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Om udregning af rumfang #3
On the Calculation of Volume III
In the marvelous third installment of Balle’s “astonishing” (The Washington Post) septology, Tara’s November 18th transforms when she discovers that she is no longer alone in her endless autumnal day. For she has met someone who remembers, and who knows as well as she does that “it is autumn, but that we’re not heading into winter. That spring and summer will not follow. That the reds and yellows of the trees are here to stay. That yesterday doesn’t mean the seventeenth of November, that tomorrow means the eighteenth, and that the nineteenth is a day we may never see.” Where Book I and II focused on a single woman’s involuntary journey away from her life and her loved ones and into the chasm of time, Book III brings us back into the realm of companionship, with all its thrills, odd quirks, and a sense of mutual bewilderment at having to relearn how to exist alongside others in a shared reality. And then of course, what of Tara’s husband Thomas, still sitting alone day after day, entirely unawares, in their house in Clarion-sous-Bois, waiting for his wife to return? Blending poetry and philosophical inquiry with rich reflections on our discombobulating times, Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume asks us to consider: What is a single person’s responsibility to humanity and to the preservation of this world?
176 pages, Paperback
First published September 21, 2021
354 people are currently reading
2821 people want to read
About the author
Solvej Balle
20 books500 followersSolvej Balle er en særegen stemme i dansk litteratur. Hun var del af en gruppe hovedsageligt kvindelige forfattere, som debuterede eller slog deres navne fast i begyndelsen af 90’erne. Siden Balle debuterede i 1986 med romanen ”Lyrefugl”, har hun udgivet ganske få værker, så det var en overraskelse, da hun i 2020 annoncerede det ambitiøse og filosofiske syvbindsværk ”Om udregning af rumfang”, som hun i 2022 modtog Nordisk Råds Litteraturpris for, for de første fire bind
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 384 reviews
March 2, 2025
Part III...by now either you have either given up or you're hooked. For me it's definitely the latter. And the more I progress the more I admire what Solvej Balle is doing. By restraining herself to 18 November, she has actually created a world of endless possibilities and the space to contemplate them. Themes in this third instalment are memory and human responsibility. There is a deep sadness underneath about the way life has been upended, but at the same time life goes on and it never becomes tragic or resigned.
I won't spoil the plot except to say there are some unexpected developments.
I love the Dutch translation, either it is exceptionally well done or Danish and Dutch are so similar that it is the original being replicated closely.
I won't spoil the plot except to say there are some unexpected developments.
I love the Dutch translation, either it is exceptionally well done or Danish and Dutch are so similar that it is the original being replicated closely.
December 7, 2025
The slow quest continues and dives into some of the problems prolonged being stuck in time brings about
I am really enjoying this slow unfolding of the world of 18 November, Solvej Balle is the real deal, even though little concrete actually happens. But given what happens in the world outside, a repeat of a normal day is definitely what I as a reader needed. Note that below are definitely some spoilers if you haven't the first two parts of the series.
While reading I was thinking if this book about Rome & Rye by Janita Wang actually exist, and that is only the first of the things in the novel that made me think of metafictionality and the overarching intent of the author.
We start of with Tara Selter and Henry Dale, Norwegian, who meet each other in Dusseldorf. They are an interesting combination, sociologist (Henry) and anthropologist (Tara). I am sure that the Heinrich Heine (poet) University is potentially significant as well for the unfolding of this septology.
Henry, 37 and now 40, feels alienated from his child, who resides in Ithaca (picking up the references to The Odyssey here), New York, on a both multi-year and multi-day odyssey.
Near the end of the volume we have some newer influences, Olga Periti, 17 year old (or now actually 21 tear old) anti-globalist and Ralf Kern, who is an ITer who has the idea that there must be reason to them being stuck in time. Here we start to the real philosophical perspectives on the series, with Olga and Ralf debating whether small or large acts are appropriate, moral and possible. This reminded me of the exchange in Cloud Atlas where small reform is rebuffed by one of the main characters with "you can't cross a chasm with small steps". In a kind of inverse of the butterfly effect, deeds of the ragtag group of people seem to have very little impact on the world, but there is an unstoppable effect they do have on the world nonetheless.
I don't remember who minted the saying that with three people you already get a society (and the related commentary on our ubiquitous, world-spanning capitalist system), politics and schisms, but Solvej Balle definitely seems to have picked on this, and the series seems to get more interesting and addictive in its strange, uneventful way, the further we go.
Onwards to part IV of the series!
Dutch quotes, again, I would not recommend translating them to avoid spoilers
In elk geval had ik nu begrepen wat er mis met hem was en ik vond het beangstigend. Alsof je midden in de nacht naakt door een verlaten straat loopt en dan plotseling iemand anders tegenkomt die midden in nacht naakt door een verlaten straat loopt. Zo voelde het. Naakt. Alsof ik betrapt was.
Het was hem duidelijk geworden dat het geen enkel verschil had gemaakt als de tijd niet was vastgelopen of was blijven staan of zich was gaan herhalen, of wat het ook was. Alles zou hoe dan ook verdwijnen. Alleen langzamer. Of het meeste, zei hij. Het meeste van wat hij had gedaan, had helemaal niks te betekenen gehad
Steeds grotere delen van het bestaan waren voorstadia geworden van een druk op de deletetoets. Het verdwijnen in het digitale niets, zoals hij na enkele dagen in de gaten kreeg, leek sprekend op het bestaan van vóór achttien november.
Maar ik geloofde niet meer in simpele verklaringen. Je kon zoveel redenen bedenken, maar misschien kon je gewoon niet een bepaalde gebeurtenis of een aantal oorzaken aanwijzen. Het gebeurde gewoon.
Ik zei dat ik blij was dat ik een speelkameraad had op achttien november.
Maar het was moeilijk om te blijven wie je was, zei hij.
Ze vond dat je naar de oorzaken moest zoeken. Systeemfouten moesten gecorrigeerd worden door de systemen te veranderen, had ze tegen hem gezegd. Het ging er niet om of de komma’s allemaal op de juiste plaats stonden. Maar hij probeerde mensenlevens te redden, zei hij en hij was boos geworden omdat hij dacht, zei ze, dat een mensenleven een komma was. In welk boek is een mensenleven een komma? Wat lees je eigenlijk? Laten we het daarover hebben, had hij gezegd. Laten we het hebben over systeemfouten, gewoon… van komma tot komma.
Hij is mijn vriend, zei ze. Een vriend verdwijnt niet zomaar. Je kunt het oneens zijn met je vrienden, maar je kunt ze niet laten verdwijnen.
...een vorm van optimalisering van de werkelijkheid, of een aanzienlijke renovatie of het opsporen van fouten en bijstellen van details
Meer mensen, een betere dag.
