Out Stealing Horses: A Novel

"In this quiet but compelling novel, Trond Sander, a widower nearing seventy, moves to a bare house in remote eastern Norway, seeking the life of quiet contemplation that he has always longed for . . . Trond's recollections center on a single afternoon, when he and Jon set out to take some horses from a nearby farm; what began as an exhilarating adventure ended abruptly and traumatically in an act of unexpected cruelty. Petterson’s spare and deliberate prose has astonishing force, and the narrative gains further power from the artful interplay of Trond's childhood and adult perspectives. Loss is conveyed with all the intensity of a boy’s perception, but acquires new resonance in the brooding consciousness of the older man."—The New Yorker

"In this quiet but compelling novel, Trond Sander, a widower nearing seventy, moves to a bare house in remote eastern Norway, seeking the life of quiet contemplation that he has always longed for. A chance encounter with a neighbor—the brother, as it happens, of his childhood friend Jon—causes him to ruminate on the summer of 1948, the last he spent with his adored father, who abandoned the family soon afterward. Trond's recollections center on a single afternoon, when he and Jon set out to take some horses from a nearby farm; what began as an exhilarating adventure ended abruptly and traumatically in an act of unexpected cruelty. Petterson’s spare and deliberate prose has astonishing force, and the narrative gains further power from the artful interplay of Trond's childhood and adult perspectives. Loss is conveyed with all the intensity of a boy’s perception, but acquires new resonance in the brooding consciousness of the older man."—The New Yorker

 

"Among the agreeable surprises of Per Petterson's novel is the misleading suggestion that the modesty of his narrator's voice foretells a tale of minor events, an account of the sort of photorealism that prevents anything from happening. In fact, the book contains some bold, convincingly stated coincidences well outside the range of our highbrow realists . . . The characters living and dead are equally palpable, another small wonder of Out Stealing Horses . . . This short yet spacious and powerful book—in such contrast to the well-larded garrulity of the bulbous American novel today—reminds us of the careful and apropos writing of J.M. Coetzee, W.G. Sebald and Uwe Timm. Petterson's kinship with Knut Hamsun, which he has himself acknowledged, is palpable in Hamsun's Pan, Victoria, and even the lighthearted Dreamers. But nothing should suggest that his superb novel is so embedded in its sources as to be less than a gripping account of such originality as to expand the reader's own experience of life."—Thomas McGuane, The New York Times Book Review

 

"By the time I had finished this novel I knew it for what it is: a triumph of narrative architecture and powerful imagery, and a subtle consideration of identity. It is the story of a life that was pursued one summer in a Nordic world of giant trees and fast-coursing rivers, bloody rivalries, feats of strength, desperate passion, a world where the father-son relationship is elemental and a little dangerous. But then that life, for reasons I shall leave you to discover, veers away toward the modern world, where tragedies are lit by ambulance lights. It has been some time since I have read a novel that pleased me so much in its artistic accomplishment."—Katherine A. Powers, The Boston Globe

"Petterson wrings great emotional depth from what seems a bare-bones tale—the decision of a 67-year-old Norwegian man to pass his final years alone in the remote countryside. Escape, especially from his past, proves elusive in an enthralling tale with some distinct prose echoes of Cormac McCarthy."—John Marshall, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"This is a novel that strikes deep and lingers long . . . like some shattering literary symphony."—The Independent (U.K.)

 

"Out Stealing Horses is tinged with an autumnal sense of loss and the self-examination of an old man looking back on his life . . . This book is a minor masterpiece of death and delusion in a Nordic land."—The Guardian (U.K.)

"The genius of this beautiful, candid work lies in its tone of gentle, if at times angry, reflection. There is no sentimentality, no easy nostalgia, only truths and an honest response to experience."—The Irish Times

 

"I was completely taken with Out Stealing Horses from the first page. I found it powerful yet so quietly done I could hear myself breathe and I finished with an exhalation of awe."—Amy Tan

 

"Haunting, minimalist prose and expert pacing give this quiet story from Norway native Petterson an undeniably authoritative presence."—Kirkus Reviews

 

"Award-winning Norwegian novelist Petterson renders the meditations of Trond Sander, a man nearing 70, dwelling in self-imposed exile at the eastern edge of Norway in a primitive cabin. Trond's peaceful existence is interrupted by a meeting with his only neighbor, who seems familiar. The meeting pries loose a memory from a summer day in 1948 when Trond's friend Jon suggests they go out and steal horses. That distant summer is transformative for Trond as he reflects on the fragility of life while discovering secrets about his father's wartime activities. The past also looms in the present: Trond realizes that his neighbor, Lars, is Jon's younger brother, who 'pulls aside the fifty years with a lightness that seems almost indecent.' Trond becomes immersed in his memory, recalling that summer that shaped the course of his life while, in the present, Trond and Lars prepare for the winter, allowing Petterson to dabble in parallels both bold and subtle. Petterson coaxes out of Trond's reticent, deliberate narration a story as vast as the Norwegian tundra."—Publishers Weekly