Irene Beckman is a middle class woman who seems to have it all: a home in a prosperous Copenhagen suburb, two successful adult children, and a husband who dotes on her. But numerous cracks lie beneath the surface: she had had an affair years before, her husband is leaving her for another woman, and her mother inadvertently reveals a secret that threatens her notion of who she is.

Most of this novel takes places in the protagonist's head, and the plot sometimes dips back in time without clear boundaries or takes on a dreamy quality as she imagines a scene as though she were watching it. At times it is as though she were a spectator to her own life, at a safe emotional remove. Only towards the end of the book does she act, although it is only to hear someone else's story.

I had a hard time engaging with this novel, and found the main character insipid. There was very little sense of place, which would have sparked my interest. The most intriguing aspect was that the male author wrote the entire book from the female perspective and did so without cliché. ( )

Irene Beckman, age 50+, seems to have a perfect life in Denmark. She’s beautiful, successful, happily married with two now adult children. She works as a lawyer and the family is well off financially….quite comfortable And then, very unexpectedly, Irene’s husband wants a divorce, and while processing that news, her mother is taken ill.

It’s a lot at once, but more so, in a bedside conversation with her ill mother, Irene is told that her father is not her biological father, but it was another man, who fled Copenhagen for Sweden at the beginning of the war. Understandably, Irene is shocked by the news.

This is a immersive story of one woman’s transformation through personal crisis (or two or three). It starts out a bit slow as the author introduces Irene to us. Interesting to read HER story written by a male author…. hmmmm.

I have read all of Grondahl’s novels available in translation now. He’s another on my list of authors who infuse their storytelling with great compassion. ( )

Een indringend boek, traag zoekend naar de draad van het leven en naar de persoonlijke identiteit. Ingrid ontdekt dat haar man een andere relatie heeft en dus een scheiding volgt; Ze gaat op zoek naar zichzelf en naar haar verleden. Ze ontdekt dat haar overleden vader niet haar echte vader is. Daarop gaat ze op zoek naar eigen vader, tot in Wenen en Ljubljana, wat haar confronteert met achtergrond en haar de bronnen van haar gevoelsleven. ( )

First of all, let me say that I'm amazed by the fact that this very introspective book was written by a then 40-something male author. The story is about a 56-year old woman who, shortly after she's found out that her husband is leaving her for a younger woman, finds out that the man she believed to be her father was not her biological father. But more important than the facts are the feelings, the introspection. I hope I do not sound offensive (it is not meant to be) if I think this is a book that would do well in those female book-clubs where women like to discuss relationships, men, love, faithfulness, adultery, self-actualization. But there's a time when I draw the line for self-absorbed books like this one, however stylish the language and relevant (to some) the theme. So, probably good if you like the genre, but not my cup of tea. ( )

l loved this book. It is moving, insightful, beautiful and made me weep. I read it more and more slowly as it went on because I did not want the experience of reading it to ever end. Several narrative lines interweave their way through it, but they aren't really plots, more like different threads of life, occuring at the same time. And that is all it's made of. Quite different in style to Silence in October, although that is also one of my favourite books. This is rather more like his Virginia, a novel where nothing really happens, or rather, like this, where memory happens. ( )