A Death in the Family: My Struggle, Book 1 cover art

A Death in the Family: My Struggle, Book 1

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A Death in the Family: My Struggle, Book 1

By: Karl Ove Knausgaard
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
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About this listen

Karl Ove Knausgaard writes about his childhood and teenage years, his infatuation with rock music, his relationship with his loving yet almost invisible mother and his distant and unpredictable father and his bewilderment and grief on his father’s death.

When Karl Ove becomes a father himself, he must balance the demands of caring for a young family with his determination to write great literature. Knausgaard has created a universal story of the struggles, great and small, that we all face in our lives.

©2009 Karl Ove Knausgaard, Translation: 2012 Don Bartlett (P)2014 Recorded Books Inc Biographical Fiction Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Biography

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Critic reviews

"It's unbelievable.... It's completely blown my mind." (Zadie Smith)
"A scorchingly honest, unflinchingly frank, hyperreal memoir of the life of one man and his family." ( Guardian)
All stars
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A book that deserves its reputation - it’s pills you in slowly, building the narrative and then dives into the central theme of the book. The narrator is also brilliant and a pleasure to listen to.

Highly enjoyable

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A biographical novel, rich in memory, forensic even. A rich creation full of pain. Compelling.

worthy of the hype!

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This book made me realise how eventful my life has been. I find it almost enviable how little depth there is to the author's life experiences. Many of his struggles appear to stem from his and his father's undiagnosed autism, something I struggled with for years as well, but come on.

Overdramatization of an eventless life

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I did not know if I would like this at all. The quality of the writing and narration are so brilliantly complementary!

Story and Narration Combined

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This is a wonderful book because it is so frank and honest. It talks of death and highly complex family relationships. Some of the small family dramas are domestic horrors - the plight of grandma, and the uncertainty as to what actually happened to Karl Ove's father. The complex relationship between the brothers, and the pains of growing up are also beautifully written. I liked the narration, the voice was dry which fitted well with the prose, You get a real sense of the Norwegian landscape from Knausgaard's descriptions, which was a refreshing take on small town life. I really enjoyed all the philosophical musings on life (deaf), sometimes it's hard to catch them all when you are just listening, occasionally I wished I could go back and actually read some of the more complex propositions. Its odd to say that you really enjoyed this kind of a book, but yes, I did. If you're looking for dry, dour and intelligent observations on life/death, then Knausgaard is your man.

Wonderful, hard talking honesty

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