We hebben besproken of we bij elkaar horen en dat is zo. We horen bij elkaar of we het nu met elkaar eens zijn of niet.
Ik voel me niet ongelukkig. Ik voel me onder vrienden. Maar ik weet niet wat ik hier doe, en ik weet niet wat ik zou moeten antwoorden als iemand me ernaar vroeg.
Er is niemand die vraagt wat we hier doen. Maar dat is ook niet bijster interessant. We drinken koffie.
Het dagelijks leven houdt ons het meest bezig. Alle praktische handelingen. Het huis en onze proviand.
We spreken van de onbepaaldheidszone van dingen, een weifelveld, een onduidelijkheidsmarge. Dingen moeten aan ons wennen, overgehaald worden. Maar dingen zijn verschillend en wij zijn verschillend, we kunnen verschillende dingen bij ons houden.
Maar we kunnen niet over hoop praten zonder het over gemis te hebben en niemand wilde vandaag over gemis praten.
Het voelt als een verhaal dat is afgelopen, maar dan hoor ik ergens een deur opengaan. Misschien begint het nu pas.
I am really enjoying this slow unfolding of the world of 18 November, Solvej Balle is the real deal, even though little concrete actually happens. But given what happens in the world outside, a repeat of a normal day is definitely what I as a reader needed. Note that below are definitely some spoilers if you haven't the first two parts of the series.
While reading I was thinking if this book about Rome & Rye by Janita Wang actually exist, and that is only the first of the things in the novel that made me think of metafictionality and the overarching intent of the author.
We start of with Tara Selter and Henry Dale, Norwegian, who meet each other in Dusseldorf. They are an interesting combination, sociologist (Henry) and anthropologist (Tara). I am sure that the Heinrich Heine (poet) University is potentially significant as well for the unfolding of this septology.
Henry, 37 and now 40, feels alienated from his child, who resides in Ithaca (picking up the references to The Odyssey here), New York, on a both multi-year and multi-day odyssey.
Near the end of the volume we have some newer influences, Olga Periti, 17 year old (or now actually 21 tear old) anti-globalist and Ralf Kern, who is an ITer who has the idea that there must be reason to them being stuck in time. Here we start to the real philosophical perspectives on the series, with Olga and Ralf debating whether small or large acts are appropriate, moral and possible. This reminded me of the exchange in Cloud Atlas where small reform is rebuffed by one of the main characters with "you can't cross a chasm with small steps". In a kind of inverse of the butterfly effect, deeds of the ragtag group of people seem to have very little impact on the world, but there is an unstoppable effect they do have on the world nonetheless.
I don't remember who minted the saying that with three people you already get a society (and the related commentary on our ubiquitous, world-spanning capitalist system), politics and schisms, but Solvej Balle definitely seems to have picked on this, and the series seems to get more interesting and addictive in its strange, uneventful way, the further we go.
Onwards to part IV of the series!
Dutch quotes, again, I would not recommend translating them to avoid spoilers
In elk geval had ik nu begrepen wat er mis met hem was en ik vond het beangstigend. Alsof je midden in de nacht naakt door een verlaten straat loopt en dan plotseling iemand anders tegenkomt die midden in nacht naakt door een verlaten straat loopt. Zo voelde het. Naakt. Alsof ik betrapt was.
Het was hem duidelijk geworden dat het geen enkel verschil had gemaakt als de tijd niet was vastgelopen of was blijven staan of zich was gaan herhalen, of wat het ook was. Alles zou hoe dan ook verdwijnen. Alleen langzamer. Of het meeste, zei hij. Het meeste van wat hij had gedaan, had helemaal niks te betekenen gehad
Steeds grotere delen van het bestaan waren voorstadia geworden van een druk op de deletetoets. Het verdwijnen in het digitale niets, zoals hij na enkele dagen in de gaten kreeg, leek sprekend op het bestaan van vóór achttien november.
Maar ik geloofde niet meer in simpele verklaringen. Je kon zoveel redenen bedenken, maar misschien kon je gewoon niet een bepaalde gebeurtenis of een aantal oorzaken aanwijzen. Het gebeurde gewoon.
Ik zei dat ik blij was dat ik een speelkameraad had op achttien november.
Maar het was moeilijk om te blijven wie je was, zei hij.
Ze vond dat je naar de oorzaken moest zoeken. Systeemfouten moesten gecorrigeerd worden door de systemen te veranderen, had ze tegen hem gezegd. Het ging er niet om of de komma’s allemaal op de juiste plaats stonden. Maar hij probeerde mensenlevens te redden, zei hij en hij was boos geworden omdat hij dacht, zei ze, dat een mensenleven een komma was. In welk boek is een mensenleven een komma? Wat lees je eigenlijk? Laten we het daarover hebben, had hij gezegd. Laten we het hebben over systeemfouten, gewoon… van komma tot komma.
Hij is mijn vriend, zei ze. Een vriend verdwijnt niet zomaar. Je kunt het oneens zijn met je vrienden, maar je kunt ze niet laten verdwijnen.
...een vorm van optimalisering van de werkelijkheid, of een aanzienlijke renovatie of het opsporen van fouten en bijstellen van details
Meer mensen, een betere dag.
We hebben besproken of we bij elkaar horen en dat is zo. We horen bij elkaar of we het nu met elkaar eens zijn of niet.
Ik voel me niet ongelukkig. Ik voel me onder vrienden. Maar ik weet niet wat ik hier doe, en ik weet niet wat ik zou moeten antwoorden als iemand me ernaar vroeg.
Er is niemand die vraagt wat we hier doen. Maar dat is ook niet bijster interessant. We drinken koffie.
Het dagelijks leven houdt ons het meest bezig. Alle praktische handelingen. Het huis en onze proviand.
We spreken van de onbepaaldheidszone van dingen, een weifelveld, een onduidelijkheidsmarge. Dingen moeten aan ons wennen, overgehaald worden. Maar dingen zijn verschillend en wij zijn verschillend, we kunnen verschillende dingen bij ons houden.
Maar we kunnen niet over hoop praten zonder het over gemis te hebben en niemand wilde vandaag over gemis praten.
Het voelt als een verhaal dat is afgelopen, maar dan hoor ik ergens een deur opengaan. Misschien begint het nu pas.
December 2, 2025
I have met someone who remembers. Yesterday. That is to say, I met him yesterday. But he remembers yesterday, too. He remembers that we met yesterday. Actually, we met the day before, but we didn’t speak until yesterday. Yesterday he acquired a name. His name is Henry Dale, and I don’t need to tell him that time has ground to a halt. He already knows.
