Can the mundane details of everyday life be transformed into literary art? This is Karle Ove Knausgaard’s accomplishment in his six-volume novel/memoir entitled My Struggle.
Four of the six books have been published in America, and we are joining a worldwide chorus of praise for this new literary star.
So what is Book 1 about? As Jerry Seinfeld might say – it’s about nothing. In blinding detail, Karl Ove takes us along on simple events in his life, bouncing from adulthood to childhood and back again.
Is it a novel or a memoir? It’s a memoir with such great detail that he either has an encyclopedic memory, or he’s filling in his personal story with lots of fiction-like details. This is not your typical novel by any stretch.
Somehow, his hyper-real style pulls us deep into his world, and…well, it’s difficult to get out.
I, for one, am hooked.