Maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t prepared for this.

I researched Jon Fosse and his work, superficially I must say, right after I finished this tale in two parts. I didn’t know he was this kind of eccentric person who writes in a particular way: he doesn’t use periods at all. That made it a hell to read. Not only that, but the fact he repeats himself over and over again as if he’s making a childish effort to reinforce an event is exhaustingly annoying.

The story by itself presents a young couple, Asle and Alida, who have no other choice than throwing themselves to the sea to escape from a poor and wicked way of living, maybe compelled by Fosse’s Christianity, reminding us Joseph and Mary’s suffering as they were forced to find a manger to give birth. Other than that, I found the characters so dull and unstimulating: Asle seems to wander the earth without a purpose other than to satisfy his basic needs, and Alida is enervatingly submissive and passive (no wonder why Fosse depicted a mother that hated her so much).

Maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t prepared for this. But I’m quite sure I won’t like anything else from him.

I wasted some good ten bucks on a book I don’t care to finish. What a pity.