Quicksand
A Novel
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4.3 • 73 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
NOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES
An incisive courtroom thriller and a drama that raises questions about the nature of love, the disastrous side effects of guilt, and the function of justice.
A mass shooting has taken place at a prep school in Stockholm’s wealthiest suburb. Eighteen-year-old Maja Norberg is charged for her involvement in the massacre that left her boyfriend and her best friend dead. She has spent nine months in jail awaiting trial. Now the time has come for her to enter the courtroom. How did Maja—popular, privileged, and a top student—become a cold-blooded killer in the eyes of the public? What did Maja do? Or is it what she failed to do that brought her here?
Malin Persson Giolito has written a perceptive portrayal of a teenage girl and a blistering indictment of a society that is coming apart. A work of great literary sensibility, Quicksand touches on wealth, class, immigration, and the games children play among themselves when parents are no longer attuned to their struggles.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gioloto's English-language debut, a bestseller in her native Sweden, reads like an adaptation of a ripped-from-the-headlines arc of Law & Order. Chapter headings resemble timeline captions on a TV screen "Week 1 of Trial: Friday" and the novel proceeds chronologically, starting with "The Classroom" where the crime happened. A high school student named Maria Norberg, aka Maja, is on trial for the murder of several classmates, and she meticulously recounts her experience in a remote first-person voice. With Maja treating the reader as a confidant, key bits of exposition arrive idiosyncratically, and the backstory comes together small piece by small piece, like a jigsaw puzzle. Maja pleads not guilty; her charming lawyer Peter Sander places the blame squarely on fellow student Sebastian Fagerman, one of the victims. It's not until more than 100 pages in that the names (and number) of the victims are listed. This methodical and straightforward plotting, in the tradition of Barbara Vine, may either tantalize or frustrate American readers used to a crackling pace and a surfeit of twists. Nevertheless, Gioloto's novel is haunting and immersive.
Customer Reviews
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Wow, Wow, Wow. What an amazing story and so true to life as a teenager. The teenage years you are so lost and confused and can get mixed up with people and situations that are not good for you. We have all done some stupid things when we that young and dumb.
This book was about Maja getting together with a bad boy who she thought she could help and change but in the end only getting herself in trouble. Maja’s bad boy boyfriend decided to shoot his classmates and his dad but the real question becomes if Maja helped him or not. It focuses mainly on the trial of Maja and flashes back to what led up to day Maja’s life changes forever.
I can not say enough good things about this book. It does start out slower but after the first few chapters you can’t get enough and have to read more and more to find out what happened in this poor girls life. What I love about Maja is at the beginning of the book you hate her but as her side of the story comes out you feel really bad for her and what she had to endure. She was just as much a victim like the rest of the people her boyfriend shot up but she was lucky enough to survive it and come through to the other side. This book had it all, love, tragedy and redemption at the end.
Between the plot, characters and all the twists in this book it made it an easy and fast read. I would definitely recommend it and happily give it 5 Hearts❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Quicksand
Liked this story. It seemed to have a lot of sensible insight to this type of social behavior. Bill7NT
Enjoyed it
Starts off a little slow but captured my attention till the very end. It has its mystery and thrills and twisted young love and the storyline kept me reading till the end. Can’t wait to read the authors next book.