Echoland
A Novel
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The shimmering, windswept first novel by the internationally acclaimed author of Out Stealing Horses.
Echoland is the powerful and emotionally resonant first novel from Per Petterson. Written in the mold of his early story collection Ashes in My Mouth, Sand in My Shoes, it features a young Arvid Janssen, who is now twelve, on the verge of his teenage years and beginning to understand more about the world and his place in it. Set over the course of a single formative summer, the novel captures a series of episodes from Arvid’s long visit to his grandparents’ home in Denmark. He rides his bike around town, befriends other children on the beach, fishes for plaice, and weathers misunderstandings with his mother and grandparents, all of which Petterson imbues with the hope and yearning that come with this stage of life. Echoland is an assured and poignant beginning for an author—and character—who would go on to be loved the world over.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A journey from Norway to Denmark becomes a life-changing rite of passage in Petterson's beautifully understated story, first published in 1989 and set to publish in the states alongside the author's Men in My Situation. Both books feature protagonist Arvid Jansen. Here, Arvid is 12, and the death of his infant brother several years earlier has cast a pall over the family. An inveterate reader, Arvid lives vicariously through Huck Finn, Martin Eden, and Pelle the Conqueror, and while visiting his grandparents in Jutland with his parents and older sister, Gry, he imagines having adventures in the region's rugged terrain. Arvid falls in with a brash older boy, Mogen, who lusts after Gry and says he wishes Arvid were a girl. Arvid also has a strong bond with a widowed aunt, who gives him a book of poetry originally intended for her husband. Later on, Arvid's mother asks, "What's wrong with this family?" "Nothing," his father replies. A budding writer, Arvid keenly observes this exchange but doesn't yet understand its implications. Petterson's portrayal of the inner life of a preteen boy is precise and moving, and the remarkable prose captures the landscape as well as the painful deterioration of Arvid's parents' marriage. This early work from a master leaves an indelible mark.
