Days in the History of Silence: A Novel
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From Booklist By all accounts, Eva and Simon should be able to look back on their lives with very few regrets. Eva made a career for herself as a doting teacher, Simon became an accomplished physician, and they jointly raised three children while creating a warm and loving home. Now, with Simon’s health rapidly declining in his later years, many of Eva’s memories, long suppressed, begin to resurface. Between the chilling memory of a long-ago home intruder and the abrupt dismissal of a beloved housekeeper, Eva begins to wonder just how ideal her marriage really was and how many memories she and Simon have left to share. This deeply intimate character portrait dwells in the intersection of nostalgia, loss, and forgotten histories. The narrative is mainly episodic, allowing the reader glimpses into a marriage marred by depression and repression. Bruce’s translation allows Lindstrøm’s sparse and evocative prose to shine, giving equal weight to both highly dramatic and domestically mundane events. Fans of Anne Holt, Nicholas Mosley, and Max Frisch will savor Days in the History of Silence. --Stephanie Turza Read more Review “This remarkable novel explores the theme of silence in many different forms—a children’s game, a refuge, a lie, a punishment, a solution—and shows its impact on those who long to be spoken to….The prose is simple and elegant, revealing an extraordinary talent.” —Publishers Weekly“This deeply intimate character portrait dwells in the intersection of nostalgia, loss, and forgotten histories... Bruce’s translation allows Lindstrøm’s sparse and evocative prose to shine, giving equal weight to both highly dramatic and domestically mundane events. Fans of Anne Holt, Nicholas Mosley, and Max Frisch will savor Days in the History of Silence.”  —Booklist“A painful, yet inspiring novel, Days in the History of Silence lingers in the reader’s mind and heart and does not let go.” —Jewish Book Council[A]n elegant meditation on the destructive power of family secrets and hidden pasts…Days in the History of Silence is a masterclass in philosophical dilemma, with the razor-sharp edge of a taut psychological thriller. —The National “In gentle, precise, and thoughtful prose Lindstrøm relates how a dramatic past slowly breaks into an elderly woman's life and consciousness.” —The Nordic Council"[E]ngrossing. The layers of silence that are stacked so neatly within this narrative are skillfully and precisely constructed, so that peeling one back only releases another." —Minneapolis Star Tribune“A quiet and unnerving masterpiece.” —Norway Times“Lindstrøm interweaves past and present in an intricate and gradually highly suggestive tale that makes use of a sober, simple language. In masterly fashion, she shows how remaining silent isolates the narrator Eva and her husband Simon from a sense of belonging they both actually long for…By means of a finely tuned, simple language [Lindstrøm]…expands out small everyday circles so that they become part of the large historical circle in which we all findourselves.” —Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature Judgment“An intimate and intense narrative about losing oneself through losing other people…. One of this year’s most memorable novels.” —Sindre Hovdenakk, Verdens Gang“In unobtrusive, elegant, and incisive prose, [Lindstrøm] has produced a drama of everyday life that insinuates itself under the reader’s skin.” —Turid Larsen, Dagsavisen“Stylish and clever. Merethe Lindstrøm is not only an outstanding, but also an intelligent stylist…This novel is one of the best she has written to date.” —Margunn Vikingstad, Dag Øg Tid"The simplicity of the language and the domesticity of the surroundings make it an immersing read...[Days in the History of Silence] will stay with you long after you put the book down..." —Bookslut"Merethe Lindstrøm provides a strong philosophical tale as she makes a profound argument that the past never fully vanishes since the ghosts of yesteryear haunt the present." —Genre Go Round Reviews"A fascinating novel..." —Hudson Valley News"A very powerful novel, impressively done." —Complete Review"Remarkably beautiful...prose that lingers long after being read." —Calamus"[A] searing work of imagination." —The Free Lance-Star"Quietly mesmerizing." —We Love This Book"[Days in the History of Silence] provides a great deal to think about and a great deal to admire." —A Life In Books"[Q]uietly stunning." —Library Journal "[T]his is a powerful, emotional, and never-to-be-forgotten novel of pure honesty." —Seeing the World Through Books “Elegant and thought-provoking…a highly focused and intelligent read, brimful of humanity, wisdom and psychological insight. [Days in the History of Silence is] infused with a gentle melancholia and leaves one aching to be upfront and transparent with the ones you love.” –Reading Matters"A beautiful and strange book." —Journal of Imaginary People Read more See all Editorial Reviews
J**N
The sounds of silence
Right from the opening pages, it is evident that this is a riveting novel, one that will grab you by the lapels and keep you enthralled throughout its pages.Eva, the narrator, relates a menacing tale about her encounter with an intruder while her daughters were still young (“I was the one who let him in.”) In retrospect, she says, “Later, I called it the episode. When I talked about it with other people…The episode is the anticipation of something more. But there was nothing more, he rang the doorbell that day, and after that he disappeared.”The opening sets the stage for the episodic quality of this novel. Drama is always lurking beneath the surface – and sometimes rises to the surface with the clear ense that something bad is about to happen, but this isn’t a novel about action; it’s a novel about inaction.Eva and her husband are an elderly Norwegian…and now he’s mute, a metaphor of the history of silence the two of them have shared. She muses, “Underneath everything, the house, the children, all the years of movement and unrest, there has been, this silence. That it has simply risen to the surface, pushed by external changes.”Over and over, themes and motifs rise and fall again: both individual and societal retreats into unconscionable silence. The abandonment of those who deserve love and caring (whether it’s a child, a dog, or an entire people). The need to seek comfort and refuge and the failure of faith. Perhaps most of all, the search for an authentic self-narrative.I thought this book was absolutely brilliant, beautifully atmospheric and crafted, insightfully focused on the repercussions of secret-keeping and missed connections, with a remote yet descriptive style that perfectly captures every scene. It is magnificently translated by Anne Bruce and a “must read” for those who love introspective literary fiction.
B**Y
"No one knows who we are. No one except for me."
Days In The History of Silence is a book about the spaces between people, the silences that grow with time and become insurmountable.Eva and Simon have been married for several decades and Simon is now stricken with a form of demential that has, as its primary symptom, almost total silence. Simon was a physician and Eva a school teacher before they retired. Neither of them had many friends and they kept to themselves. They have three daughters, all grown, none of whom they are very close to. Helena, the daughter that is most prominent in the story, has been trying to get Eva to put Simon in an assisted living facility. Eva has all the papers to apply for Simon's admission but she has not filled them out despite Helena's urging.Eva and Simon's lives are filled with secrets. Simon's childhood was spent in hiding during the second world war and he has told no one other than Eva what happened to him during that time. He has thought many times of sharing this history with his daughters but he has never gotten around to it. Eva often thinks about an 'episode' in her life when the children were very little and a stranger made his way into their home. She was terrified and fearful for their lives. The stranger even moved one of the children outside while Eva's back was turned. Their daughters know nothing about their lives.At one point, they had a housekeeper named Marija, with whom they were very close. She even lived with them for a period of time. Then something appalling happened and they fired her. The reasons for her firing only become clear only towards the end of the book and, again, they choose not to share this information with their daughters.This is a novel filled with metaphors and written in lovely, poetic language. I found the story compellingly tragic but it failed to move me very much. Eva and Simon are both so removed from their lives and themselves that I felt removed from them. I could appreciate the beauty of the writing but I felt distanced from it at the same time. Simon had a desire to share his past. His inability to do so when he was able made this book seem unrealized to its full potential.
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