My Struggle: Book Four

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Pub Date 28 Apr 2015 | Archive Date 28 Apr 2015

Description

At eighteen years, old Karl Ove moves to a tiny fisherman's village in the far north of the arctic circle to work as a school teacher. No interest in the job itself, his intention is to save up enough money to travel while finding the space and time to start his writing career. Initially everything looks fine. He writes his first few short stories, finds himself accepted by the hospitable locals, and receives flattering attention from several beautiful local girls. But as the darkness of the long arctic nights start to consume the landscape, Karl Ove's life takes a darker turn. His writing repeats itself, his drinking escalates to some disturbing blackouts, his attempts at losing his virginity end in humiliation and shame, and to his distress, he also develops romantic feelings towards one of his students. Along the way, there are flashbacks to his high school years and the roots of his current problems. Ever present is the long shadow cast by his father, whose own sharply increasing alcohol consumption serves as an ominous backdrop to the author's lifestlye.

At eighteen years, old Karl Ove moves to a tiny fisherman's village in the far north of the arctic circle to work as a school teacher. No interest in the job itself, his intention is to save up...


Advance Praise

"Given the size of the undertaking, the widespread critical acclaim and cultural buzz the series has generated, it has strong claim to be the great literary event of the 21st century. . . [Knausgaard] seems to punch a hole in the wall between the writer and reader, breaking through to a form of micro-realism and emotional authenticity that makes other novels seem contrived, “made up”, irrelevant. . . [In Book Four] he documents his prolonged and calamitous attempts to dispose of his virginity during his late teenage years, a struggle sorely undermined by a chronic condition of premature ejaculation. It’s very funny but also excruciatingly exposing." The Guardian

"Of the four books in this series published in English thus far, this one is the most rhetorically conventional: Knausgaard employs humor, irony and melodrama in ways that he studiously avoided in previous episodes. But he's done so not to pander but to criticize, echoing the mindset of a sex-obsessed and callow young man still in his teens and unshaped as a person and as a writer. And when the story arrives at its climax (and you can likely guess what that involves), Knausgaard uses the plainspokenness that defined his previous books to powerfully evoke the depth of his obliviousness, the hollowness of his triumph. An entertaining portrait of the artist as a young lout." — Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)


"Unapologetically crude, this entry is the funniest and least self-conscious in the series to date; there’s a humorous momentum propelling the narrative as Karl Ove attempts to lose his virginity." Publishers Weekly

"Knausgaard is an advocate for writing the unsayable, for plumbing the deepest recesses of human consciousness and experience. As such, he’s relentless in airing his most honest, and therefore often least admirable, self. I think it’s precisely this that makes My Struggle such a generous, dealienating and necessary endeavor." Readings (Australia)

"[Book Four] is another substantial piece of the vast, contradictory, intriguing, solipsistic puzzle that is My Struggle . . . The aspect that . . . makes it genuinely compelling . . . is its ambitious attempt to establish a connection between Knausgaard’s commonplace experiences and the grand philosophical and ideological currents of modernity, and in doing so to arrive at some kind of intimate understanding of the violent history that has been generated by those ideas." Sydney Review of Books

"With each volume of My Struggle that is published in English, Knausgaard emerges more clearly, in all his human ambiguity. Volume Four presents a portrait of the artist as a young man, marinated in alcohol and sexual failure. It is awkward, painful, occasionally shocking and often very funny, particularly if you have ever been (or known) a teenage boy." — Hari Kunzru

"It is one of the most important artistic projects of our time." Flavorwire

"Given the size of the undertaking, the widespread critical acclaim and cultural buzz the series has generated, it has strong claim to be the great literary event of the 21st century...


Available Editions

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ISBN 9780914671176
PRICE $27.00 (USD)

Average rating from 7 members


Featured Reviews

I love Knausgaard with a passion that borders on the obsessive. (Not an uncommon feeling, I gather). Would highly recommend this as well as all the previous novels in the series.

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If you’re a fan of Knausgaard’s six volume My Struggle, then you know what to expect and this won’t disappoint. But even if you’re not a particular fan, this fourth volume has a lot to offer. Karl Ove has just finished high school and moves to a tiny fishing village in the far north of Norway to work as a teacher. He chronicles – in the minute detail we’ve come to expect – that whole academic year, and I found it compelling and absorbing. The atmosphere of the village is brilliantly evoked. I felt I was there. Karl Ove is a typical self-obsessed young man, experimenting with relationships and sex and writing, not always likeable but certainly honest. Another very enjoyable volume.

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