This is the third volume in the, rather addictive, On the Calculation of Volume series (Om udregning af rumfang in Solvej Balle's originals). Here the translation torch has been passed over from Barbara J. Haveland to Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell, Haveland having commented that she wasn't sure the series wouldn't outlast her.
This starts where Volume II left off with Tara encountering, for the first time, on day 1143, someone else trapped in the same loop as her, and who knows it:
And he knows a lot more than that. He knows it is autumn, but that we’re not heading into winter. That spring and summer will not follow. That the reds and yellows of the trees are here to stay. He knows what the words mean: that yesterday doesn’t mean the seventeenth of November, that tomorrow means the eighteenth again, and that the nineteenth is a day we may never see. He knows it when he wakes up in the morning and when he goes to bed at night.
Now he also knows that he is not alone, because this morning we met at Café Möller. We met because we had arranged to meet, and because we both remembered this was what we had arranged. Two people who remembered. Not one who remembered and one who forgot. It’s strange to think: someone walked through the door with their memory intact.
Volume III continues the two elements that have come to mark this series:
1) addictive page-turning narration - as with Volumes I and II I read this straight through, unable to put it down - yet combined with some relatively philosophical musing.
There's an interesting passage where Tara attends a lecture by a philosopher who explains its peculiar relation to other science:
He spoke of the other sciences, how they strove to conquer mountains while philosophy dwelled in a peculiar flatland dotted with little cottages, perhaps a few acacia trees. How philosophy continually nourished the other sciences, supplying the equipment for their mountain climbs, balls for their games, knives and forks for their meals. It cut up their food and took them for walks as if they were dogs, it handed them weapons and tools, small implements, props, provisions, oxygen tanks. Plasters and needles and dissolvable stitches, making repairs so subtle you'd never know it had stopped by to mend a wound or two.
2) a world set-up that doesn't quite make sense, but that the characters increasingly acknowledge as such:
I told them about the bar of soap that Thomas had left by the washbasin in the bathroom. The next morning, the soap was still there, but its packaging was nowhere to be found, not in the wastebin under the sink nor in the bin outside the house. We couldn't explain it at the time, nor did we manage to come up with any explanation at our meeting, despite there being four of us now to consider the matter. All we know is that some things stay with us while others disappear, as if they don't belong in our day.
That's how it is. A world of cracks and inconsistencies.
Here one of Tara's recurrent themes is losing - and then regaining - a sense of sound:
But is it true? That the sounds are empty shells? Is it all just the remains of what was lost?
Are the notes of the cello merely an instrument's empty shells? Is music nothing more than debris echoing through the air? And the scents of the garden on a summer evening, are they the flowerbed's rubbish tip? Is the smell of a rose a bit of litter?
And the stars? Is their light no more than little heaps of celestial waste?
Are the sounds in the darkness the night's empty shells?
No, I think to myself, those sounds are the refuse of my beloved's day.
They sound like scraps, like lost movements, forgotten expectations. But I listen, and there's more to the sounds. Details I haven't seen before.
Sounds I haven't heard. Behind these sounds lie other sounds. What I hear in this room speaks of sounds that never arrive. The water pouring into the teapot, the crinkling bag of loose tea. Everything out there harbours more sounds than those that reach me in here. Sounds I recognise because I have been there. The rustling of tea leaves. Their scent.
They are not just the remnants of what has been lost, nor are they a promise of something to come. They are a promise of something happening right now. If I think of what I cannot hear, there is not only loss. There's something to be found beyond the empty shells which come rattling into this room, into the picture which was long since completed.
And then, in the novel's second half, Tara and Henry find a third and then a fourth fellow traveller - which makes them realise there may be many more. And the fourth, Ralf Kern sets them on a worthy if oddly futile project - to try and correct all, or as many as they can, of the accidents and misadventures which occur on that 18th November. Although as Tara notes, those who die on November 18th are essentially reborn the next day, as November 18th comes all over again. Personally I might argue that their aim should be to minimise suffering experienced on that day - but Ralf argues differently:
The project was simple, he claimed. Let's assume that time were to suddenly shift and we leapt into progressive time, that it becomes the nineteenth of November, for instance, and that everything that happened on this particular eighteenth of November, now replaced by the nineteenth, becomes the ultimate version - the reality we must live with. If we wake up one day and there are no more eighteenths of November, isn't it our responsibility to ensure that the day we leave behind is the best of all possible eighteenths of November?
Although if there are three, or four people why not many: And now the eighteenth is a day with three people in it. Or four, if we find Ralf Kern. Or even more, because why should there only be four of us? Why not five or eight or thirty-seven? But why us of all people?
Which sets us up for the arrival of several more people at the novel's end and Tara's ending: It feels like the end of a story, but then I hear a door open somewhere. Maybe it is just beginning.
A series that is increasingly impressing me - I can't wait for volume IV!
This is the third volume in the, rather addictive, On the Calculation of Volume series (Om udregning af rumfang in Solvej Balle's originals). Here the translation torch has been passed over from Barbara J. Haveland to Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell, Haveland having commented that she wasn't sure the series wouldn't outlast her.
This starts where Volume II left off with Tara encountering, for the first time, on day 1143, someone else trapped in the same loop as her, and who knows it:
And he knows a lot more than that. He knows it is autumn, but that we’re not heading into winter. That spring and summer will not follow. That the reds and yellows of the trees are here to stay. He knows what the words mean: that yesterday doesn’t mean the seventeenth of November, that tomorrow means the eighteenth again, and that the nineteenth is a day we may never see. He knows it when he wakes up in the morning and when he goes to bed at night.
Now he also knows that he is not alone, because this morning we met at Café Möller. We met because we had arranged to meet, and because we both remembered this was what we had arranged. Two people who remembered. Not one who remembered and one who forgot. It’s strange to think: someone walked through the door with their memory intact.
Volume III continues the two elements that have come to mark this series:
1) addictive page-turning narration - as with Volumes I and II I read this straight through, unable to put it down - yet combined with some relatively philosophical musing.
There's an interesting passage where Tara attends a lecture by a philosopher who explains its peculiar relation to other science:
He spoke of the other sciences, how they strove to conquer mountains while philosophy dwelled in a peculiar flatland dotted with little cottages, perhaps a few acacia trees. How philosophy continually nourished the other sciences, supplying the equipment for their mountain climbs, balls for their games, knives and forks for their meals. It cut up their food and took them for walks as if they were dogs, it handed them weapons and tools, small implements, props, provisions, oxygen tanks. Plasters and needles and dissolvable stitches, making repairs so subtle you'd never know it had stopped by to mend a wound or two.
