2023
Love Me Tomorrow is both tender and dark; a deeply humorous novel about love's ability to change us. At least in theory. In book four of the series, Elling once again finds that reality is slipping away. But now he is looking for love. His chosen one is supposedly called Elise, who works on a hot dog stand and likes to read books about UFOs. Kjell Bjarne, Elling's erstwhile friend, knows very little about UFOs, but a lot about women: he is now a responsible, cohabiting, stepfather, with a job as a bottle-sorter. Elling, on the other hand, has been letting things slide for a while. But with Elise now in the picture, it feels ok to bring Kjell Bjarne back into the fold again. A suitor needs all the support he can get.
This is the fourth book in the ‘Elling' series. Winner of Rikmålsprisen award in 1999.
“Absolutely on par with the first three”, “screamingly funny – with serious undertones.”
“I insist that this is significant literature.”
“This is strong stuff.”
Ambjørnsen surprises once more; Ambjørnsen is a significant author. Love me tomorrow is a gloomier tale than its predecessors. From early in the plot, the reader is drawn into dark premonition. It is the use of contrasting underlays of grief and pain that enables Ambjørnsen to create great comedy.
“A new hit about strange, crazy, loveable, lonely Elling… It’s far from unlikely that these books will endure as central works in Norwegian fiction of the 1990s.”
"[...] Ambjørnsen has done it again. It’s impossible to fathom what that man can wring out of just one person and one central idea. There’s nothing for it but to give in and declare that Love me tomorrow is absolutely on a par with the first three Elling books.”
Ingvar Ambjørnsen
Photo Credit: Marie Sjøvold
