Against Nature

Reviews:

Quotes from reviews:

"Against Nature is one of the year's most powerful and original books."
Sindre Hovdenakk, VG

"Against Nature is quite simply a love story that draws the reader in with such power, and which speaks directly to everyone who has experienced a reverse in love, or wonders how one feels."
Ingunn Økland, Aftenposten

"What makes Espedal a writer in the top flight is his ability to invest the seemingly everyday with distinctive linguistic resonance. Espedal makes use of the rich register of connotation in literary language, just like a poet."
Gro Jørstad Nilsen, Bergens Tidende

"... I was moved to the core by this revelation of a book. I know of no other Norwegian author who writes so movingly about sorrow."
Stein Roll, Adresseavisen

"In his recent work, Espedal has fused poetry with autobiography in a unique, Norwegian style. Against Nature is a perspectival and personal treatment of an old theme: unattainable love. He writes it to pieces, then puts it together again, in long, conflicting movements."
Tom Egil Hverven, Klassekampen

"No one describes the everyday – the countless small tasks of life – with such sensitivity, no one interpolates existential questions more certainly, even Knausgård must give place."
Ellen Sofie Lauritzen, Dagsavisen

"This is a short narrative, and yet it encompasses a myriad of important crossroads and minor dramas in the life of the main character. The sequencing of the various timeframes and events into a larger drift is impressively managed. The transitions from event to event – often spanning large tracts of time – are supremely supple."
Ane Farsethås, Morgenbladet

"Few Norwegian novels are so full of wonderful prose and small passages tempting to quote, as those of Tomas Espedal."
Kåre Bulie, Dagens Næringsliv

"Against Nature stands out as one of the star works in Norwegian publishing this autumn."
Alf Kjetil Walgermo, Vårt Land