By: Per Petterson Publisher: Vintage Books Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Vintage Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 256 Publication Date: December 23, 2008 Release Date: December 23, 2008
Product Description: In the bitter cold of Danish Jutland, where the sea freezes over and the Nazis have yet to invade, a young girl dreams of one day going on a great journey to Siberia, while her beloved brother Jesper yearns for the warmer climes of Morocco. Their home, with a pious mother who sings hymns all day and a silent father, is as cold as their surroundings. But the unshakeable bond between brother and sister creates a vital warmth which glows in spite of the chill and the dark clouds that threaten to overtake their dreams.
Siberia of the soul This is one of those spare little novels that you read in a couple hours, and then it stays with you a while...like, forever. The setting is beautifully invoked- you can hear gulls cry and feel the cutting wind off the sea. The unnamed heroin is an unforgetable character- part plucky kid sister "Littless" from Hemmingway's Nick Adams stories, part Mersault from "The Stranger", and a good bit of Scout Finch from "To Kill a Mockingbird" (but imagine Scout older, wised-up, and struggling to deal with MUCH more complicated feelings for her brother) By the close, male readers will wish they could insinuate their way into the pages, and take a shot at rescuing "Sistermine" from herself. But, it's hopeless- she's found Siberia all right. A bleak, haunting story of love and loss.
Disappointed This Time Having just completed, "Out Stealing Horses," I was really anxious to get my hands on this one. But I was sadly disappointed. In essence, I missed the poetic beauty and earthy simplicity that gave me so much pleasure the first time around.
A life that is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish" (if not short) Having been bowled over by Petterson's "Out Stealing Horses" (OSH) and impressed by his "In the Wake" (ITW) I was eager to read TO SIBERIA, the third of his novels to be released in translation in the United States (although it predates both OSH and ITW). It too is powerful, and beautifully written. It may not be great literature, as I believe OSH to be, but it probably is slightly finer than ITW (although it may be unfair to compare that novel to any other, given the acute cathartic nature it must represent for Petterson).
The narrator of TO SIBERIA is a sixty-year-old Danish Woman. TO SIBERIA is her account of the major events in her life -- and the lives of her grandfather, her father, and especially her brother -- from the time she was six or seven (about 1932) until she was an unwed mother in her early twenties (about 1948). Her life in a coastal village in Jutland, northern Denmark, was harsh and lacking in excitement, and as a girl she vowed one day to go to Siberia (for reasons that really don't make sense). She never makes it, physically at least. (It might be said that existentially she spends her entire life in Siberia.) Her brother Jesper, her one true friend and soulmate in life, wanted to go to Morocco. He ended up achieving that goal, but in the end that hardly represented a "dream come true" story. Looking back, the narrator sums up the years covered by her account thus: "I was so young then, and I remember thinking: I'm twenty-three years old, there is nothing left in life. Only the rest."
Thus, the novel is one of ruefulness, melancholy, and even quiet desperation, set in an appropriately grim, bleak, and cold Scandinavia, the harshness of which is intensified over the four years of the Nazi occupation. I see that several reviewers, both here on the Amazon site and elsewhere, refer to the book as a "coming-of-age" novel, but I don't find that characterization to be apt. To me "coming-of-age" novels are success stories, but there is no success in TO SIBERIA other than survival. It brings to mind the language of Thomas Hobbes that the life of man is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." Of course, Hobbes was referring to life in "the state of nature," before and without government. For our anonymous narrator (and Petterson as well?) Hobbes's phrase would appear to apply also to civilized modern life.
Pure Magic I was swept away by Per Petterson's outstanding novel, "Out Stealing Horses" and I was literally waiting at the door for the UPS driver to deliver this latest release. I was not disappointed! However, this not an easy read and it took me a little longer to get thru this story than normal, but it was well worth the trouble.
This is not your ordinary "coming of age" novel, but pure poetry in the way the author can put words to paper to make the reader actually feel like you're right there with that cold Scandinavian wind blowing in your face. Like another reviewer stated, there are some loose ends in the story but it's my feeling that Mr. Petterson intends to leave those ends hanging in order to let the reader put their own personal feelings into play as to the how's and why's of what he's trying to tell us.
I highly recommend this book and although it sometimes seems to drag at the beginning, stick with it, savor every word because you will not be disappointed when you finish this gem.
Poignant and poetic Having read and reviewed Per Petterson's "Out Stealing Horses" a while ago, I had no idea that this was an earlier work. Just as with "Out Stealing Horses", Petterson is a consummate writer who is able to evoke the complexities within human relationships. Here, the focus is on a pair of siblings - older brother Jesper and younger sister Sistermine, who live in a small town in northern Denmark, on the North Sea. Spanning the years 1934-1947, the story traces the pair's dreams and strong kinship through all sorts of travails.
The two are drawn closer to each other because their own parents seem unable to provide emotionally - and each dream of escape - Sistermine wishes to go to Siberia, and Jesper to Morocco. The Nazi invasion throws their lives into further turmoil - Jesper works for the resistance and Sistermine faces a harsh life under the Nazi occupiers.
The story goes on to tell what happens to both siblings and Per Petterson deftly portrays the complex lives of his characters, both within and without. Highly recommended.
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