His best since Smilla

"The Quiet Girl" is a book that seduced me. I read the hard copy and listened to it twice now in #Audible1. It has all the hallmarks of a Peter Hoeg book: strong female characters, a powerful mix of the erudite with the emotional, a poetic undercurrent and, regrettably, a rushed ending. As much as I admire the guy, I have to admit that the last item in that list is also a signature of his books: he usually attempts to describe fast paced climatic action by withdrawing information from the narrative and appealing to subjective perception of the action. In Smilla he almost got it right. In everything else (at least what was translated to English) he falls short. Strangely, in this case, this did not detract from the overall impression of the book. While I might have desired a better crafted ending, the bulk of the book provided enough nourishment for a banquet. Its observations on the nature of perception, music and the shortcomings of relationships made a profound and long lasting impression, which brought me back to the book, as mentioned before, a few times.
Make no mistake - this is no easy reading. It is made harder perhaps by the lack of pause in the narrator, at the points in which the narrative changes in time, place of subject altogether. You need to be willing to engage with it, make yourself available to discovery and reflection. If you are one of those readers that need to be certain of your situation in the narrative at all times, this book can be a nightmare to you - if you are willing to be a blank page waiting to be written you'll have a great time with it!

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