Emily Forever

I went to Norway in September and I really wanted to know more about Scandinavian literature, other than thrillers. Emily Forever was a very interesting read to me in a way that is hard to explain. It's a slow paced book that really builds a narrative around a very ordinary girl in a complicated situation. It's giving Tove Ditlevsen The Copenhagen Trilogy vibes. If you're looking for something with a lot of action, this is not for you. Nor is it something you should pick up if you're in a romance mood, but if you want something different, without picking up a 500 pages brick.. This one should be on your list. There's a lot of doubt and uncertainty in the book, which causes for quite some repetition. It feels like you're peeking through a whole and watching someone's life develop in front of your eyes, while society is just not a very welcoming place. It's kinda grey and sad and feels like watching a slow, very descriptive film. I'd give it 3.5 out of 5 stars, because I think you really need to be in the mood for something like this and it's a tricky one in terms of storyline. I liked it, also felt very sad for Emily, wanted to help her out, be a friend to her. I'd recommend it to certain people, but it's not for everyone and I think no book should aim to be 'for everyone'.

Emily Forever is set in a deprived area of Oslo but could be any city anywhere where the poor make do and life is full of compromise and too often unwise decisions just to get by. 19 year-old Emily is a supermarket worker with a petty drug dealer for a boyfriend who can't get away quick enough when they discover she's pregnant. The book is uncompromisingly realistic about the life of what's often derogatorily called the Underclass, people almost doomed from the start with limited horizons and knowing that ambitions are pointless.
The book can be a bit confusing as it jumps from character to character and timeline to timeline ,often quite randomly, but it's a very effective and evocative piece of work. All of the main characters in their own way are stuck in a rut,one which Emily's Mother is desperate for her daughter to escape from while deep down realising that it'll never happen and there's almost a documentary feel to the whole thing as author Maria Navarro Skaranger paints a picture of life for the urban poor and the cycles of hopelessness that pass down through the generations.
This is a multi-award winning book in the author's native Norway and it's easy to see why. A short but very effective read.

This is the story of Emily, a young woman (20 years old?), who tries to survive in contemporary Norway, navigating the complexities of live. The story is not as much about Emily as it is about the remorseless dejection felt by many poor and middle class people struggling to survive a life that is moving away from them faster than they can keep up with. They are left behind, physically and emotionally, and have little they feel they can do about it, leaving them to perpetuate the increasing desolation with their own children.

The book is bleak, but also realistic. While some reviews talk about how it handles poverty and how horrific being poor is, I actually saw something different in the book, and perhaps even more powerful (regardless of what the author set out to convey). Overemphasising poverty might be confusing cause and effect. It is clear that the protagonists are poor - be it financially, culturally, or otherwise. But why are they poor? Is it because the system around them doesn't give them more opportunities, or is it because they really are just ordinary, and struggle to find a place in life, defaulting to what can be easily described as "checking out", and not even trying to compete for higher status in life. Their condition is a consequence of our socio-political system, at a macro level, but it's also their choice to do nothing about it. The question whose fault is bigger - the system for making it hard for individuals to find their path in life, or the individual's responsibility for their own destiny. This, for me, is what the book is about. The tragedy of the ordinary, and the difficulty in standing out in such a life.

Among the philosophical theme, I also liked how the protagonist was portrayed. I personally found her difficult to relate with, and felt she had very much an anti-hero vibe from my perspective (for nothing other than just giving up and going with the flow), she came across as cogent, cohesive, real, and, more than anything, representative of whole swathes of society. It makes one think, and question basic ideas one could have held as truths.

Recommend to anyone interested in how contemporary life is lived by regular people, and not just the privileged, self important, sexually experimental protagonists of Sally Rooney and her ilk (not that I've anything against those books - I like them very much).

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This was a difficult book to read. Emily ( Em) lives a sad and hopeless life. Her job is going nowhere. She is unmarried and pregnant. Her mom is useless. Her boyfriend is a drug dealer. I always thought that life in Scandinavia was a walk through the park, but the author paints a picture that toppled my original perception.

This is a slow but short read and depicts a very depressing existence. It is not for everyone. Yet, it addresses some universal and important societal issues. Single parenthood , financial deprivation, social isolation. The author is noteworthy , has something to share with readers , and is an award winner but the writing style felt disjointed and the plot jumped around a lot in time and place.

I didn’t love this book but liked it enough to read on to the finish. Thank you NetGalley and World Editions for an ARC in exchange for my review. Publication date for the English translated edition is June 4, 2024. Fans of dark tales will want to read this.