The Half Brother

Format:	Paperback 768 pages

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Synopsis

Barnum and Fred are half-brothers, growing up in the sixties Oslo. Barnum seems to have stopped growing, while his older half-brother, conceived after the rape of their mother and frustrated but learning difficulties, is sent away to a special school. Barnum's father is no better than a con-man, giving the appearance of a travelling salesman; while the three women in the family (mother, grandmother and greatgrandmother - 'the Old One') are all unwed mothers. Then the 'Old one' is killed by a hit and run driver - and Fred become mute as a result. The two half-brothers embark on their separate courses, Fred becoming a boxer and Barnum a scriptwriter, hoping to create a new genre in film, "The Northern" (as apposed to the Western). This literary marvel tells the story of an ordinary family in the 1960's, set apart by extraordinary family members and of two half-brothers leading very different and separate lives until they are brought together again at their mother's deathbed...

Book details

Published
05/02/2004

Publisher
Vintage

ISBN
9780099459163

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UK Kirkus review

This epic novel, winner of the Nordic prize for literature 2002, tells the story of four generations of an extraordinary Norwegian family living in Oslo in the years following the Second World War. The saga begins with the horrifying rape of Vera in her attic as she hangs out the washing. Although her mother and grandmother do not know for sure what has happened to her as she retreats into a world of silence, they care for her tenderly as it becomes apparent that she is pregnant. The result is Fred, born 'raging' in the back of a taxi. He is later to be joined by his half-brother Barnum, the result of Vera's marriage to a mysterious and diminutive stranger, Arnold, who turns up one day in his prized Buick. Together with their friends and associates, they form a motley collection of physically and mentally impaired drunks or fraudsters and yet they all have a charmingly irresistible side to them. This is no ordinary family saga. It hangs on the bones of some unfortunate births and some even more unfortunate deaths, but in more than 750 pages, not a great deal else happens as the characters stumble from one minor disaster or embarrassment to the next. Do not be deceived, though. With a haunting narrative, finely translated, a wonderful mix of tragedy and black comedy and sparkling characterization, this novel is gripping to the end. As is necessary with something of this length, it is beautifully structured, using its central image of a wheel to lead its readers eerily and inexorably full-circle, showing history to repeat itself and leaving in the air as many questions as it answers. (Kirkus UK)