The dominant figure of the novel is, of course, Knausgård’s father. While we are supposedly individuals, in the grand scheme of things we are merely anonymous parts of the machine, interchangeable and completely replaceable. However, once we move into adulthood, and particular middle age, the end is nigh, visible on the horizon, and despite knowing this, we are doomed to repeat the same tedious days over and over again until the grave. A repeated idea is that childhood is a golden age, where all is new and the possibilities are endless. We sense that Knausgård is using his writing to try and make sense of his life. In a very Proustian style of writing, Knausgård examines the aftermath of his father’s death in laborious detail, exposing the reader to many things they would rather not see – in a good way, of course. The second is centred on the father’s death at a young age, an alcohol-fuelled demise which turns out to be messier and more damaging than you could ever have imagined. In the first, the focus is on Karl Ove’s childhood, a rather unusual one spent shuttling between a physically-absent mother and a mentally-absent father, one who appears to be shutting himself off from the world. This initial volume is divided into two parts. So he decides to write about his life – in great detail… Approaching middle age, he feels the pressure of needing to come up with a work of art and is frustrated that his family life may well be depriving him of this opportunity (so far, so creepily familiar…). Knausgård is a family man, living with his second wife and their three children in Sweden. It is different, a little unusual, it seems to have been very popular as well – but is it any good? Let’s find out…Ī Death in the Family by Karl Ove Knausgård (translated by Don Bartlett – from Harvill Secker)Ī Death in the Family is the first part of Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgård’s My Struggle, a cathartic, six-volume, autobiographical novel. The next stop on our IFFP magical mystery tour is Norway, where we’ll be looking at a book that has provoked a lot of discussion in literary circles.

Karl ove knausgaard family