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The Morning Star

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A major new work from the author of the renowned My Struggle series, Morning Star is an astonishing, ambitious, and rich novel about what we don't understand, and our attempts to make sense of our world nonetheless.

It's a normal night in August. Literature professor Arne and artist Tove are with their children at the resort in Sørlandet. Their friend, Egil, a driver by day, is staying in a cabin nearby. Kathrine, a priest, is on her way home from a seminar; the journalist Jostein is out on the town; and his wife, Turid, who is an assistant nurse, has a night shift. Above them all, a huge star suddenly appears in the sky. No one, not even the astronomers, knows for sure what kind of phenomenon it is. Is there a star burning itself out? Why then has no one seen it before? Or is it a brand new star? Slowly the interest in the news subsides, and life goes on, but not quite as before, for unusual phenomena begin to occur on the fringes of human existence. Over these days in August, the characters the novel follows will each understand what is happening differently, and all face new struggles in their own lives.

The Morning Star is a novel about what we do not understand, about great drama seen through the limited lens of little lives. But first and foremost, it is a novel about what happens when the dark forces in the world are set free.

©2020 Karl Ove Knausgaard (P)2021 Recorded Books
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They do a fine job of reading it, but hearing the vernacular British English in their broad American accents is honestly so disconcerting I couldn’t take it seriously. Never thought I’d hear an American man say “bloke” or “how’s your father” so many times. Aside from that the story is passable, meandering and self indulgent and the prose rarely shines, but is also rarely truly offensive

Why on earth pick these narrators

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5 stars ... if we'll have a sequel to wrap it up. Such rich and interesting characters.

5 stars ... if we'll have a sequel to wrap it up.

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I love the company of Karl Ove. The ambivalence of life and death good and evil theism and atheism . Narrated by many which helps because with no guiding narrator it helps you know whose story you are in. Will miss it madly.

Excellent

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I *think* I thought this book was good or very good - but it was difficult to rate at all because the experience wasn't immersive.
The translator has used British demotic language and the narrators are, apart from one, who has that accent that could be Newfoundland or Irish, all American.
It would have made better sense to have Scottish readers or, if necessary, to have changed the colloquialisms to American ones.
It's a shame that it was decided to release this book in this form. I think it's probably very good, and it reminded me a bit of Murakami, very still, a bit menacing, a thread of the supernatural edging along with the narrative.

Disconnect Between Narration and Text

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It's been translated in to British English but is read by American voices, which sounds odd at times. And maybe I missed something, but there seemed to be a lot of loose ends not tied up. Despite those two things though, this is a very compelling and thought-provoking read and I certainly enjoyed it.

Interesting

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