2) a world set-up that doesn't quite make sense, but that the characters increasingly acknowledge as such:
I told them about the bar of soap that Thomas had left by the washbasin in the bathroom. The next morning, the soap was still there, but its packaging was nowhere to be found, not in the wastebin under the sink nor in the bin outside the house. We couldn't explain it at the time, nor did we manage to come up with any explanation at our meeting, despite there being four of us now to consider the matter. All we know is that some things stay with us while others disappear, as if they don't belong in our day.
That's how it is. A world of cracks and inconsistencies.
Here one of Tara's recurrent themes is losing - and then regaining - a sense of sound:
But is it true? That the sounds are empty shells? Is it all just the remains of what was lost?
Are the notes of the cello merely an instrument's empty shells? Is music nothing more than debris echoing through the air? And the scents of the garden on a summer evening, are they the flowerbed's rubbish tip? Is the smell of a rose a bit of litter?
And the stars? Is their light no more than little heaps of celestial waste?
Are the sounds in the darkness the night's empty shells?
No, I think to myself, those sounds are the refuse of my beloved's day.
They sound like scraps, like lost movements, forgotten expectations. But I listen, and there's more to the sounds. Details I haven't seen before.
Sounds I haven't heard. Behind these sounds lie other sounds. What I hear in this room speaks of sounds that never arrive. The water pouring into the teapot, the crinkling bag of loose tea. Everything out there harbours more sounds than those that reach me in here. Sounds I recognise because I have been there. The rustling of tea leaves. Their scent.
They are not just the remnants of what has been lost, nor are they a promise of something to come. They are a promise of something happening right now. If I think of what I cannot hear, there is not only loss. There's something to be found beyond the empty shells which come rattling into this room, into the picture which was long since completed.
And then, in the novel's second half, Tara and Henry find a third and then a fourth fellow traveller - which makes them realise there may be many more. And the fourth, Ralf Kern sets them on a worthy if oddly futile project - to try and correct all, or as many as they can, of the accidents and misadventures which occur on that 18th November. Although as Tara notes, those who die on November 18th are essentially reborn the next day, as November 18th comes all over again. Personally I might argue that their aim should be to minimise suffering experienced on that day - but Ralf argues differently:
The project was simple, he claimed. Let's assume that time were to suddenly shift and we leapt into progressive time, that it becomes the nineteenth of November, for instance, and that everything that happened on this particular eighteenth of November, now replaced by the nineteenth, becomes the ultimate version - the reality we must live with. If we wake up one day and there are no more eighteenths of November, isn't it our responsibility to ensure that the day we leave behind is the best of all possible eighteenths of November?
Although if there are three, or four people why not many: And now the eighteenth is a day with three people in it. Or four, if we find Ralf Kern. Or even more, because why should there only be four of us? Why not five or eight or thirty-seven? But why us of all people?
Which sets us up for the arrival of several more people at the novel's end and Tara's ending: It feels like the end of a story, but then I hear a door open somewhere. Maybe it is just beginning.
A series that is increasingly impressing me - I can't wait for volume IV!
December 8, 2025
My reviews Volume I and II
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I’ve read (audio) volume III rapidly after finishing II. This has become a very intriguing series.
It now comes down to the question, what if I were stuck in a time loop, and how would I use my time? The book makes it clear that travel isn’t out of the question. One can move around freely on 18 November, go somewhere entirely different, but you will wake up on the same day. With that in mind, the idea of the narrator Tara immersing herself in some niche corner of Roman history feels like exactly the sort of adventure a curious mind would take up.
The introduction of new characters adds to the adventure. Ralf's ideas in the latter half of the book about “saving the world” are interesting, but I found myself thinking that if I’d already been in a time loop for four years, I’m not sure how much saving I’d feel capable of doing. Olga and Ralf, in a way, become the youthful foil to Tara and Henry’s more seasoned, lived-in perspective. It’s the idealism of youth set against the world-weariness of older people.
And when I say “older,” I’m guessing here, Tara and Henry strike me as being in their 30s, while Olga and Ralf seem early-twenties, young enough to still believe in grand missions, old enough to try.
I have really enjoyed this series, and I am looking forward to the release of the next four, so thought-provoking.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I’ve read (audio) volume III rapidly after finishing II. This has become a very intriguing series.
It now comes down to the question, what if I were stuck in a time loop, and how would I use my time? The book makes it clear that travel isn’t out of the question. One can move around freely on 18 November, go somewhere entirely different, but you will wake up on the same day. With that in mind, the idea of the narrator Tara immersing herself in some niche corner of Roman history feels like exactly the sort of adventure a curious mind would take up.
The introduction of new characters adds to the adventure. Ralf's ideas in the latter half of the book about “saving the world” are interesting, but I found myself thinking that if I’d already been in a time loop for four years, I’m not sure how much saving I’d feel capable of doing. Olga and Ralf, in a way, become the youthful foil to Tara and Henry’s more seasoned, lived-in perspective. It’s the idealism of youth set against the world-weariness of older people.
And when I say “older,” I’m guessing here, Tara and Henry strike me as being in their 30s, while Olga and Ralf seem early-twenties, young enough to still believe in grand missions, old enough to try.
I have really enjoyed this series, and I am looking forward to the release of the next four, so thought-provoking.
November 18, 2025
‘Tis the season!!!! International On The Calculation of Volume day!!! Happy OTCOV to all that celebrate!!!
If you’re reading this now, without having read OTCOV, drop everything. Pen, paper, pants, just kidding not pants, but whatever else is in your hands is useless because today is the day! The only day ever, at least to our MC Tara. If your mailing address is 000 Under-A-Rock Drive, I’ll tell you Tara’s stuck in a time loop of infinite November 18ths. Check the calendar. Yeah it’s synchronous. Go read!!!!
I don’t have much to say. My original thoughts on form, style, etc. remain the same as the first and second volume. We get it, I love this woman. Something I wasn’t expecting howeverrr was Balle’s introduction of some veryyyy interestinggggg ideas on whether the world can be fixed structurally or by minutiae. I go no further else I spoil. But god does she have a great talent in weaving intellectual discourse through her characters. Thank you Solvej Balle we say in unison.
If you’re reading this now, without having read OTCOV, drop everything. Pen, paper, pants, just kidding not pants, but whatever else is in your hands is useless because today is the day! The only day ever, at least to our MC Tara. If your mailing address is 000 Under-A-Rock Drive, I’ll tell you Tara’s stuck in a time loop of infinite November 18ths. Check the calendar. Yeah it’s synchronous. Go read!!!!
I don’t have much to say. My original thoughts on form, style, etc. remain the same as the first and second volume. We get it, I love this woman. Something I wasn’t expecting howeverrr was Balle’s introduction of some veryyyy interestinggggg ideas on whether the world can be fixed structurally or by minutiae. I go no further else I spoil. But god does she have a great talent in weaving intellectual discourse through her characters. Thank you Solvej Balle we say in unison.
