Out Stealing Horses

by Per Petterson
translated by Anne Born
read by Richard Poe
Scott County Library audiobook 6 CDs
genre: realistic / historical fiction

I am starting to really love literature by authors from Norway and Sweden! There's a different way of looking at life and a depth to their work . . . I am tempted to get a print copy of this to re-read and really spend time thinking about . . . though Poe's vocal work was excellent.

The story moves back and forth between 67 year old Trond, recently widowed, and his 15 year old self in 1948. There was so much going on in this story that I don't even know what to write!

- "Boy with the golden trousers" - I love that his sister, then his wife, referred to his lucky self this way. It made me smile.
- it was so sad that his sister died from cancer and his wife in a car accident the same month . . . three years before his self-imposed isolation as a 67 year old.
- I loved the visit from his daughter and all the complicated emotions in that scene
- what really happened with Yume? (I have no idea how his name is spelled . . . but that's what it sounded like in the story.) I had hoped that he and Lars would have more conversations about the past and their families.
- I have so many other questions about the story and the characters! I may need to get a print copy and read it again to see if I've missed a lot or if the author leaves interpretations open.
- I loved the references to Dickens and especially Sidney Carton at the end of A Tale of Two Cities!
- I loved the different meanings for the boys and the adults as far as the title . . .

Such an amazing book!