It's Fine By Me is by Norwegian writer Per Petterson. It follows sullen Audun through his late teenage years as he learns to navigate life. Like his other titles, this one is quite autobiographical, sometimes tender, sometimes brutal.
Audun has just moved to Olso with his mother, and on the first days of his new school - where he refuses to remove his sunglasses - he meets a new friend in Arvid. He's thirteen when we first meet him and as it's the late 1960's, he's wearing a reefer jacket and checked flares with a row of shiny buttons from the knees down - it's the latest fashion. If you saw him he would have really stood out.
After school he runs a newspaper route, sees the city, and meets the residents. Arvid is into young Socialist politics but Audun would rather read Norwegian writers, Hemingway or Jack London. With Arvid he picks fights and learns how to set the record straight afterwards. Bored with life, Audun goes exploring - ending up on a farm where he works for a few days before being sent home. The next time he escapes, it's to camp out in the nearby woods alone. Audun is tough and worldly in the small circle he has seen. When school ends for him, he begins to work in a magazine printing factory with some hardened characters and learns some tough lessons about living in the world as an adult. Not matter what the situation, everything is always fine with him.
"I am only eighteen. I have plenty of time".
This is another semi-autobiographical reminiscence of youth by Per Petterson. It's episodic style suits the wanderings of Audun and Arvid, true friends though it all. Petterson really captures the existential nature of the teenage years, though with a slower pace, it's interesting more than captivating.
The characters are memorable, and it's enjoyable to follow them between Petterson's novels.
Not as strong as Out Stealing Horses, but glad to have read it.
1992 / Hardcover / 199 pages
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