Today marks my mom's birthday, so it seemed fitting to publish a review of a book that both she and I loved very much, and which she introduced me to in the first place.
This is such a phenomenal book!
It is a first time effort by a new author, but you would be excused to think him far more experienced. He is able to juggle difficult topics capably, and make it look effortless. The book is filled with incredible insights and is thought provoking. Yet, it remains an entertaining page turner.
Really, there's not enough that I can say about this book! You just have to read it for yourself.
I will try to summarize it, but it might not do it justice, because the story and the characters really come to life based on the author's description, and his ability to breathe life into everything with vivid description, narrative, and dialogue.
The psychology in this book is unbelievable, even stunning. And the story is beautiful, in it's own way, even if a description right now might make it sound rather weird.
But here goes...
Sheldon is an old man, an American veteran of the Korean War, who has moved to Norway, more or less against his will. His granddaughter, Rhea, lives there with her Norwegian boyfriend, and so had brought Sheldon with her to keep an eye on him and take care of him. There are concerns that he has lost it, that he is remembering things that did not happen. It has grown progressively worse ever since his son, Saul, was killed in the Vietnam War.
Sheldon has flashbacks from his time in the Korean War with increasing frequency and intensity. There is some resentment on his part for having missed the war that really counted for him as a Jew - that being the war against Hitler and the Nazis. Part of the problem that he has in moving to Norway is that he views Europe with a lot of skepticism, given so much anti-Semitic history.
Nonetheless, Rhea is trying to make the most of it, but Sheldon seems not to want to do anything, remaining cooped up in the apartment. He clearly does not want to be here.
But something happens that changes everything. While Rhea and her boyfriend are out, Sheldon hears what he presumes to be a couple upstairs arguing. They have argued before, but this time, it is particularly vehement. The woman runs downstairs with her son, and Sheldon instinctively offers them shelter, just before the man comes down searching for them. The woman essentially hands her son over to Sheldon to safeguard, perhaps knowing that her own life is in danger. Minutes later, she is dead.
The killer has missed the kid and the old man, Sheldon. And Sheldon, the old vet, feels an overwhelming need to use his old skills acquired in combat to protect this child.
And so, they set off together. One old man of over eighty, and a little boy, who's mother was just killed. The old man is at the sunset of his life, who fought in a war after missing the war he really wanted to fight in, and lost his son to war. More recently, he lost his wife, his life partner. And the little boy who, we learn, is from the former Yugoslavia, and who was a product of a rape which was an act of revenge from a young and arrogant schmuck who justified this as retribution from crimes committed against his people during the war there.
War and violence are discussed at large in this book, and yet, there is surprisingly little actual violence in this book. Even what violence there is seems somehow muted.
Yet, Sheldon keeps having strange flashbacks of not only his own war experiences during the Korean conflict, but also of the Vietnam of his imagination, revisiting the imagined scene of his son's death. We can see that he has this recurring dream almost every night since the death of his son.
If you have not yet read this book, but intend to read it, let me try to summarize it a bit in the next paragraph, to show both the beauty and the paradoxes involved in the story, even if it serves as a spoiler about some of the more important aspects of this book. So be forewarned, and if you intend to read it, maybe you should not read on to the next paragraph.
We have reflections on war, as well as on life and death, on birth and the cycle of life. The old man feels burning hatred for the suffering during a war that he was to young to fight in, but he has fought in his war, and lost his son in another war. His son's daughter, Rhea, has not succeeded in having a child, yet this child that Sheldon feels responsible for, and grows positively attached to, nonetheless holds the promise of the future- a future that Sheldon himself, in his old age, knows he will not be there for, being too old. Yet, he has to take care of this child, feels a responsibility for him, as he has been victimized and traumatized by violence that Sheldon needed to save him from, and which left him motherless. All of this is connected to violence, to war, coming to terms with the guilt associated with it all, and to the endless race against time.
It sounds complicated, and in many respects, it is. Yet, Miller not only succeeds in this writing, he makes it look simple, and does so beautifully! It is a book that is easy to read, and you can't wait to turn the page to see what happens next! You are drawn into the story, and grow attached to the characters. There is a roller coaster of emotions involved with this book. You laugh at some points, and feel like crying at others. This book makes you stop and think, and perhaps might open your eyes to other viewpoints and ways of thinking and viewing history.
In "Norwegian By Night", you really get everything. A thought-provoking work, yet still entertaining, page-turner. A book where you can recognize the humanity in characters that feel very real, yet with narrative that remains distinct enough to take allow you the ability to see beyond their viewpoints and prejudices, and perhaps even allows you to catch a glimpse of their faults. This is a book that examines wars and the abuses that result from it, and what these conflicts still mean years, and even decades, after.
Most of all, this is, simply put, an excellent read that you will not regret. Miller is an unbelievable author, and it is perhaps the most impressive first novel from an author that I have ever read. It ranks up there with some of the very best books that I have ever read, and I can already feel the pull of rereading it. That fact should tell you just how impressed I, personally, was by it, and how sure I am that you, too, will be impressed!
PS - Just as a side note, I wrote Derek B. Miller a note via Facebook, and he responded with encouraging words. He intends to get his next book published next year, and I, for one, can't wait!
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