2024
An intelligent, sad but at the same time funny book.
In The Bird Dance Elling wakes up in a psychiatric institution in the same room as Kjell Bjarne. Two weird people slowly approaching each other, and a frail friendship evolve. In this book we also get the story of how Elling and his mother made a desperate attempt of having a normal vacation in the Spanish town Benidorm.
Ingvar Ambjørnsen received the Brage Prize of 1995 for this novel.
“Books rarely make me laugh, almost never, in fact – but I make an exception for Ambjørnsen because with him, there’s nothing for it but to give in. But now and then I feel like crying, because this is so sad too.
“A story that swings – from the deepest abyss to the most unbridled slapstick – and at the same time the composition is taut… a magnificent novel.”
“… a lavishly funny, tragicomic novel…”
“… impressive portrayal of an uncommon mind.”
Ambjørnsen’s cuckoo’s nest
“… an intelligent book that is at once sad and funny…”
Ingvar Ambjørnsen
Photo Credit: Marie Sjøvold