September 24, 2025
Deel III van Solvej Balles zevendelige literaire tijdsexperiment las voor mij tot nu toe het vlotst. Toch zitten er ook hier weer enkele taaiere/saaiere passages tussen die het leesproces vertragen en je aandacht even doen afnemen. Althans je aandacht voor de inhoud, want deze cyclus blijft je brein triggeren met de mogelijkheden, de voor- en de nadelen van het herbeleven van telkens dezelfde dag, zoals Tara Selter het meemaakt.
Zeker nu ze niet meer de enige blijkt. Dat is de insteek van dit derde deel en daardoor o.a. krijgt het dus meer vaart en sluipt er meer variatie haar dagen binnen. Met de komst van andere personages die vastzitten in haar achttien november, krijg je als lezer verschillende perspectieven en manieren van beleven over hun probleem. Daarmee voel je dat er vanuit filosofisch oogpunt ook grotere, universelere thema's aangekaart worden. Zo gaat het hier bv. over duurzaamheid en zuinigheid, over engagement en activisme en over sociale, emotionele en culturele tegenstellingen.
'Over de berekening van ruimte' blijft dus boeien, temeer omdat Solvej Balle uitdagende wendingen weet in te bouwen die je toch telkens naar het volgende deel lokken.
Zeker nu ze niet meer de enige blijkt. Dat is de insteek van dit derde deel en daardoor o.a. krijgt het dus meer vaart en sluipt er meer variatie haar dagen binnen. Met de komst van andere personages die vastzitten in haar achttien november, krijg je als lezer verschillende perspectieven en manieren van beleven over hun probleem. Daarmee voel je dat er vanuit filosofisch oogpunt ook grotere, universelere thema's aangekaart worden. Zo gaat het hier bv. over duurzaamheid en zuinigheid, over engagement en activisme en over sociale, emotionele en culturele tegenstellingen.
'Over de berekening van ruimte' blijft dus boeien, temeer omdat Solvej Balle uitdagende wendingen weet in te bouwen die je toch telkens naar het volgende deel lokken.
December 13, 2022
Det tog mig lang tid – lidt over to bind – at opdage, hvor godt Solvej Balles planlagte syvbindsværk Om udregning af rumfang egentlig er. For var de præcist sansede detaljer fra en dag, der er gået i stå, virkelig nok til at bære et 1000-siders værk? Nej, selvfølgelig ikke. Og det er heller ikke meningen. I løbet af tredje bind bliver det tydeligt, at Om udregning af rumfang er et stykke stor litteratur under tilblivelse – meget større end ved først øjekast.
Anmeldelse (af bind I-III) her: https://pristjek.org/2022/12/09/solve...
Anmeldelse (af bind I-III) her: https://pristjek.org/2022/12/09/solve...
April 21, 2024
I septologins tredje del får Tara äntligen sällskap. Nu är det inte bara Tara i den artonde novembers upprepning, utan Tara och Henry. Solvej Balle övertygar när hon beskriver den väsentliga skillnaden mellan att vara fast i tiden ensam eller tillsammans med en lekkamrat. Jämför filosofen Martin Bubers lära om det mänskliga mötet mellan två människor, hur Jag och Du (till skillnad från Jag och Det) innebär att vi ingår en relation med oändlig innebörd. I ett möte är den andre inte ett objekt för min erfarenhet, hen är ett subjekt som är med och skapar mitt ”jag”, liksom jag deltar i skapandet av ett ”du”. Att vara ensam som Tara varit i de två tidigare böckerna, är nästan omänskligt eftersom människan är en social varelse.
”Vi ställer frågor. Vi utbyter erfarenheter. Vi överväger och speglar och jämför våra upplevelser i den artonde november. Vi pratade om tingens opålitlighet, nattens övergångar, vår förvåning och de små striderna med den artonde novembers fenomen.”
Om den första bokens modus operandi var ensamhet och den andra ensamhet och klimatkris så är det nu dialektik och digitalisering som står i fokus. Men varje bok har trots sitt nätta omfång stort och brett innehåll där grundfundamentet består i vad det är att vara människa, filosofi och historia. Med den enkla idé som Balle fick när hon tappade sin väckarklocka 1987 för hon samman sinnen, idéer och det levande livet, och hon gör det bra. Ibland ler jag stort när jag läser hennes prosa för den är så löjligt bra.
Tara och Henry lever i ”en värld som ömsar sitt digitala skinn varje natt”. ”Försvinnandet i det digitala intet” skriver Balle ”var alltför likt tillvaron före den artonde november”. Mobiltelefonerna är opålitliga, likaså den ström av bilder och tecken som forsar fram på internet. Ting – som inte är digitala – går att behålla från en artonde november till en annan om de används eller ligger med i sängen. Det får mig att tänka på alla saker jag samlar omkring mig men som jag egentligen inte använder.
Det är svårt för oss att se det som finns mitt framför näsan, det vi är vana vid. Hur märkligt det är egentligen att vi föds och dör exempelvis. Kanske krävs något lika besynnerligt som ett stopp i tiden för att vi ska kunna få syn på vår plats i historiens malström. Tara läser om det fallna romarriket och funderar på om deras misstag var att de valde bort råg som energikälla. Kanske är vi mitt i fallet?
Jag uppskattar allt Balle skriver, inte minst det om feminism, konst och historia. Via Tara framför Balle ett brandtal varför kvinnor bör intressera sig för historia. Exempelvis var världens första författare (som vi känner till) en kvinna från Mesopotamien (Irak). Hon hette Enheduanna och levde för cirka 4 000 år sedan. Detta säger Tara i ett svar till Henry som ”försökte förklara min värld för mig genom att klättra över på min sida av staketet, men jag tyckte att det var ett staket som han själv satte upp medan han klättrade”.
Sen möter de ytterligare två som fastnat i tiden och det innebär ännu fler sätt att tolka och hantera situationen de hamnat i. Tara och Henry ser sig som monster som parasiterar på jordens resurser. De försöker orsaka minsta möjliga skada genom att äta mat som ändå ska slängas exempelvis. De andra två ser sig som utvalda för att göra skillnad, de vill förbättra den artonde november genom att förhindra olyckor. De har fortfarande hoppet kvar om att det en dag åter ska bli den nittonde.
Jag hyser också stort hopp, om en spännande fortsättning!
”Vi ställer frågor. Vi utbyter erfarenheter. Vi överväger och speglar och jämför våra upplevelser i den artonde november. Vi pratade om tingens opålitlighet, nattens övergångar, vår förvåning och de små striderna med den artonde novembers fenomen.”
