La mort del pare (Min kamp #1) - Karl Ove Knausgård

A book about a guy rambling and mumbling about his past, where he talks about trying to date girls, smoking, getting drunk and his relationship with his family. For almost 500 pages. This is a recipe for disaster in the making, one would think, a boring, self-indulgent, vacuous work. Happily for us, even if "Min Kamp" volume 1 has a little bit of all of this, Karl Ove Knausgård does an amazing job of making his life, his musings and his story with his family a very interesting one. Even if he is actually not telling much. The story is autobiographical and tells the author's life in his youth till, well, the death of his father and his relationships with friends and family. It goes for pages on end about an end of the year party or dwells into his relationship with his brother. It explains his failure in becoming a famous musician. Or how he wakes up early to go writing. It all will look kind of familiar. One, because it may remind the reader of their family one way or another. Two, because this is a story of death, booze, violence and, in some ways, redemption. So, why is this any good? First, because it is engaging. Even if Karl Ove Knausgård is not saying anything special, he tells it in a way that even going to the funeral parlor becomes interesting, all the little details making each of the moments, story and situations he tells interesting. You may not like the 'hero' of the story, but you will be not bored while entering into his mind and seeing his actions, fears, and interactions. Second, because, at least in this Catalan translation, it is beautifully written. How close it is to the original is difficult to know, but the use of language and the way the story is developed is great, with some moments, as the moment Karl Ove visits his father and drinks with him just, plain and simple, great. This is not a book about a mystery, thrills or people finding treasures. But it is as much interesting and enjoyable as if it was. "Min Kamp" volume 1 is a book that fulfills its mission of creating a relatable character and it leaves with a desire for more. Well, there are five more volumes. The best: the writing, the way the story develops and envelops the reader in its world The worst: it can be seen as another booze-violence-rebellion kind of story Other options: not that I have read many of this kind of books, but Lucia Berlin, for example, would be an option 7/10 (Catalan translation Anna Llisterri based on the English one)

Djevelen holder lyset (When the Devil Holds the Candle) - Karin Fossum

A couple of teenage friends, Andreas and Zipp, are bored, without much to do. They go around bullying immigrants, stealing purses from women going on a stroll with their babies and breaking and entering in old ladies' houses. One of the last goes wrong and silly things start to happen. All the while the police and its detectives do nothing. That is basically the plot of lame and silly "When the Devil Holds the Candle" a novel just because the cover says it is a novel. It is 230-pages-long of stupid plot and character decision after stupid plot and character decision. None of the motives of the characters make much sense, and even if Karin Fossum tries to infuse them with lives and motives and justify bad decisions, it all ends up being risible, laughable, a bad joke. Even if the book is short, it could actually have been one forth, because there is so much padding and stretching without end that it makes things crawl to a stop. This is no crime/mystery novel. This is just a sad excuse of a book. The best: how the author tries to make the characters human The worst: everything else: it's a mess, the character's decisions make no sense, the plot is silly and worth of a rubbish bin, there is no mystery, there is no point to the whole proceedings Other options: any other mystery novel; if you want one with actual character development you can have Agatha Christie and Miss Marple; if you want them from the cold, you can pick from Camilla Läckberg to Henning Mankell; you can go Japanese and pick Miyabe Miyuki or Natsuo Kirino... Anything else but this. 1/10 (English translation by Felicity David)