters that are so well-rounded and raises very interesting themes I would still recommend 'Joker'.
The narrator, Hans Windelband, wakes one morning and reads his obituary in a newspaper (very Kafkaesque and existential!) How did this happen? Is it a sick joke? Who stole his identity and why? The remainder of the novel concerns Hans' journey to find out the answers about who is responsible for his 'death' and why.
Hans' life is that of a loner - he is an outsider (a familiar theme in Christensen's later work). He lives alone in a small apartment in Oslo and his life lacks purpose or direction and, in a sense, it has become meaningless. This isn't the life he planned to live and the novel slowly unravels how Hans arrived at this disappointing point in his life. Does the obituary confirm a fundamental truth about him i.e. that Hans is actually 'dead' on the inside?
I don't think the crime aspect of this novel works so well. Without spoiling the plot, I found it a little difficult to believe the (complex) reason for why Hans' obituary appeared in the local newspaper.
However, in saying this, the main reason I found this novel of great interest is because Christensen is one of my favourite novelists. His later works such as 'Beatles' and 'Half Brother' have deservedly won numerous awards both inside and outside of Norway. 'Joker' contains themes that arise in Christensen's later (and, in my opinion, much better) works. For example, Christensen, like Ibsen, looks at relationship between lies and truth. Is it more humane to lie to somebody if the truth will hurt them too much? That is would Hans be better off telling his friends' mother that her son is dead? Or is it be more humane to allow her to continue to live with the lie that her son is alive and will return home one day.
Christensen's writing is wonderful - even if the translation jars at times. The 'Joker' flows so well and the characters in this novel are so well drawn. I just wish I could read his novels in the original Norwegian. I always suspect the translations lacks something of the original.
My main complaint about 'Joker' actually concerns the translation. It's been translated into American-English which irritates on occasions as you just cannot imagine a Norwegian using such mid-west Americanisms such as 'y'all'.
I've given this novel 3 stars because I don't think the crime-aspect of the novel works too well. However, because Christensen has such a wonderful writing style and draws characters that are so well-rounded and raises very interesting themes I would still recommend 'Joker'.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.5 out of 5 stars
2 reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Will the Real Norway Please Stand Up!
26 Jun 2008
By Giordano Bruno
- Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase
Norway is a country of supernal freshness. A rugged, sea-charmed landscape --mountains, forests, fiords. After a rain, the air is soft with inhalable innocence. Oslo sparkles in sunshine and in snow. The Norwegians you meet wear candor like a summer smile. So why are all the Norwegian novels I read so grim? Hamsun? Borgen? Now Christensen, whom my Norsk friends consider the best living Scandinavian novelist!
The Joker is a mystery story, in which the "detective" is a burned-out drug-using petty thief. Hans Windleband, at age twenty-six, considers himself a waste of air space -- going nowhere, doing nothing, living in a shabby little apartment in a shabby little corner of Oslo, the reality of which I, a mighty walker, cannot ascertain. Like hey, dudes and dudettes, nothing in Norway is that sleazy! Well, one day Hans opens his morning paper (aha! a pre-internet novel!) and reads an obituary of...himself! Just a small item. Somebody's idea of a joke? The rest of the novel follows Hans as he slumps around town, hassling other slackers and sleazers, not quite hooking up with his maybe-girlfriend Berit, and eventually finding somebody's urn of ashes being buried in the Winkleband family plot. In a fumbling moment of selflessness, he ends up assuming the identity of the really dead somebody in order to offer consolation to the somebody's heroin-crazed mother. Is this the fresh start Hans has been seeking? Read and find out!
Honestly, this novel isn't as bad as I make it sound. It's suspenseful and tightly plotted. If you enjoy mystery tales, you might enjoy The Joker. But me, I'm sick of novels about low-lifes! I'm tired of literary figurations of mental illness! All stories about junkies have begun to look the same!
Go ahead, ask me why I read it then! "Why did you read it?"
"Because it was there!"
No, because a friend recommended it. And because Christensen wrote one of the most charming, wry, thoughtful novels for young readers that my son ever brought home from his school library. That book is titled "Herman". My son and I read it in Spanish, but an English translation is available.
The Joker is a mystery story, in which the "detective" is a burned-out drug-using petty thief. Hans Windleband, at age twenty-six, considers himself a waste of air space -- going nowhere, doing nothing, living in a shabby little apartment in a shabby little corner of Oslo, the reality of which I, a mighty walker, cannot ascertain. Like hey, dudes and dudettes, nothing in Norway is that sleazy! Well, one day Hans opens his morning paper (aha! a pre-internet novel!) and reads an obituary of...himself! Just a small item. Somebody's idea of a joke? The rest of the novel follows Hans as he slumps around town, hassling other slackers and sleazers, not quite hooking up with his maybe-girlfriend Berit, and eventually finding somebody's urn of ashes being buried in the Winkleband family plot. In a fumbling moment of selflessness, he ends up assuming the identity of the really dead somebody in order to offer consolation to the somebody's heroin-crazed mother. Is this the fresh start Hans has been seeking? Read and find out!
Honestly, this novel isn't as bad as I make it sound. It's suspenseful and tightly plotted. If you enjoy mystery tales, you might enjoy The Joker. But me, I'm sick of novels about low-lifes! I'm tired of literary figurations of mental illness! All stories about junkies have begun to look the same!
Go ahead, ask me why I read it then! "Why did you read it?"
"Because it was there!"
No, because a friend recommended it. And because Christensen wrote one of the most charming, wry, thoughtful novels for young readers that my son ever brought home from his school library. That book is titled "Herman". My son and I read it in Spanish, but an English translation is available.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
dead but alive
3 Sep 1998
By PJ Walsh
- Published on Amazon.com
Hans wakes up one day and reads his obituary in the paper. Someone has stolen his name. Who? Why? And what game is The Joker playing?
A nice book, but not his best. Lars SC has written so many good books (Beatles, Bly, Gutten som ville vaere en av gutta, Billettene, Jubel, Herman...) so I was a bit disappointed with this one. But he still is the best Norwegian writer of today!
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Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews
3.5 out of 5 stars
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