Silence in October - Softcover

Grondahl, Jens Christian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0862419425 ISBN 13: 9780862419424

Publisher: Canongate Books, 2000

Synopsis

After 18 years of marriage, the narrator's wife has left home. In the silence of his Copenhagen apartment or on his travels, he recalls not just their lives together - their first meeting, children, friends - but re-evaluates himself both personally and professionally.

About this title

Review

Jens Christian Grondahl's stunning Silence in October could easily have been an embarrassingly mawkish trawl through the psyche of an artistic man in midlife crisis. In fact, it is a hugely moving investigation into the nature of conversation, art and relationships. The unnamed narrator is a Danish art critic who wakes one day to find his wife on her way out of the door; she looks at him as he rouses, tells him that she will be away for a while, and then leaves. His children have also only recently left home and now the silence in the house seems huge. He can't work on his writing and he can't settle on anything else either. A trip to New York looms.

The novel consists of his inner monologues--wonderfully handled by Grondahl ranging, as they do, back and forth in time, in long, flowing, allusive paragraphs--his thoughts on art, life and the women he has loved. Ines broke his heart as a young man who loved too hard, too overwhelmingly; Astrid put him back together. He questions why Astrid has gone, whether she's left for good, why he did not stop her, what their relationship was really about, what its strengths were and what he's "about" without her, without the ongoing conversation that is their relationship.

This is an absolutely superb novel. Anne Born's translation rarely wobbles and the full power of Grondahl's warm and penetrating prose comes over throughout. It is always difficult to write about love and relationships without relying on clichés, reverting back to truisms and settling for the approximate, but here we have writing of precision, profoundity and earnestness. Grondahl's work is quietly awe-inspiring and Silence in October is a tremendous novel that will leave a deep impression on any reader. --Mark Thwaite

Review

"superb ... Grondahl manages the near impossible: he makes the self-absorbed protagonist sympathetic and shows how a man may not know his wife at all after years of marriage. Grondahl's prose, translated by Ann Born, is electrically charged, while the plot is gripping and full of emotion, making Silence in October a winner all the way." (The Times)

"a novel of quite extraordinary complexity and insight by one of Denmark's most celebrated writers ... This is a challenging book, both for its unconventional form and for the density of its ideas. But the rewards for perseverance are great. Not least as an introduction to a writer who is already hugely acclaimed in Europe, and whose debut in our own language is long overdue." (The Scotsman)

"Grondahl handles his montage skilfully, keeping confusion at bay and creating an impression of harmony rather than disjointedness. The prose, in Anne Born's skilful translation, is easy to read, in spite of the abstract nature of much of the subject matter; the narrative is beautifully written, effortlessly flowing and packed with visual snapshots ... ultimately very moving." (Times Literary Supplement)

"A work of immense acuity and masterful storytelling ... beautifully crafted." (The Latest)

About this edition

• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0862419425
• ISBN 13: 9780862419424
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 284