Out Stealing Horses is by Norwegian author Per Petterson, whose novel I Curse The River of Time I enjoyed and reviewed. This novel won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and the 2007 International IMPAC Dublin Award. It's a terrific book assuring Petterson's reputation as one of Norway's finest living writers.
As an older man, Trond lives in a small cabin in an isolated community. His life is simple with a main worry of how to clear the drive when the snows come. Sometimes his daughter visits. One dark night he meets a neighbour and recognizes him as the brother of his childhood friend. The novel between present day and Trond's reminiscences of his childhood and youth in Northern Norway.
Trond and his friend Jon would take adventures, one time 'stealing' horses (riding some penned up at a neighbours). After that day he never saw Jon again, for that was the day Jon's brother played with the family gun with tragic results.
Trond lived with his father, the mother and sister staying in Sweden. Over the summer, he helped his father and the community fell the trees on their property and send them down the river to the mill. It was the summer the Germans invaded the town, securing the nearby border crossing. Unbeknownst to Trond, his father was helping the resistance sneak people across the border - one of the secret passwords being "out stealing horses".
Trond was fifteen that year, the year his father disappeared forever.
This seems a simple story, but is so rich with memories and emotion. Peterson's writing is clear and perfect. At first, I wanted to read this and pass it on, to get it off my shelf. I was so impressed with his writing that I found this one of the best books I've read, a timeless novel you want to reread. I so enjoyed it I set out to read his other novels as well. Out Stealing Horses is atmospheric and touching, the story streaming in unexpected ways. It seems quite autobiographical, as I find his other novels. He has been compared to the great Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun, but I find Petterson more accessible and heartfelt.
Highly recommended to those who love good literature.
This was made into a film in 2019, Norway's submission for Best Foreign Film.
2006 / Tradeback / 264 pages
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