Delvis til stede

by Ingvar Ambjørnsen

Genres: Short Stories, Scandinavian Literature, Fiction

182 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Ingvar Even Ambjørnsen-Haefs (1956-2025) was a Norwegian writer. He is best known for his "Elling" tetralogy: Utsikt til paradiset (1993), Fugledansen (1995), Brødre i blodet (1996), and Elsk meg i morgen (1999).

Brødre i blodet ("Blood brothers") was turned into a successful movie, entitled Elling, which received an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category in 2001. The English translation of the novel is called Beyond the Great Indoors.

His debut novel was a semi-autobiography called 23-salen ("The 23rd Row"), in which he criticized Norway's efforts to take care of psychically challenged individuals. In all his novels he has spoken the outsiders' cause, as he did in his break-through novel Hvite Niggere ("White Niggers") in 1986. The novel is about a young man who leads a life somewhat on the edges of normal society.

He is also known for the youth's book series "Pelle og Proffen" which circles around two detective teenagers, getting involved in all kinds of mysteries or crimes involving drugs, pollution and neo-Nazism among other things. He started this project after having read some of Franklin W. Dixon's books about The Hardy Boys. The books Døden på Oslo S, Giftige Løgner, and De Blå Ulvene of this series were also turned into successful movies. In 2005 the book Drapene i Barkvik ("The murders in Barkvik") appeared, about the teenager Fillip Moberg attempting to solve an axe murder in a small Norwegian village.

Ambjørnsen has received many prizes for his writing. Among them is the prize for the 80s best book for children and young adults (Pelle and Proffen books), the Tabu prize in 2001, Telenor Culture Award 2002, and the Brage Prize 1995.

His three Samson and Roberto books have become particularly popular in Russia, in part due to the illustrations by Nikolai Vorontsov, which also contribute carefully orchestrated local Russian-related colloquialisms to the stories.

Reviews

[John Hatley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very nice collection of 7 short stories. Ambjørnsen presents episodes from the lives of 7 different groups of characters, sometimes tragic, sometimes sad, sometimes happy and sometimes almost surreal and dreamlike. Together they paint a picture of human life.

[MagicThorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

En svært forvirrende, og mentalt slitsom bok å lese dersom man leser den som kapitler i en bok. Derimot om den leses som en novellesamling, noe boka er, er den mye bedre. Novellene utforsker den menneskelige tilværelsen fra ulike perspektiver, og det er en fryd å bli kjent med så mange personer og historier over få sider. Handlingen er sprø, gjerne mystisk, og karakterene settes i spennede situasjoner. Jeg føler sannelig at jeg selv kun er delvis til stede,

[Magnus Meling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mange gode fortellinger her. Likte spesielt den siste, med den nonsjalante Onkel Martin som bare har lyst til å gi helt faen, men bare ikke helt kan. Veldig fin og tankevekkende.

[Frieda Valentina]

Som med de fleste novellesamlinger er det noen av novellene som er bedre enn andre. På sitt beste er denne skikkelig god, men helhetsinntrykket er «bare» helt grei pluss.