Matias Faldbakken
The Cocka Hola Company
Scandinavian Misanthropy #1

The debut novel of young Norwegian writer Matias Faldbakken is a contemporary satire to end all satires. The Cocka Hola Company - Scandinavian Misanthropy I is the ferociously funny chronicle of a war against the welfare society and its underlying values. Relying on most people’s inherent hypocrisy and double standards, Simpel and his band of social misfits to stage a series of equally amusing and revealing assaults on middle-class norms. Not since the early sixties has the clown-mask been used to spit out such bitter truths about the human condition in modern-day Western civilisation.

The Cocka Hola Company is a bizarre experience ... it is highly unlikely that there will be any books quite like The Cocka Hola Company for some time.

Verdens Gang, Norway

One of the most sensational debut novels in 20 or 30 years.

Hamar Arbeiderblad, Norway

Entertainment with a satirical sting and a well-structured, unimaginable story.

Dagsavisen, Norway

Finally a sensual counterpart to Michel Houellebecq´s conservative book about relationships has shown up… there aren't enough words of praise to shower on Faldbakken´s fiendishly funny novel.

SZ, Germany

Faldbakken tells the story of this group of people so unbelievably comically that upon reading it you immediately ‘get high on’ this misanthropic utopia! How filthy everything really is, is seldom shown so clearly as in this novel.

SPEX, Germany

The Norwegian author Matias Faldbakken’s first novel is by no means cynical but rather multi-faceted and insanely funny.

Glamour, Germany

Unbridled and exuberantly comic, Faldbakken narrates his shady story and creates colorful, headstrong characters like the 'porno ideologue' Ritmeester, the badly brought-up seven-year-old Lonyl or the spineless, hot-tempered Simpel. Dizzying!

go München, Germany

Faldbakken has a serious message behind his multi-faceted, comic figures: Modern man must find a free zone in order to find himself and thereby avoid sinking down into the muck of consumer society.

20 Minuten, Switzerland

Matias Faldbakken

Ivar Kvaal

Acclaimed Norwegian artist Matias Faldbakken (b. 1973), unanimously hailed as the freshest new voice to emerge in Norwegian literature during the past decade, made his literary debut in 2001, with the much praised and award-winning The Cocka Hola Company - Scandinavian Misanthropy I. Two years later, it was followed by the equally critically acclaimed and fervidly debated Macht und Rebel - Scandinavian Misanthropy II. In Spring 2008, Matias Faldbakken brought the trilogy to a close with Unfun - Scandinavian Misanthropy III, thereby completing one of the most exciting and original literary projects in contemporary Scandinavian fiction. The Hills is Faldbakken’s first novel in nine years and the very first he writes under his own name.