Om den första bokens modus operandi var ensamhet och den andra ensamhet och klimatkris så är det nu dialektik och digitalisering som står i fokus. Men varje bok har trots sitt nätta omfång stort och brett innehåll där grundfundamentet består i vad det är att vara människa, filosofi och historia. Med den enkla idé som Balle fick när hon tappade sin väckarklocka 1987 för hon samman sinnen, idéer och det levande livet, och hon gör det bra. Ibland ler jag stort när jag läser hennes prosa för den är så löjligt bra.
Tara och Henry lever i ”en värld som ömsar sitt digitala skinn varje natt”. ”Försvinnandet i det digitala intet” skriver Balle ”var alltför likt tillvaron före den artonde november”. Mobiltelefonerna är opålitliga, likaså den ström av bilder och tecken som forsar fram på internet. Ting – som inte är digitala – går att behålla från en artonde november till en annan om de används eller ligger med i sängen. Det får mig att tänka på alla saker jag samlar omkring mig men som jag egentligen inte använder.
Det är svårt för oss att se det som finns mitt framför näsan, det vi är vana vid. Hur märkligt det är egentligen att vi föds och dör exempelvis. Kanske krävs något lika besynnerligt som ett stopp i tiden för att vi ska kunna få syn på vår plats i historiens malström. Tara läser om det fallna romarriket och funderar på om deras misstag var att de valde bort råg som energikälla. Kanske är vi mitt i fallet?
Jag uppskattar allt Balle skriver, inte minst det om feminism, konst och historia. Via Tara framför Balle ett brandtal varför kvinnor bör intressera sig för historia. Exempelvis var världens första författare (som vi känner till) en kvinna från Mesopotamien (Irak). Hon hette Enheduanna och levde för cirka 4 000 år sedan. Detta säger Tara i ett svar till Henry som ”försökte förklara min värld för mig genom att klättra över på min sida av staketet, men jag tyckte att det var ett staket som han själv satte upp medan han klättrade”.
Sen möter de ytterligare två som fastnat i tiden och det innebär ännu fler sätt att tolka och hantera situationen de hamnat i. Tara och Henry ser sig som monster som parasiterar på jordens resurser. De försöker orsaka minsta möjliga skada genom att äta mat som ändå ska slängas exempelvis. De andra två ser sig som utvalda för att göra skillnad, de vill förbättra den artonde november genom att förhindra olyckor. De har fortfarande hoppet kvar om att det en dag åter ska bli den nittonde.
Jag hyser också stort hopp, om en spännande fortsättning!
November 30, 2025
Balle keeps doing it. I got re-addicted at the beginning of this volume and once again tore through it, like with vol. II (though I think this volume is stronger). Vol VI was published in Danish, I believe, so she, as I write this, is hopefully writing the final volume (or eating her lunch). It's impossible to talk about these without spoiling the plots, and please do not read any of the blurbs as they also spoil everything, but I will say that this permeated my mind and thoughts as I read it. Her prose is so crisp and unassuming but it does wheedle its way into you, quite like Knausgaard and Fosse, so I don't know what these Nordic writers are eating but I hope they keep going. In my early twenties I was reading as much Japanese fiction as I could, now I seem to be obsessed with anything coming out of the Nordic countries. As others have said, the quiet intensity of these novels is its ability to make you 'see' the small things in life. Yesterday, thanks to social media, I received news that a boy I was in the Scouts with many years ago has died, aged 28. For some reason, on hearing that news, I felt inclined to pick up On the Calculation of Volume and read some of the passages again, to comfort me.
September 14, 2025
It gets better and better and better!!!
August 2, 2025
I love you Tara <3
Honestly has got twists and turns left right and centre. I didn’t know where her story was going to go after the first two books but now it feels like Balle is building to something huge and I can’t wait to find out what it is. The title is also starting to make some sort of sense I think? It just feels like something to do with physics is going to explode and blow my mind and I can’t wait for it to happen.
We learn more about the world Tara inhabits in this and it becomes clear she needs to work as a team in order to get back to where she belongs. I won’t say any more than that.
Do yourself a favour and read this incredible series.
Honestly has got twists and turns left right and centre. I didn’t know where her story was going to go after the first two books but now it feels like Balle is building to something huge and I can’t wait to find out what it is. The title is also starting to make some sort of sense I think? It just feels like something to do with physics is going to explode and blow my mind and I can’t wait for it to happen.
We learn more about the world Tara inhabits in this and it becomes clear she needs to work as a team in order to get back to where she belongs. I won’t say any more than that.
Do yourself a favour and read this incredible series.
May 26, 2024
Betyg: 4,5 Att återvända till den 18 november och Tara Selters värld har kommit att bli ett trivsamt läsnöje. Mer och mer känns det som jag sitter med ett blivande storverk framför mig, en septologi som kommer att ha en given plats i bokhyllan. På ett så skickligt vis för Balle oss genom filosofiska och existensiella frågor, med välskriven prosa och precis lagom mycket ny information. Jag ser redan fram emot nästa del.
November 14, 2025
No terceiro volume da saga de Tara Selter em suas andanças pelo dezoito de novembro, encontramo-nos numa nova etapa desse dia interminável: aparentemente, ela encontrou mais alguém preso nesse dia infinito, Henry D. E se há mais uma pessoa presa no loop temporal, será que haveria outras tantas na mesma situação? O que fazer, como descobrir?
Continuo a gostar desses périplos selterianos, em especial os pensamentos que Tara vai desenvolvendo para tentar entender o mundo, não enlouquecer e poder continuar sua vida, ao mesmo tempo estagnada e em progressão.
Pergunto-me se esse loop temporal não seria uma grande metáforda dos nossos tempos, presos diariamente em trabalhos enfadonhos, repetitivos, que por vezes não vão a lugar nenhum, mas somos obrigados a repetí-los, racionalizar as técnicas ao extremo e o resultando é como vemos com Carlitos, o personagem de Charles Chaplin em Tempos modernos, em uma linha de montagem fordista, em um ambiente asséptico, controlado e que suga a cada um, para depois cuspir-nos. Henry D. levanta levemente essa questão. Mas como disse, apenas levemente.
Enfim, o jeito é aguardar até que o sétimo volume seja publicado para saber se saímos ou não dessa confusão temporal.
Continuo a gostar desses périplos selterianos, em especial os pensamentos que Tara vai desenvolvendo para tentar entender o mundo, não enlouquecer e poder continuar sua vida, ao mesmo tempo estagnada e em progressão.
Pergunto-me se esse loop temporal não seria uma grande metáforda dos nossos tempos, presos diariamente em trabalhos enfadonhos, repetitivos, que por vezes não vão a lugar nenhum, mas somos obrigados a repetí-los, racionalizar as técnicas ao extremo e o resultando é como vemos com Carlitos, o personagem de Charles Chaplin em Tempos modernos, em uma linha de montagem fordista, em um ambiente asséptico, controlado e que suga a cada um, para depois cuspir-nos. Henry D. levanta levemente essa questão. Mas como disse, apenas levemente.
