jakewelch • read

07/16/2024 – 08/03/2024 – Part one of this book brought back memories of my adolescence that I had completely forgotten, and not just the events that transpired there but also the emotions that I felt. Karl Ove is a master of putting these feelings and impressions into words. I felt myself relating to him, from his yearning desires of youth, to his insecurities and his musings of how one thinks they know so much when they really know so little. Part two where he jumps to the death of his father later post graduation from university filled me with a mixture of feelings of both pity and sorrow, sometimes making me contemplate my own complicated relationships with family. I love the way he anecdotally relates experiences or conveys personalities through art history or philosophy and poetically describes the beauties of the world and how unwilling we can be to notice them. This book was incredibly vulnerable, it made me want to write. One of my favorites in recent memory. 5 stars.