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Knots: Stories
Knots: Stories | Gunnhild Oyehaug
8 posts | 8 read | 9 to read
A mesmerizing collection of playfully surreal stories from one of Norway's most celebrated writersFirst published in Norway in 2004, Knots is Gunnhild Oyehaug's radical collection of short stories that range from the surreal to the oddly mundane, and prod the discomforts of mental, sexual, and familial bonds.In both precise short-shorts and ruminative longer tales, Oyehaug meanders through the tangled, jinxed, and unavoidable conflicts of love and desire. From young Rimbaud's thwarted passions to the scandalous disappearance of an entire family, these stories do the chilling work of tracing the outlines of what could have been in both the quietly morbid and the delightfully comical. A young man is born with an uncuttable umbilical cord and spends his life physically tethered to his mother; a tipsy uncle makes an uncomfortable toast with unforeseeable repercussions; and a dissatisfied deer yearns to be seen. As one character reflects, "You never know how things might turn out, you never know how anything will turn out, tomorrow the walls might fall down, the room disappear."Cleverly balancing the sensuous, the surreal, and the comical, Oyehaug achieves a playful familiarity with the absurd that never overreaches the needs of her stories. Full of characters who can't help tying knots in themselves and each other, these tales make the world just a little more strange, and introduce a major international voice of searing vision, grace, and humor.
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review
Kazzie
Knots: Stories | Gunnhild Oyehaug
Mehso-so

I liked the writing, but the stories were strange and not especially memorable after I had read them

review
Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick
Knots: Stories | Gunnhild yehaug
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Panpan

This was a strange audiobook. The stories in this short collection all felt similar. The author has a repetitive style that is prevalent through nearly every single story, and with one narrator, they flow together too easily. Only one story, Small Knot, stood out. Marianne gives birth to a son and the umbilical cord in unbreakable. She will be physically connected to her son, Kare, for life. I would've loved more exploration into their ⬇️

Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick arrangement than we got here, but the others just left me feeling indifferent. The narrator also had a staccato delivery that rarely changed, helping to blend one story into the next and didn't do much more than highlight the repetitive nature of each story. I'm not mad I listened to this, but I can't recommend it.
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4y
TheAromaofBooks At least it's off the list!! 4y
40 likes2 comments
review
mrozzz
Knots: Stories | Gunnhild yehaug
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Mehso-so

Both fanciful and confusing. Fun and light. A couple vignettes were so purposeful & real- others were too strange & short to comprehend. Several have a thin string tying them together.

I'd read more. Would like to see how Øyehaug handles a novel. Some sentences are senselessly long, to the point where I lose my train of thought trying to keep but elsewhere they are poignant and accessible... I find short story collections hard to engage with.

AbstractMonica Love your photo 7y
mrozzz @AbstractMonica thank you ☺️ 7y
66 likes1 stack add2 comments
quote
mrozzz
Knots: Stories | Gunnhild yehaug
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"Sometimes when you read it's like certain sentences strike home and knock you flat. It's as if they say everything you have tried to say, or tried to do, or everything you are. As a rule, what you are is one simmering, endless longing."

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mrozzz
Knots: Stories | Gunnhild yehaug
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....her eyes get hot, she hates her cousin, she hates the doors in the house, she hates the heat, she hates everything.

She hates the whole world.

61 likes2 stack adds
blurb
mrozzz
Knots: Stories | Gunnhild yehaug
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Not loving my current fiction read so I'll jump into this adorable mini-book of #shortstories - it's both pretty and fun. I don't frequently pick up books of stories, I typically prefer a bigger commitment (I don't know why.... I guess I just don't know who to read!)

#30daysofreadathon

Bookgirl I struggle with short story collections also. I think the old school Stephen King short story collections are the only ones I've ever jumped right into. 7y
mrozzz @Bookgirl glad I'm not alone here. Stephen King huh?? I'll look for those.... 7y
Bookgirl @mrozzz specifically Night Shift, which has the brilliant Children of the Corn among other gems, Skeleton Crew, and Four Past Midnight. When he strips his writing down to the basics as short stories demand, he's awesomely terrifying. 7y
See All 6 Comments
mrozzz @Bookgirl yessss. 👌🏻 Perhaps I'll pick it up as a Halloween treat 👻 7y
Bookgirl @mrozzz Night Shift and Skeleton Crew are both short story collections. Four Past Midnight is 4 novellas, just to clarify. I'd start with Night Shift! 7y
mrozzz @Bookgirl I'll look for it!! Thanks ☺️ 7y
80 likes3 stack adds6 comments
review
DreesReads
Knots: Stories | Gunnhild Oyehaug
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Mehso-so

Stories, varying from short to very short. Not bad, but nothing memorable.

blurb
DreesReads
Knots: Stories | Gunnhild Oyehaug
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Next up--short stories from Norway.

12 likes1 stack add