Enfim, o jeito é aguardar até que o sétimo volume seja publicado para saber se saímos ou não dessa confusão temporal.
November 26, 2025
An expansion. Some added depth. The 18th of November is larger now, more populated with the stranded. I look forward to volume IV.
November 18, 2025
it has indeed felt like 1143 days have since i read volumes one and two and i have been patiently waiting for November 18th to come around to read the latest instalment of Solvej Balle’s septology. at this point, you’ve either given up or you’re in it for the long run.
as we progress through the volumes, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to not give away any details that will spoil the plot. so, let me leave you with these nuggets: november 18th², history/herstory, Ithaca, centiums, a tooth, sounds, tinned fucking sweetcorn & rubbish.
volume III is characteristically balle, pensive and full of lyrical observations about the way we lead our lives and our monstrous overconsumption, the centring of materialism, our impact on the climate and human responsibility—only this instalment felt a little darker. indeed, “when you inhabit a day for so long, you start to see the cracks.” and i would say that this volume has a bit of an edge to it. it’s also the first volume translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell, who seamlessly picked up where haveland left off, perfectly capturing vol III’s angsty tone and equally providing glimpses of hope.
tara’s november 18th is an odyssey, one that is full of imperfections and cracks, and just when you think you know where the story is heading, you’re met with colossal twists and turns that flip everything you think you know on its head.
volume III is balle at her very best, presenting us with wonderful introspections about the history of women, the weight of human responsibility and the mechanics of time. three volumes in, im starting to understand the inner workings of her mind and of november 18th. i fear i can’t say anything more. but my mind is racing with theories and directions in which the novel could take that could completely alter the novel’s trajectory and genre. anxious awaiting vol IV now!!!
as we progress through the volumes, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to not give away any details that will spoil the plot. so, let me leave you with these nuggets: november 18th², history/herstory, Ithaca, centiums, a tooth, sounds, tinned fucking sweetcorn & rubbish.
volume III is characteristically balle, pensive and full of lyrical observations about the way we lead our lives and our monstrous overconsumption, the centring of materialism, our impact on the climate and human responsibility—only this instalment felt a little darker. indeed, “when you inhabit a day for so long, you start to see the cracks.” and i would say that this volume has a bit of an edge to it. it’s also the first volume translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell, who seamlessly picked up where haveland left off, perfectly capturing vol III’s angsty tone and equally providing glimpses of hope.
tara’s november 18th is an odyssey, one that is full of imperfections and cracks, and just when you think you know where the story is heading, you’re met with colossal twists and turns that flip everything you think you know on its head.
volume III is balle at her very best, presenting us with wonderful introspections about the history of women, the weight of human responsibility and the mechanics of time. three volumes in, im starting to understand the inner workings of her mind and of november 18th. i fear i can’t say anything more. but my mind is racing with theories and directions in which the novel could take that could completely alter the novel’s trajectory and genre. anxious awaiting vol IV now!!!
December 1, 2025
Damn, Balle continues to impress me.
Finally back with Tara Selter after a wait between the book II and III English publication gap, I was immediately drawn in by the thread the second book dangled to bring the reader to the next. There was so much explored in this slim book -- there were points my eyes were brimming with tears, and other parts so tense (or could have been read as tense?), and it also dives into philosophical questions that often made me put down the book to have a think of how I might (and perhaps do/don't) approach these situations about life and choices.
Can't wait for IV.
Finally back with Tara Selter after a wait between the book II and III English publication gap, I was immediately drawn in by the thread the second book dangled to bring the reader to the next. There was so much explored in this slim book -- there were points my eyes were brimming with tears, and other parts so tense (or could have been read as tense?), and it also dives into philosophical questions that often made me put down the book to have a think of how I might (and perhaps do/don't) approach these situations about life and choices.
Can't wait for IV.
July 16, 2025
i think of all that was meant to come, but it does not come. everything is already here. the picture is complete. i can see it. and now, it is lost.book three of on the calculation of volume (om udregning af rumfang) delights as much as its predecessors. solvej balle's septology is absolutely spellbinding and following tara selter onward through the ever-accreting november 18ths remains immensely rewarding.
three sevenths of the way through... and impatiently awaiting more (trading my weeks/months/years for tara's)
*translated from the danish by sophie hersi smith & jennifer russell (ravn, ditlevsen)
May 8, 2025
Ai että rakastan tätä pientä, kummaa maailmaa.
December 13, 2025
Vėl sparčiai susiskaičiusi dalis, nors ši man patiko mažiau, nei pirmos dvi.
Gražūs Taros garso tyrinėjimai, užknisantis Ralfo projektas, neatsiknisanti mintis, ar čia viskas sugalvota iš anksto, ar galvojama pakeliui. Net jei yra atsakymas, vis tiek neaišku, ar tai tiesa.
Gražūs Taros garso tyrinėjimai, užknisantis Ralfo projektas, neatsiknisanti mintis, ar čia viskas sugalvota iš anksto, ar galvojama pakeliui. Net jei yra atsakymas, vis tiek neaišku, ar tai tiesa.
November 18, 2025
Kaip gera būti lapkričio 18-oj 🧮
June 20, 2023
Der sker igen ting og sager den 18. november. Det vil være synd at afsløre det for romanseriens forhåbentlig mange fremtidige læsere.
I dette bind hæfter jeg mig ved, at Balle kaster sit lod i debatten om humanioras berettigelse, da vores hovedperson på et tidspunkt går til en filosofisk forelæsning på det lokale universitet. Filosoffen gør sig til fortaler for, at filosofferne har en anden opgave end alle andre akademikere.
"Han talte om alle de andre videnskaber, hvordan de forsøgte at bestige bjerge, mens filosofien holdt til i et underligt fladland med lave huse, måske et par akacietræer, at filosofien hele tiden fodrede de andre videnskaber, leverede udstyr til deres bjergbestigninger, bolde til deres spil, knive og gafler til deres måltider, den skar deres mad i stykker og gik tur med dem, som om de var hunde. (...) Filosofien er altid i gang med at skære et stykke af sig selv og kaste det til den nærmeste videnskabsgren, somme tider i tilfældige retninger, ud til folket, til magthaverne, til kunsten, og hver gang mistede den noget, og hver gang voksede det ud igen (...)." (s.77-78)
Jeg glæder mig til bind IV og vil faktisk sige, at den afstand mellem bindene, som ventetiden på biblioteket har betydet, faktisk har været et gode (for mig)! Det har måske også været Balles intention ved at planlægge Om udregning af rumfang som en serie af syv korte romaner.
