Out Stealing Horses

Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
Maybe I just have a thing for Norwegian authors, but I was immediately seized by Per Petterson’s Out Stealing Horses. While Petterson’s story is calm and contemplative, his vast temporal leaps (suturing past and present in a sort of asymmetrical dance) make this book impossible to put down. It tells the story of Trond Sander, an older man who moves to a remote cabin in rural Norway to live alone. But when he’s confronted by an unexpected neighbor, Trond thinks back to an emotionally loaded summer of his youth. Petterson’s writing is lucid and beautiful, and without a spare word.