Skicka hem N:r 7
Lisa Eurén-Berner
189 s.

B. Wahlströms Förlag, 1934.

For Decades ‘08.

Back cover blurb:

none

After reading two disappointing books (Den unge Werthers lidanden and Vi skulle älska om vi bara kunde), I needed something good to read. My parents advocated that I had to read Skicka hem N:r 7, and so I did. And it was hilarious. Although it might not hold such an intrinsic value, it is a nice reminder of the heaps of girl-novels were written in the thirties. I haven’t read many of them, but they have all the same happy attitude to most things. And this novel is the same. It made me happy to read it. It was so cheerful, and even when things were bad, I knew that things would look up, even though I couldn’t justify why. The girls’ enthusiasm made me smile and it was such a joy to read. That is all I can say.

Vi skulle älska om vi bara kunde
Hanna Wallsten
221 p

Normal Förlag, 2007

Back cover blurb:

En dag dmpar Ingela flickvännen Susanne för den vackra prästen Katarina.

Susanne drar förtvivlad till Paris för att försonas med sin tvillingsyster som hon inte sett på tio år. Det blir en resa som förändrar flera personers liv - deras öden flätas in i varandra: vi följer Ingela, Anders - Susannes ex - och outsidern Sergej som får en oväntat central roll i allas liv.

När Susanne återvänder hem från Paris har allt förändrats. Ska hon förlåta Ingela? Eller ska hon bejaka den förbjudna känslan, som drar henne till rivalen Katarina…

I must admit that I was very intrigued by the title of this novel, roughly We Would Love If We Only Could, but was unable to decide if it was a grand title or just really pretentious. Unfortunately, it is pretentious. Why? Because the concept of the title is never explored in the novel. What’s the deal with that? I was expecting lesbian anguish, but all I got was boring relations and unimpressive characters laid forth with a drab language.

I wanted it to be a good book, but it wasn’t. It didn’t intrigue me and I wasn’t moved. I felt that I didn’t care if the main character’s father killed himself - why should I care? And he was, after all, the most sympathetic of the characters. Most of the characters lacked any sympathetic character, because all the other characters think about how stupid or shallow or annoying the characters are. It wasn’t a very strategic move. And it made it so very boring.

Den unge Werthers lidanden
(Die Leiden des jungen Werther)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
101 p.
(in Litteraturens Klassiker 10)

Almquist & Wiksell, 1969
(first published in 1774)

Back cover blurb:

none

My sister is a big fan of this novel. I can in all honesty not see how she can be. This is the most pretentious, stuck-up shit I have ever read (possibly, at least!). It is not the writing style of Goethe that I have issues with (I am, in fact, quite sympathetic to Goethe on account of reading a couple of nice poems written by him, though this might change a little now), but Werther! Out of all pathetic jerks in the work, one would assume it was impossible to be as stuck-up and pathetic as Werther manages to be. Oh, really - he is so awful that a lot of the time I wanted to throw up. Even when he was happy he complained! Also, some of the opinions he held (such as “suicide is as inevitable as dying from a fever”) made me see red.

I am not going to write anything else, or I will start sputtering all sorts of rude words. And it’s not worth that.

Trollvinter
Tove Jansson
146 p.

Awe Gebers, 1957.

Back cover blurb:

Det är inte lätt att vakna ur sitt vinteride i januari och inte kunna somna om.
Mumintrollet var det första mumintroll som nånsin upplevat vintern och i början var han förfärligt ensam i det sovande huset. Men småningom befolkades hans dal med vinterns hemlighetsfulla varelser, och den här boken handlar om hur han försökte klara sig med dem och den främmande iskalla värld han ramlat in i.
Här bredvid ser ni My som klarade sig utmärkt med detsamma och den lilla hunden Ynk som däremot tyckte att tillvaron var en besvärlig historia.

This is not my favourite Moomin-book. It was nice, but never had me as roused as Trollkarlens hatt or Farlig midsommar or Mumintrollet på kometjakt did. This is probably because, of all the regular Moomin-characters, there are only actually two (Moomin himself and Little My) appears. Snufkin, my absolute favourite, didn’t appear, despite being mentioned here and there. This novel introduces a number of new characters, Tooticky, a little dog called Ynk (or, that’s his name in the Swedish version, I don’t know at all what his name in the translation is), and a quite annoying Hemul.

The absolute highlight of this novel is when the Groke, who is as terrifying as she is fascinating, appears, wanting to be warmed, but is unable to, because she is so cold. I find the Groke to be a extremely interesting character, because she seems to scare the living daylights out of everyone who has read these novels - I talk to people who haven’t read these books in years, and still they stare wide-eyed and look frightened when we reach the Groke.

The mood of this novel is different from the rest. It’s more melancholic than before, and more subdued. It doesn’t feel as sparkling and happy. It is, actually, quite depressing. However, it is (thankfully!) not at all as depressing as real life. And it is still very good.