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The
2005 Award
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The
Half Brother Translated from the Norwegian by Kenneth Steven
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Nominated by:
Publisher
of Nominated Editions: |
| the complete A-Z listing of nominated authors |
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ABOUT
THE BOOK
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| Barnum
and Fred are half-brothers, growing up in sixties Oslo. Barnum seems to
have stopped growing, while his older half-brother, conceived after the
rape of their mother and frustrated by learning difficulties, is sent away
to a special school. Barnum's father is no better than a con man, giving
the appearance of a travelling salesman; while the three women in the family
(mother, grandmother and great-grandmother - the 'Old One') are all unwed
mothers. Then the Old One is killed by a hit and run driver - and Fred becomes
mute as a result.
The two half-brothers embark on their separate courses, Fred becoming a boxer and Barnum a scriptwriter, hoping to create a new genre in film, 'the northern' (as opposed to 'western'). -This literary marvel tells the story of an ordinary Norwegian family in the 1960s, set apart by extraordinary family members, and of two half-brothers leading very different and separate lives, until they are brought together again at their mother's deathbed…
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| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |
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Lars Saabye Christensen is a Norway's leading contemporary writer. He is the author of ten novels as well as short stories and poetry. Christensen has won many prizes, including the Nordic Prize 2002, the Tarjei Vesaas Prize for First Fiction, the Critics Prize and the Bookseller's Prize. His writing has been published throughout Europe, in the US and in Pakistan. Lars Saabye Christensen lives in Oslo. |
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