Before You Sleep

BEFORE YOU SLEEP

By Linn Ullmann

 

Nomination: Dublin Longlist 2001

 

Date Read: November 17, 2022

 

I’m not entirely sure of the point of Before You Sleep. I had initially thought it was about not going to bed angry and now I’m not sure exactly why I thought that. In general, this novel is about the Blom family, all members of which are struggling in their own ways. Anni, who both daughters repeatedly explain is not quite right in the head, is divorced from their father, although we are never privy to his name.

 

Their daughters, Julie and Karin, both live in Oslo and are making their way in the world. Julie is married to Aleksander and they are expecting their first child, who turns out to be Sander. Almost immediately Julie and Aleksander realize they aren’t quite suited to each other but with a child on the way and then having been born, they decide to take a trip to Italy to try to find where they misplaced their love. If it did ever in fact exist, I believe loving someone is a choice. You can consciously sever a connection in your head and reestablishing it also can be done consciously. We never learn if they were successful or not.

 

Karin is a tougher nut to crack. She is perpetually single and jumps from man to man, seducing men who tickle her fancy, regardless of whether they are already married. She pursues this as a hobby of sorts with disguises and well thought out plans. Almost from the moment she gets them to relent does she sadly lose interest in them. 

 

The prose is intentionally repetitive and the narrative is often bleak. Is there any growth here? Progress? What is it these characters want or are striving for? Lying is embraced by Karin, while alcohol is embraced by the entire family. I cannot determine if this is a snapshot of a typical family or if this particular family’s lives should stand out for some reason. While Karin cares for Sander while Julie and Aleksander are in Italy trying to repair their marriage, for once it seems “…emotional truths and external realities” are finally aligned. Only the young and innocent can bring about this ever so rare synchrony. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Gentleman In Moscow

Image
A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by Amor Towles   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2018, Goodreads Finalist 2016, Kirkus Finalist 2016   Date Read: February 24, 2017   From Kirkus Reviews:   “Sentenced to house arrest in Moscow's Metropol Hotel by a Bolshevik tribunal for writing a poem deemed to encourage revolt, Count Alexander Rostov nonetheless lives the fullest of lives, discovering the depths of his humanity.   Inside the elegant Metropol, located near the Kremlin and the Bolshoi, the Count slowly adjusts to circumstances as a "Former Person." He makes do with the attic room, to which he is banished after residing for years in a posh third-floor suite. A man of refined taste in wine, food, and literature, he strives to maintain a daily routine, exploring the nooks and crannies of the hotel, bonding with staff, accepting the advances of attractive women, and forming what proves to be a deeply meaningful relationship with a spirited young girl, Nina. "We are bound to find comfo
Read more

An Island

Image
AN ISLAND by Karen Jennings   Nomination: Booker Longlist 2021   Date Read: December 10, 2022   A short but mighty novel, An Island explores the concept of home, family, identity, the impact of political upheaval and the immigrant experience, when one’s suffering is so intense they move from one shitty country to the next. Samuel has finally found a peaceful home on an island somewhere off the coast of Africa. He was hired as a lighthouse keeper and after a tumultuous life, most of which was spent in prison as a political prisoner, he has carved out a life for himself on this island, enjoying a tranquil existence that basks in the quiet tasks of daily living.   Only after exploring Samuel’s life does the reader understand why such an isolated, spare and lonely existence satisfy him, with no desire to escape but only to grow deeper roots. His life witnessed the end of the British occupation, the installation of a brutal dictator and yet another dictator after the first was poisoned. Sam
Read more

The Changeling

Image
THE CHANGELING by Victor LaValle   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2019, LA Times Finalist 2017, PEN/Jean Stein Finalist 2018   Date Read: July 21, 2024   From Kirkus Reviews: “A  tragedy thrusts a mourning father into peculiar, otherworldly corners of New York City. When Apollo and Emma have their baby, Brian, it feels like both reward and challenge for the new dad. Apollo, the son of a single mother, had been scraping by as a bookseller who hunts estate and garage sales for rare first editions, so even the unusual circumstance of Brian's birth (in a stalled subway train) seems like a blessing, as does the way Apollo stumbles across a first edition of  To Kill a Mockingbird  (inscribed by Harper Lee to Truman Capote, no less) shortly after. But after some young-parent squabbles and inexplicable images on their smartphones foreshadow trouble, the story turns nightmarish: Apollo finds himself tied up and beaten by Emma, then forced to listen to the sounds of Brian’s murder. LaValle has
Read more