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Sjutton

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Per Nilsson överraskar alltid med nya infallsvinklar på hur det är att vara ung. Aldrig är en människa så klok och så dum som när hon är sjutton år.

"Sjuttonåringar är självupptagna, fega och falska, lever bara för att bli sedda, letar desperat efter olika masker att bära, olika roller att spela. Stolt och säker står sjuttonåringen där som världens mittpunkt. Rädd och osäker söker sjuttonåringen efter sig själv, ständigt sneglande på alla de andra, att inte bli alltför lik, inte alltför olik, ständigt denna patetiska balansgång."

En natt i maj på sjukhusets akutmottagning. Jonatan, 17 år, ligger medvetslös. Hans pappa sitter hos honom, minns och berättar om sin egen tid som hippie på 70-talet, hur han träffade rebellflickan som skulle bli Jonatans mamma. Och om katastrofen som gjorde att Jonatan inte sett sin pappa på elva år. Pappans berättelse varvas med mammans och flickvännens. Allt verkar handla om Jonatan, men avslöjar lika mycket om dem som berättar.

252 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2002

134 people want to read

About the author

Per Nilsson

61 books49 followers
Per Håkan Stefan Nilsson (living in Sölvesborg, Sweden since 1981) worked as a music teacher before becoming a full time author in 1999, but his debut was in 1986 with Mellan vakna och somna. He has written over 30 novels, novellas, and children's books, and his works have been translated to over 20 languages.

He also wrote the film script for A Different Way which was based on his novel Ett annat sätt att vara ung; furthermore, a Swedish TV series was based on his most known work Heart's Delight. Between 1997 and 2010 he was a member of the Swedish Academy for Children's Books. He is still writing to this day.

On Rabén & Sjögren's page for Per Nilsson, he writes this about himself:
"I think I became a writer because I am a dad. I started writing to my own kids to tell them about myself as a young boy, and told them, amongst other things, about a 11 or 12 year old who wandered around in Malmö, head filled with daydreams and fantasies, crashing into the hard reality in the form of street lights again and again. That was me. I put the scenes from my memories together to a story and sent it to a competition, wich became my first book."

Awards:
1992 - Rabén & Sjögren's contest "Best Love Story"
1997 - Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis
1997 - Nils Holgersson Plaque
1998 - ABF's Literature
1999 - Astrid Lindgren Prize
1999 - The Dutch Silver Kiss Award
2003 - Expressen's Heffaklump
2006 - August Prize (also nominated in 1994, 1998, 2000 and 2002)
2006 - Los Angeles Times Book Prize
2017 - En bok för alla's Reading-promotion Prize

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5 stars
57 (17%)
4 stars
114 (34%)
3 stars
118 (35%)
2 stars
30 (9%)
1 star
11 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 18 of 19 reviews
Profile Image for Janica Garcia.
14 reviews33 followers
June 21, 2013
lets you contemplate your whole life, of how you want it to be, the realization of your dreams, and how you stand for the things you believe in..
what were you like when you were seventeen? how about now? did you change, can you honestly say that you've grown up?
an absolute must-read for everyone especially teens.. :))
Profile Image for Sunanda van Dam.
32 reviews
August 30, 2020
Wanneer wordt iets een recht of wanneer verzamel je tegoeden van de ander?

Göran wordt als eerste gebeld als zijn zoon Jonatan van 17 in coma op de spoedeisende hulp terecht komt. Hij heeft zijn zoon lang niet gezien en vertelt zijn levensverhaal.

Een mooi boek over 17 jaar zijn, keuzes maken, ambities en liefde.
Profile Image for Yseult .
106 reviews
February 19, 2019
Chouette histoire avec de grandes longueurs. Et surtout, il y a ce truc que je hais : une fin ouverte ! NON, mais oh !
Profile Image for Nat.
23 reviews
April 25, 2023
musiałam na niderlandzki przeczytać, szkoda że na końcu nadal nie wiadomo co się stało dzień przed
Profile Image for Melanie Hetrick.
4,647 reviews51 followers
March 13, 2018
I don't understand why/how this book is meant for teens. Teens feature so little in it.

Seventeen-year-old Jonaton ends up in a coma after drinking too much. His absentee father shows up and decides to tell him the story of his life. His life consists of smoking dope and wasting time with his friends, until he meets Karin, Jonaton's mother. Ten years pass and the relationship breaks up.

Somewhere in the middle of this storytelling, the girlfriend shows up. She has something to do with the the drinking of too much alcohol and why there's blood on the kids shirt that isn't his. By the way, reader's never do get to find out what happened with the kid.

Then, towards the end, mom shows up and decides to tell her side of the story. Surprise, surprise, it's radically different than dad's telling.

This just really isn't a book for teens.
186 reviews2 followers
March 10, 2014
I liked the book very much. First of all, i'm a fan of different persons that tell one story and this book has that part. I also enjoyed the fact that the story surprised me. F.i. , first Goran tells his story and then Karin. And when Karin tells about Goran you get a completely different image of him. I also liked the story itself because it tells about the youth of Goran and Karin , parents of Jonatan, in which Goran whas a hippie and Karin was a communist. I just like to read about that time and the things they did. The only thing that bothered me is a little bit of an open end. In the middle of the book you get to know that Jonatan did something to Josefine, his girlfriend and that there's a reason why he lies on intensive care. I hoped to know those things, but it stays un-answered. And i just don't like open ends :)
Profile Image for Kris.
1,301 reviews12 followers
April 23, 2008
For high schools only, due to language (liberal use of the f-word and others) and situations (casual smoking of hash and other drug use – in descriptions of life in the ‘70’s – as well as non-explicit sexual situations). The story is told alternately from the points of view of Jonatan’s father, girlfriend and mother as the 17-year-old lies in a hospital bed apparently recovering from an alcohol poisoning incident. The reader never finds out what directly brought Jonatan to this circumstance, but learns a lot about the people who shaped him as he grew up.
Profile Image for Ems.
16 reviews
May 28, 2024
(I had to read this book for school)
In my opinion this was written in a very bad/difficult way. Words kept repeating each sentence for example 'He said ... He said...' and so on and so on.
The book wasn't even close to what I expected, I thought it would be a cute story of a dad who tells his son how his life was, with cute relationships and friendships. While in reality it was mostly about drugs and sex.
Not what I expected at all, quite disappointed about the book if I say so myself.
Wish I could take back the time I spend reading this book to do more useful things
Profile Image for Amy.
47 reviews8 followers
June 28, 2008
Half "blah," half "pretty good."
Profile Image for Sanne.
Author 3 books17 followers
October 14, 2013
This book is tragically beautiful, it is magnificent. It demonstrates the writer's knowledge and understanding of love.
Profile Image for Elin.
173 reviews7 followers
March 24, 2015
Minns typ ett hus på omslaget.
Profile Image for Inge.
1,549 reviews1 follower
May 10, 2016
Had to read the book for an assignment. Didn't like it at all. It was all about the drugs actually and the story wasn't helping either.
Profile Image for Lauren.
746 reviews5 followers
July 20, 2016
It took a little while to get in to this book but I really enjoyed the thoughts about relationships and life. The end left me hanging just a bit but I think I can let it go this time. :)
Displaying 1 - 18 of 19 reviews

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