Per Petterson

In 1948, when he is fifteen, Trond spends a summer in the country with his father. The events - the accidental death of a child, his best friend's feelings of guilt and eventual disappearance, his father's decision to leave the family for another woman - will change his life forever. An early morning adventure out stealing horses leaves Trond bruised and puzzled by his friend Jon's sudden breakdown. The tragedy which lies behind this scene becomes the catalyst for the two boys' families gradually to fall apart. As a 67-year-old man, and following the death of his wife, Trond has moved to an isolated part of Norway to live in solitude. But a chance encounter with a character from the fateful summer of 1948 brings the painful memories of that year flooding back, and will leave Trond even more convinced of his decision to end his days alone.

Out Stealing Horses

A Novel

Melody Izard

The narrator is a man in his 60s who has just recently lost his wife and sister and has decided to live in self imposed exile in the woods in Northern Europe. He discovers that his nearest neighbor is the younger brother of a childhood friend who was involved in a tragic accident that occurred during the summer of 1948; the summer that ended his childhood and shaped his adult life. The author speaks quietly to us just as the narrator, Trond whispers to his borrowed horse: “…I talked to the horses over the rope very quietly about quiet things I forgot the moment I had spoken them, and I stroked up and down their powerful necks. Afterwards I could smell their scent on my fingers and feel in my chest how calm I was before going off to do behind a boulder what I had woken up to do.” For Trond, this summer he spends with his father in the Norwegian Wood is a coming of age, a season of loss and a time of discovery and understanding. But you don’t learn all there is to know in a straight narrative time-line. In fact, you may not learn everything at all. There are some things you will just have to decide for yourself.

Trevor Berrett

I'm kind of back and forth on this book. On the one hand, the story was compelling and interesting, and the style of writing fit. On the other, the style of writing sometimes droned on and on. 

For my complete review:

http://mookse.wordpress.com/2008/07/1...

Rebecca Thornber

Wonko the Sane

Marie

Michelle

We were going out stealing horses. That was what he said, standing at the door to the cabin where I was spending the summer with my father. I was fifteen. It was 1948 and oneof the first days of July. Trond's friend Jon often appeared at his doorstep with an adventure in mind for the two of them. But this morning was different. What began as a joy ride on "borrowed" horses ends with Jon falling into a strange trance of grief. Trond soon learns what befell Jon earlier that day—an incident that marks the beginning of a series of vital losses for both boys. Set in the easternmost region of Norway, Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson begins with an ending. Sixty-seven-year-old Trond has settled into a rustic cabin in an isolated area to live the rest of his life with a quiet deliberation. A meeting with his only neighbor, however, forces him to reflect on that fateful summer.

Out Stealing Horses

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