I dette bind hæfter jeg mig ved, at Balle kaster sit lod i debatten om humanioras berettigelse, da vores hovedperson på et tidspunkt går til en filosofisk forelæsning på det lokale universitet. Filosoffen gør sig til fortaler for, at filosofferne har en anden opgave end alle andre akademikere.
"Han talte om alle de andre videnskaber, hvordan de forsøgte at bestige bjerge, mens filosofien holdt til i et underligt fladland med lave huse, måske et par akacietræer, at filosofien hele tiden fodrede de andre videnskaber, leverede udstyr til deres bjergbestigninger, bolde til deres spil, knive og gafler til deres måltider, den skar deres mad i stykker og gik tur med dem, som om de var hunde. (...) Filosofien er altid i gang med at skære et stykke af sig selv og kaste det til den nærmeste videnskabsgren, somme tider i tilfældige retninger, ud til folket, til magthaverne, til kunsten, og hver gang mistede den noget, og hver gang voksede det ud igen (...)." (s.77-78)
Jeg glæder mig til bind IV og vil faktisk sige, at den afstand mellem bindene, som ventetiden på biblioteket har betydet, faktisk har været et gode (for mig)! Det har måske også været Balles intention ved at planlægge Om udregning af rumfang som en serie af syv korte romaner.
May 28, 2025
oh.....this volume is a sad one. full of yearning and wistfulness and melancholy. also very, very intriguing! so much has happened since volume ii. already itching for volume iv
December 19, 2025
At the beginning I thought that the discussion of various topics wasn’t really relevant to the story and were meant to fill space. As the book progressed there was more activity and reactions to things happening in the immediate environment.
The book ended on an interesting note and I imagine I will read the 4th volume when it comes out next year.
The book ended on an interesting note and I imagine I will read the 4th volume when it comes out next year.
November 24, 2025
Volume lll opens with the discovery that there's more than one person stuck on November 18, and it's likely there are more. Our fellow travelers can suddenly begin to share their experiences and get different perspectives about what's happening. Discussions get philosophical and theoretical as they ask, "what is history?" They return to their own families for a while, but they seem to find more understanding from new friends. They establish a base for themselves and begin the process of creating structure. At one point they say, "We have come to a standstill in a time that is starting to crumble."
December 6, 2025
3,5✨– visgi antra labiau patiko, bet su nekantrumu lauksiu kitų!
August 2, 2024
il più bello della serie per ora secondo me, con l’autrice che riesce a mantenere il ritmo lento e riflessivo dei primi due volumi introducendo però anche colpi di scena e svolte nella storia di Tara. Mi sta facendo venire una curiosità GIGANTESCA per come si risolverà il tutto
December 16, 2025
Two and two-thirds into this series and at last it’s getting good..
It had kept my attention until then, but only because of my inquisitive nature. The premise is hard to resist.
It’s difficult to review this third volume without leaving a spoiler, so any potential readers I’d urge them to stay away from media reviews. Suffice to say that Tara Selter, the woman caught up in November 18th, and hence Balle’s protagonist, encounters another person also caught in the same loop.
To its detriment, this is more digressive than the first two volumes certainly in its first half, wandering into historical and philosophical tangents, but it eventually gets what it needs, and for me at least, that is some jeopardy, something that drives the plot.
The whole idea of being caught in a time loop gives plenty of food for philosophical thought. I’m hugely impressed by the smaller twists Balle weaves into her writing, and how they each could be developed.
This volume ends in something of a cliffhanger, whereas the other two didn’t. I know what I expect volume four, but I may be wrong-footed. I don’t expect this series to be predictable.
I do wonder whether when Balle began writing the series, if she herself actually knew how the seventh would end.
It had kept my attention until then, but only because of my inquisitive nature. The premise is hard to resist.
It’s difficult to review this third volume without leaving a spoiler, so any potential readers I’d urge them to stay away from media reviews. Suffice to say that Tara Selter, the woman caught up in November 18th, and hence Balle’s protagonist, encounters another person also caught in the same loop.
To its detriment, this is more digressive than the first two volumes certainly in its first half, wandering into historical and philosophical tangents, but it eventually gets what it needs, and for me at least, that is some jeopardy, something that drives the plot.
The whole idea of being caught in a time loop gives plenty of food for philosophical thought. I’m hugely impressed by the smaller twists Balle weaves into her writing, and how they each could be developed.
This volume ends in something of a cliffhanger, whereas the other two didn’t. I know what I expect volume four, but I may be wrong-footed. I don’t expect this series to be predictable.
I do wonder whether when Balle began writing the series, if she herself actually knew how the seventh would end.
May 6, 2025
Veldig bra! Nye interessante temaer og spørsmål blir introdusert. Og ikke bare det, vi får selskap. Tara er ikke den eneste som sitter fast i 18. november og nå har hun andre folk, andre personligheter, å forholde seg til. Dette fører til mange spennende samtaler.
En burde jo kanskje ha brukt litt lenger tid på denne boka, tatt det litt roligere, men jeg leste til og fra jobb og da hadde jeg nesten lest hele så det ble som det ble. Dessuten hadde jeg jo en (litt uoffisiell) konkurranse med Marte, så jeg måtte jo bli ferdig først.
Som med den forrige så er jeg veldig glad i de lengre delene hvor hun forteller og reflekterer mer. Når det er korte kapitler tenderer den også mot å være mer repetetiv.
Nettopp fordi jeg føler meg litt usikker blir det ikke en 5, men la oss si 4,5 da. God er den uansett!
En burde jo kanskje ha brukt litt lenger tid på denne boka, tatt det litt roligere, men jeg leste til og fra jobb og da hadde jeg nesten lest hele så det ble som det ble. Dessuten hadde jeg jo en (litt uoffisiell) konkurranse med Marte, så jeg måtte jo bli ferdig først.
Som med den forrige så er jeg veldig glad i de lengre delene hvor hun forteller og reflekterer mer. Når det er korte kapitler tenderer den også mot å være mer repetetiv.
Nettopp fordi jeg føler meg litt usikker blir det ikke en 5, men la oss si 4,5 da. God er den uansett!
December 2, 2025
♫ let’s do the time loop agaaaaain ♫
It’s volume 3 and multiple years into the time loop, and there’s a lot going on this time around. Where the first two books were very mellow, this one put a lot of new elements into play. I’m ready for the time loop to fill up once these people start having time loop babies.
It’s volume 3 and multiple years into the time loop, and there’s a lot going on this time around. Where the first two books were very mellow, this one put a lot of new elements into play. I’m ready for the time loop to fill up once these people start having time loop babies.
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