Cinnamon's thoughts on 'Out Stealing Horses'

As I sit to write this I am looking forward to hearing what everyone else has thought about the book, and how everyone feels about the Book Club. The fact that all the people reading this post will have read the book is great because I need have no fear of 'spoiling the ending'. So this is not like writing a book review- nor is it an essay in literary criticism. I will just say what I liked and what I didn't like about the book. It is a different process to an actual reading group- in that case you read the book, go to the meeting and your thoughts and opinions develop during the meeting as the discussion ensues. Your memory of the details of the book is prompted by the discussion. Writing for the VBC has been a little more difficult in that I have had to formulate and articulate my opinions before the 'meeting'- it has taken a little more effort!

The nearest I have ever been to Norway is my handcream- so this book was like getting off a plane and knowing straight away you are in a different country by the landscape, the air, the smell. I loved the descriptions of smells- ' the smell of roasting meat and coffee in the air, the smell of smoke, and timber and heather and sun-warmed stones and some special scent I had not noticed anywhere else...' And the descriptions of weather- 'a grey layer of cloud floats across the sky like a duvet..' and of watching the stars.

'Out Stealing Horses' is the code word for a cell of the resistance movement in Nazi-occupied Norway in 1944. Although Barbara had previously posted about the resistance movement, I stupidly had not realised this was a theme of the book until Franz reveals it to Trond. I was as surprised as Trond! I think this is tribute to the light, subtle touch with which Petterson (and his translator Born) writes. I liked this lightness of touch- the language wasn't florid or fancy, yet the elemental descriptions were so effective- wood, earth, stone, water, sky, wind, green ,river. I felt I was there.

Just like the waterways Barbara previously mentioned, I thought the rhythm of the narrative was like a flowing river, the current overturning stones (buried facts) as the water (plot) twists and turns.

Trond's desire to get attention from his father; his hope that the summer has somehow bonded the two of them together; his simple trust in his father; his hope and faith that his father will soon leave the remote forest and return to Trond and his mother and his sister- all this hope, in spite of having glimpsed the 'other life' his father led as a protagonist in the resistance and as the lover of Jon's mother- all this hope is cruelly dashed with the letter that curtly announces his father's intention not to return.

The ensuing years living without a father has a profound effect on Trond's life, his relationship with his wife and eventually his relationship with his own daughter. His inability to communicate with her mirrors his own father's self-interestedness.

It is not surprising that Trond is drawn back to living in the forest, in a place similar to that which he shared the summer of 1948 with his father. He says of that time- 'I was the forest'. His father goes around sniffing the branches, and the scents of the forest are in Trond himself: 'Before I fell asleep I put my forehead against the coarse timbered wall sniffing the faint scent of the forest it still held'. As if by inhaling these scents he can some how get closer to his father. I found this very poignant, heart-wrenching stuff.

The reconciliation of his abandonment comes in meeting Lars again years later. From the age of 10 Lars has enjoyed the attentions of Trond's father- who has set up home with Lars' mother. Trond does not explicitly say how this makes him feel- you can only imagine. Meeting with Lars is unexpected and at first Trond is not too happy with the ensuing flood of memories- 'it ties me to a past I thought was well behind me and pulls aside the fifty years with a lightness that seems almost indecent'. We think we have put the past behind us but it can rear up at any moment. The falling of the tree is hugely symbolic. We are told elsewhere that it is an unusual event for these trees to fall- they usually bend with the wind. The fallen tree is the huge blockage in Trond's life caused by the abandonment of his father. It almost kills him. He literally cannot get on with his life without removing it- it is pinning shut the door of his toolshed!

The cutting up and removal of the tree by Trond and Lars, working together, not discussing the past but knowing, sharing is also symbolic. Cutting out dead wood. Removing the blockage. Moving on. Reconciliation.

Once the blockage is removed, up pops Trond's daughter. We glimpse how much she is craving Trond's love, just as Trond craved his father's. We feel the daughter's pain. A father's abandonment has affected the next generation also.

What happens to us in childhood shapes our lives. Such a well-known fact, it is almost a cliche. Psychotherapists start with childhood, but most people in the world do not have access to 'therapy'. Petterson has shown very effectively the subtle and lasting consequences that can arise from the decisions we take and that our children will be affected and moulded by who we are and what we do. I wonder- did Trond's father have any idea what he was doing to his son? If so, would he have done things differently? Do we have sympathy with him?- he was a 'hero' of the Resistance after all.

I found myself thinking about what 'blockages' there are in my own life.

