2024
In an inner monologue, this self-chosen mute antihero tells of his rebellion against his recently deceased christian parents and The Scripture, which he literally got wrong into his throat in his youth, after using the pages as cigarette paper.
Let it be said right away: I just love the linguistic quirks that occasionally appear in Ulv Ulv Tommy Skoglund's novella. "Filling emptiness with emptiness" benefits no one, but shows precisely the abandonment that characterizes the protagonist.
Silence is gold. It all has a kind of childish defiance to it. As a crossing between Job and Ecclesiastes, he attacks the emptiness and the lack of meaning, and turns almost to a kind of inner flagellantism.
The main character tells and discusses at a furious pace, where there is room for humor, self-humiliation and puns. He alternates between curses and demands to be heard, while at the same time he prefers to avoid being noticed by the outside world.
The content shows kinship to Kjell Askildsen. But this reader also comes to mind of Camus´ The Stranger.
Occasionally his thoughts strike some whimsical cracks.
This novel is full of psychological archetypes.
A small book about man's innermost demons.
The ending is challenging open, giving me several paths to choose.
Ulv Ulv Tommy Skoglund
