First time reading an ebook borrowed from the public library. This wasn't part of the Inspector Sejer series. While I'm not much into fantasy/magical realism I was gripped by this story of a damaged & naive loner whose world is turned upside down by both a painting and a person. ( )

A wasted opportunity of a book. A great if not totally original concept spoiled by a very dull book especially the first two thirds. ( )

This book was listed as a mystery, but it really did not seem to fit into that genre. The author is Norwegian and evidently has written a series of popular mystery novels. This story opens as a woman wakes up to find a strange man in her bedroom. We soon find out that the woman is an author and the man is a fictional character who has been waiting in line, along with numerous others outside her home, hoping that she would write her next novel about him. She reluctantly agrees and as she writes about him, he periodically reappears in her home to comment on what is happening to him in the story. The premise is intriguing, but the character is so boring, that it is hard to get too involved in his life. In fact, all the characters are rather boring. I can't say I disliked the book. In fact, I actually rather liked it, but it still only merits three stars. ( )

This was an intriguing book with a very unique premise.

It also has one of the best descriptions of the feeling of anxiety I think I have ever read.

There are parts of it which do come close to becoming a bit too 'meta' and self-referencing, but overall I liked the way that the 'main' story is interspersed with the main character of that story talking with the author. It definitely gives the novel as a whole a dimension which I don;t think I've ever come across before.

I have to admit I wasn't crazy about the ending, and I did find the main character's inability to stand up for himself quite frustrating at times, but overall I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it. ( )

You start off thinking this is a book about being a writer, but somehow that balances out with being a book about the changing life of a character. The plot is really two stories in one, both deeply interwoven with each other. The author hears her character and helps him to settle his life as requested, but in the end you can see how she is also touched, if only slightly, by his interactions with her. I found the concept of the book as a whole to be unique and entertaining.

Now let's set aside the author's part of the story and talk about what she writes; the story of Alvar, who works in an art gallery. Here you have a man who does the same things, has his usual routine, lives alone and is perfectly content with that. He wants to be a good person, as do many of us, so he reaches out to a girl who has come in to the store off the streets, offering her coffee and letting her wander around a little, where it is warm. He has no idea that one small act of goodness will create complete chaos in his once very orderly life. Alvar makes many mistakes in his life, as we all do, though they are out of complete uncertainty about personal interaction, making certain situations almost difficult to read through, not because the writing is bad, but because said situation is bordering on unbelievable. Fossum never crosses that line, however, keeping things right on that edge where you still believe an event could actually be happening to Alvar, but are always wondering what the socially clumsy man is going to do with the next thing his author has thrown at him.

The characters in this book were so believable that I actually found myself thinking that Fossum herself had people lined up at the door and just recorded everything that was spoken, word for word and turned it into this book. She easily shows us what happens when good intentions become incredibly scrambled by fate and holds a mirror up for us to contemplate the possibilities in our own lives as well. There are times when you want to shout out at the book, "Don't do that, you idiot! What are you thinking?" But that only enhances the experience as a whole. Wouldn't you want to do the same for someone in your own life who had gone astray? ( )