The Ballad of a Broken Nose
Arne Svingen
The main character’s name is Bart. He is 13 years old and lives with his mother in a city block that could use some restoration work, but Bart doesn’t think life necessarily gets any better by adopting a negative attitude. He attends boxing classes because his mother wants him to toughen up, and he has a secret hobby. Besides Bart we meet Ada, who can’t keep a secret, and Geir with a weird bend in his knees – and a number of other persons who have or will have some influence over Bart’s life. The Ballad of a Broken Nose is about hitting – and not hitting. It’s about singing without anyone hearing you. And it will make you laugh. And it will make you feel uneasy. And laugh again.
But most of all it is about the important days of your life, days when everything seems to happen at once and nothing ever will be the same again.
This could be one of the best children's books of the year ... an unusually exciting and funny story about an unusually sad teenage life. The language and characters are highly realistic, and the book is packed with striking one-liners and singular events.
(Dagbladet)
