First published 2015
Karl Ove arrives at eighteen in a remote fishing village above the Arctic Circle. He takes a teaching job he cares nothing about, planning to save money for travel and carve out time to write. At first the arrangement works. He produces his initial short stories, wins over the welcoming locals, and attracts interest from local women. Then the endless Arctic nights descend. His writing becomes repetitive. His drinking spirals into blackouts. His fumbling attempts to lose his virginity end in shame. Worse, he finds himself drawn romantically to one of his students. Memories of high school surface, revealing the origins of his current struggles. Through it all looms his father, whose own accelerating descent into alcoholism mirrors the destructive path Karl Ove seems destined to follow.
Genres: fiction, addiction, coming-of-age, contemporary, 21st-century, academic
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Arctic Circle, Norway
Period: 21st Century
485 pages · Hardcover · Archipelago
Content warnings: alcohol-abuse, depression, sexual-content