'I look back to that time, I see how each movement through the landscape took colour from what came afterwards and cannot be separated from it'

I loved this book- a little gem, with so much in it. I want to read it again and have recommended it to my actual reading group- thank you Barbara!

Postcript: I also loved his relationship with his dog- very accurate interpretations of doggy language!

Barbara's thoughts on Out Stealing Horses

For me the beauty of Out Stealing Horses was what the author didn’t say, those many unanswered questions that just hang there. We never learn how Jon came to use the watchword of the resistance: Are you coming? We’re going out stealing horses, a much more literal phrase for him and young Trond. We never find out what actually happened to Trond’s father, although Trond mentions that all he has to do is ask his coincidental neighbor Lars. We never know the thought process that caused his father to abandon his family, leaving them only a paltry sum in a Swedish bank, just enough to buy Trond a new suit. We know very little of the intervening years between 1948 and 2000, the present to which all else is a flashback. We never find out what happens between the two aging men who were once children together and who now cut up a fallen tree together. The final fate of Lars’ mother and Trond’s father is not mentioned, although one assumes they spent their remaining years after 1948 together.

The book has been criticized for being flat, a story told without emotion. But you have only to know Norwegians to realize this is the way they face life. The challenges and high points are rather flattened into a sort of continuum.

A central theme in the book is that of loss. Lars shoots his 10-year-old twin brother with a loaded gun left out by his older brother Jon. Jon wantonly smashes an egg from a goldcrest nest, possibly out of frustration for his dead brother; he then leaves home to join the navy. Trond’s father’s macho behavior causes Jon’s father to suffer injuries from which he never recovers. Trond loses his father altogether at the end of the summer of 1948. Trond’s second wife dies in a tragic car accident.

I felt a certain sadness as I watched an old guy try to become a hermit as a way of escaping from life. He is not naive to the existing dangers as he prepares for what could be a harsh Norwegian winter. It is only with some reluctance that he meets his neighbor, contacts someone to plough his snow, and talks to his adult daughter.

The language, even in its translation, is beautiful. We ride the horses bareback in Barkald’s field with teenage Jon and Trond. We feel the hormones rise as Jon’s mother approaches most any man or adolescent boy. We watch the ill-fated logs become stuck on their trip to Sweden. We understand the feelings of betrayal and disappointment Trond and his mother feel in the final chapter.

I especially like the very end of the book, where Trond and his mother have a brief respite from their troubles as they walk down the streets of Karlsrud with Trond wearing his new suit. In the last sentence he draws a line from his father’s philosophy “We do decide for ourselves when it will hurt.” And then the story is over for the reader.

Theme Thursday: Vegetable

A worthy read. As are Michael Pollen's In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Theme Thursday is animal

With all the books written about them and for them, I offer a glimpse of a book with one as a victim, of sorts. Erle Stanley Gardner wrote quite a few mystery novels, where animals seemed to be the catalyst. "Bats Fly at Dusk" and "The Case of the Careless Kitten", are but two titles of a very long list. It's no wonder he's one of my favourite authors. The kitten here, is named Amber Eyes, due to his eye colouring. He becomes the victim of a money scam and is poisoned, at one point in the book. His keeper, Helen Kendal, manages to get Amber to the vet, in the nick of time. Fast paced and full of action. I've never had a disappointing read, from Mr. Gardner.

Norway's Resistance Museum

During my 1973 trip to Norway with my parents, we spend some time with a friend's family in Southern Norway. They had been very involved with the resistance movement in World War II. We drove to a remote area near the coast where you could still find remnants of barbed wire from that era. My father was fascinated by the barbed wire and brought home several souvenirs, which I'm sorry I no longer have. For a while my friend (who was a toddler during WWII) lived in that area with his grandparents when things were heating up in Oslo.

Here's a link to Akershus Castle, which houses the resistance museum in Oslo. It's a fascinating place and a good reminder that it took many countries to defeat Hitler's wrath in Europe. The Scandinavians were often silent heroes in that fight!

Clearly the story involves a network of persons committed to this cause!

i have questions

My main questions are: When is the fountain of youth going to be found? Will it be affordable? and... Will I still be around to to benefit from finding it?

But as far as The Virtual Book Club goes, my question is about Mr. Pip a novel by Lloyd Jones. Can we decide if this is our book for May?

And, are there any books suggested for the rest of the year? Do we want to discuss for awhile? Choose just a few books at a time, or the whole 12?

Just Curious.

Out stealing bookplates!

Just kidding! However, when I finally got my copy of "Out Stealing Horses", I just had to get a scan of the bookplate. Not all the libraries use them. Most just have a name stamped inside. I ended up with a soft cover edition and this was a pleasant surprise!