Reviews

Old Cobblers

Michael Hayward
Tags

I’ve been waiting impatiently for the final volume of Karl Ove Knausgaard’s six-volume novel/memoir, My Struggle, to appear in its English translation, so I perked up when Autumn (Knopf), a new book from Knausgaard, was announced. True, the reviews had been harsh—the Guardian called it “the most colossal load of old cobblers”—but I tried to stay hopeful. Autumn is written as a series of short essays addressed to Knausgaard’s then-unborn daughter, telling her of the wonders that await her in the world: apples, wasps, plastic bags and frogs; blood, piss, vomit and jellyfish; flies, lice, labia and war. Twenty wonders per month, for September, October and November. I was doing okay until I hit the first wonder of November, “Tin Cans,” which includes a rhapsodic description of canned peas: “small, round, dark green peas lying there in their transparent, slightly viscous brine.” The fatal blow was this: “They taste so much better and richer than pale frozen peas, the taste seems darker somehow, and is perfect as an accompaniment to fish fingers.” I immediately lost all respect for Knausgaard. For how can you trust the prose of someone who dines on fish fingers, and who prefers canned peas to frozen?

No items found.

SUGGESTIONS FOR YOU

Dispatches
Kathy Page

The Exquisite Cyclops

A writer roams her sleepscape in search of the extraordinary subconscious

Reviews
Helen Godolphin

Pinball wizardry

Review of "Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game" written and directed by Austin Bragg and Meredith Bragg.

Reviews
KELSEA O'CONNOR

Haunted House guest

Review of "A Guest in the House" by Emily Carroll.