Men in My Situation
A Novel
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A tender, merciless portrait of a life going to pieces by the internationally acclaimed author of Out Stealing Horses.
Men in My Situation, Per Petterson’s evocative and moving new novel, finds Arvid Jansen in a tailspin, unable to process the grief of losing his parents and brothers in a tragic ferry accident. In the aftermath, Arvid’s wife, Turid, divorced him and took their three daughters with her. One year later, Arvid still hasn’t recovered. He spends his time drinking, falling into fleeting relationships with women, and driving around in his Mazda. When Turid unexpectedly calls for a ride home from the train station, he has to face the life they’ve made without him.
Critics have already hailed Men in My Situation as the equal of Petterson’s international bestseller Out Stealing Horses, in part for his unflinching portrayal of Arvid’s dark night of the soul. In this moment of faltering hope and despair, Arvid’s daughter Vigdis—who he’s always felt understood him best—has a crisis of her own and reaches out. Now he must find a way to respond to someone who, after everything, still needs him. Reaching the heights of Petterson’s best work, Men in My Situation is a heartrending, indelible story from a celebrated author.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Petterson's bracing latest captures the rhythms and anomie of grief with another story featuring Arvid Jansen, protagonist of In the Wake. A year after a passenger ferry catches fire, resulting in the deaths of Arvid's parents and two brothers along with 155 others, his wife, Turid leaves him. Arvid wanders aimlessly, driving around Oslo and often sleeping in his beloved old Mazda. A successful writer, he can't summon the will to pick up a pen. The time he's allotted every other week with his three daughters, Vigdis and Tone and Tine, is especially painful for the eldest, 12-year-old Vigdis, who gets into a fit during a camping trip with Arvid after confiding about Turid's own unhappiness. Petterson's downbeat prose has a rhythm and flow both transparent and immediate, fueled by Arvid's eloquence and failure to focus beyond the current moment. As deep as the well of his loneliness and sadness is, his emergence on the other side is equally gratifying. Arvid's few stray words on the disastrous fire convey its monumental effect on him. This low-key outing will particularly resonate with the author's fans.
