A Shining

By: Jon Fosse, Damion Searls - translator

Narrated by: Steve Hendrickson

Fosse was awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature. His Septology sequence was a finalist for the National Book Award and the International Booker Prize. This slim volume would be an ideal entry point for new audiences of Fosse and an eagerly anticipated work for Fosse fans.

©2023 Jon Fosse (P)2023 Transit Books

Critic reviews

“Fosse follows up the voluminous Septology with the hypnotic story of a man lost in remote Norwegian woods... Fosse fans will savor this assured monologue of ethereal events.”—Publishers Weekly

“Septology is the only novel I have read that has made me believe in the reality of the divine, as the fourteenth-century theologian Meister Eckhart, whom Fosse has read intently, describes it: 'It is in darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest of all to us.' None of the comparisons to other writers seem right. Bernhard? Too aggressive. Beckett? Too controlling. Ibsen? 'He is the most destructive writer I know,' Fosse claims. 'I feel that there’s a kind of—I don’t know if it’s a good English word—but a kind of reconciliation in my writing. Or, to use the Catholic or Christian word, peace.’“—Merve Emre, The New Yorker

“An extraordinary seven-novel sequence about an old man’s recursive reckoning with the braided realities of God, art, identity, family life and human life itself… The books feel like the culminating project of an already major career.”—Randy Boyagoda, The New York Times

Unlike Anything Else

Beautiful and sorrowful at once. This is a small book but it will stay with me for a long time.

the sudden appearance of the Shining

I liked this reading more than the reading of Septology; it made the story more understandable for me

Incredible read

A deep dive into center of self, then back out until all the edges blur.

Strange but not

The style of writing is unique form of stream of consciousness told from a one person point of view. This a quick read we dive straight into the main character’s mind as he unbeknownst to on his last and final drive that ends in Norwegian Forrest and his encounters there in.
Due to the repetitive language I found the writing off putting and had to switch over to audio book but I also understood why Fosse wrote it this way - he wanted the read to feel the anxiety and confusion of the situation, and therefore think that if one was experiencing the situation; you would do the same. This a subtlety a profound 🧐 piece of writing when you look at it below the surface.