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The Half Brother (Paperback)

by Lars Saabye Christensen (Author), Kenneth Steven (Translator) "Thirteen hours in Berlin and I was already a wreck ..." (more)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 766 pages
  • Publisher: Arcadia Books (1 Jan 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1900850745
  • ISBN-13: 978-1900850742
  • Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 13.6 x 6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 512,873 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Review

'A multitude of magic moments' - Dagbladet"At Frankfurt, Arcadia trounced rivals with a preemptive bid for World English rights to The Half-Brother" - Bookseller


Product Description

Fred made a deep sigh and I was afraid he would get cross again. I could have bitten my tongue off and swallowed it. But instead he put his arm around me, while squeezing the last drop from the bag of syrup into the gutter. 'Do you remember what I asked you yesterday?' he asked. I quickly nod, almost too afraid to breathe. 'No,' I whisper. 'No? Don't you remember?' I do remember. But I don't want to remember. And I can't forget it either. I'd rather wish that Fred hadn't started talking again after all. 'No, Fred.' 'Do you want me to ask you again?' I whisper, 'Yes'. And Fred grins. He's not cross, not when he's grinning like that. 'Do you want me to kill your father for you, Barnum?' he asks. My name is Barnum. Barnum and Fred are half-brothers, growing up in sixties Oslo. Barnum seems to have stopped growing, while his half-brother, frustrated by learning difficulties, is sent away to a special school. Theirs is an ordinary Norwegian family of the time, set apart by extraordinary family members. Their father is no better than a con man, giving the appearance of a travelling salesman; while the three woman in the family (mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, the 'Old One') are all unwed mothers. Then the Old One is killed by a hit and run driver - and Fred becomes mute as a result. The two half-brothers embark on their separate courses, Fred becoming a boxer and Barnum a scriptwriter, hoping to create a new genre in film, 'the northern' (as opposed to 'western'). The brothers won't meet again until at their mother's deathbed, many years later...
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First Sentence
Thirteen hours in Berlin and I was already a wreck. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "How little does it take to save a person?", 19 May 2004
By Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Half Brother (Paperback)
One of the biggest, most ambitiously conceived, and richly imagined novels ever, The Half-Brother has already won the Nordic Council Literature Prize, and it has been nominated for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. A haunting story of four generations of a strange Norwegian family, each member of which is "different" in some respect, this is as complete a family saga as you will find. Every character is fully delineated, and all his/her relationships and relevant past history are brought to life here, filtered through the mind of Barnum Nilsen, the son of a circus worker and grifter. Barnum's unusual but ultimately close relationship with his brother Fred, the product of his mother's rape by a soldier, is at the heart of the novel, with Fred being huge, active, and very physical while Barnum is unusually small, more passive, and cerebral. Two halves of the same coin, neither brother is very successful alone.

Four generations of the family live together, and some "absent" characters, who have affected the lives of family members, "live on" through objects that they have left behind with the family. Barnum and Fred often seek a connection to the past by reading the last letter their great-grandfather sent from Greenland before he vanished. Vera's best friend Rakel leaves Vera with a treasured ring, just before she is taken during the Nazi occupation of Norway. Barnum buys a ring for his first girlfriend, and it has meaning for him even when he is middle-aged. "We do not disappear without a trace," Barnum learns. "We leave a wake that never quite disappears, a gash in time."

As this immense story unfolds, the reader finds the action harking backward, forward, and in upon itself, with silence, disappearances, and deaths pervading the action. Vera and Fred both go silent for months as a result of trauma. The great-grandfather and Vera's father never appear, and Arnold Nilsen, Barnum's father, disappears periodically after his marriage to Vera, as does Fred, the half-brother. Permanent disappearance, i.e., death, occurs to the Old One and a host of other characters, and accidents involving still other characters cast a pall over much of the novel, highlighting the "aloneness" of each person, and the quixotic nature of fate. Still, there is much humor here as the characters keep soldiering on.

This is a huge book, but the pages fly by, despite the fact that the author does not insert much paragraphing. Whole pages continue without any breaks at all, and dialogue is simply imbedded within paragraphs. With hundreds of well-drawn, memorable scenes, dozens of carefully presented characters whose entire lives and history you know completely, surprises buried within seemingly ordinary tales, and the creation of a complete and unique universe, this is a novel which will richly reward the reader who is not intimidated by its size. Mary Whipple

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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A story of life as we all live it!, 15 Feb 2003
The Half Brother is a great novel telling the story of a Norwegian family living in the capitol, the city of Oslo. The story begins during the celebration of peace after world war II when a woman gets raped on the attic of the old apartment building she lives in. The celebration turns to grief but the result, a son, is welcomed by the loving family. Later on the same woman marries another man and she gets another son. The two are half brothers, and the book tells of their the family's relationship with eachother. It takes you through pain, anger, distress but also wonderful moments of joy. It is hard to describe what the book is really about, but I guess it tells a story of a group of people that might seem to live a pointless life in a pointless world. But what Lars Saabye Christensen wants to tell us is that no matter how dark it gets, life is a wonderful gift and it is worth living. Even if you have many dark moments in your life and few bright ones, in the end it is all worth it. The few bright ones makes it so. This book is such an amazing experience to read that you are going to want to read it again and again. And we can all recognize all the bizarre and funny moments the family experiences because we go through it all ourselves in our own lives. The Half Brother makes you look at life in a new, different and refreshing way and appreciate all that you've got. But at the same time it lets you know that if you have very little that is ok as well. Whatever you've got, appreciate it!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully warm novel that will make it big!, 4 Feb 2003
By Kristine Farnell (London, England) - See all my reviews
Follow a quite normal, but extraordinary and colourful 1960s family from Oslo, Norway throughout four generations. In the centre of the dramatic story is the oldest of two half brothes Fred, who was conceived during a rape during the liberation celebrations after the second world war and his younger brother Barnum. The story follows the two through their distinctly different childhoods in the 60s and 70s, where Barnum is the artistic soul who more often than not will fail in his ventures and Fred who is the distinctly silent type who often has to save his younger brother. The book describes their every day lives as well as the mystery of Fred's father in a vivid and wonderful manner, with warmth, humor, drama and tragedy packed into the pages.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Life in Norway after the war
This was quite slow-going - though much of it is enjoyable and engaging. The half brother of the title is an enigma - a rough boy, one of those who easily gets into trouble. Read more
Published 2 months ago by E. Shaw

4.0 out of 5 stars well worth reading
Yes its long - is this a crime? - but it is most affecting. The relationship between the two brothers and their friends is fabulously well drawn - there are hand-to-mouth moments... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Jiminy

2.0 out of 5 stars Few gems amidst the tedium
I must admit I found this novel pretty heavy going. Yes, they're an interesting normal disfunctional family, but I found myself nearing the end hoping for the unifying climax that... Read more
Published on 26 Jul 2006 by Bord na Leabhar

3.0 out of 5 stars dark non-progressive book for the sleepless
why this book is a classic and an award winner, i don't know. it must be a very controversial award, but then, there are awards for everything nowadays. Read more
Published on 18 Jul 2005 by dudelidu

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