Home and Away: Writing the Beautiful Game

by Karl Ove Knausgård, Fredrik Ekelund

Karl-Ove Knausgård sitter hemma i Skåne med fru, fyra små barn och hund. Han ser fotbollsmatcherna på teve och somnar framför apparaten. Han gillar 0-0-matcher, cigaretter, kaffe och Argentina.

Fredrik Ekelund är borta, på plats i Brasilien. Där spelar han fotboll på stranden och tittar på matcherna tillsammans med folk på stan. Fredrik älskar matcher som slutar 4-3 och lag som spelar vacker fotboll. Han gillar caipirinha och Brasilien.

Hemma-Borta är en bok om fotboll utöver det vanliga.Författarna använder VM i Brasilien som en utgångspunkt för reflexioner kring liv och död, konst och politik, klass och litteratur - och vad det innebär att vara hemma i en globaliserad värld. Brevväxlingen öppnar nya rum, ger oss berättelser från två skapande författarliv i vilka vi kommer under huden på båda samtidigt som breven ger en inblick i författarnas förhållande till samtiden, fotbollens plats i deras egna liv och spelets betydelse för mänsklig samvaro samtidigt som de ställer frågan: Är VM 2014 helt enkelt det bästa som någonsin har spelats?

Genres: Nonfiction, Sports, Football, Essays, Soccer, Writing

432 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 2014

About the author

Nominated to the 2004 Nordic Council’s Literature Prize & awarded the 2004 Norwegian Critics’ Prize.

Karl Ove Knausgård (b. 1968) made his literary debut in 1998 with the widely acclaimed novel Out of the World, which was a great critical and commercial success and won him, as the first debut novel ever, The Norwegian Critics' Prize. He then went on to write six autobiographical novels, titled My Struggle (Min Kamp), which have become a publication phenomenon in his native Norway as well as the world over.

Reviews

[Lee Klein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little bummed when I saw that My Struggle: Book Six wouldn't be published in English until 2018, meaning the annual tradition of a new installment would be put on hold for a year, but this nicely subs-in and fulfills the 2017 Knausgaard need. In many ways I loved this, loved hunkering down with it now that winter has reappeared in mid-March (writing this as sleety snow taps the bedroom windows) after that premature spring/summer we experienced in February, and like that string of seventy-degree days in February, I can't really think of something like it -- the best I can do is the exchange of letters between Henry Miller and another writer about Hamlet (the famous writer hasn't read Hamlet in twenty years and the other writer is an expert who read it more recently). It seems like such a natural idea for a book but I can't think of something else like it. What makes this work so well also is the time constraint -- ie, they're only writing each other during the 2014 World Cup tournament in Brazil -- so it has natural rising drama as the footie storylines emerge and teams are eliminated, all of it leading to the semi-finals and an ultimate winner. I think my reading experience may have been helped along a bit since I couldn't remember who won the World Cup, let alone individual games, although I did remember that one player bit another. Generally, obviously, I'm not much of a soccer fan. I watched one or two games during the summer of 2014 -- one game in particular I watched with a significant afternoon crowd at a bar as the bearded American goalkeeper made a ton of great saves but the US lost. I played soccer when I was a kid but there were too many practices and too much running for me so I quit the traveling "all-star" team in sixth grade and have never really regretted it. Anyway, I have some knowledge of the sport, but I don't even know the famous players. I've heard of Messi but I wouldn't recognize him if he walked into the room where I'm writing this (which would be weird since I'm writing this in the bedroom). My point is just that you don't need to know much about soccer/football to enjoy this -- and it was definitely enjoyable to search, for example, for an English player with a face described as "petulant" and then in an instant see hundreds of examples, or quickly search youtube for highlights of games and players described. The two writers discuss the games and players but it's always easy enough to follow, and discussion always evolves to address larger themes in writing and in life. If you're a fan of any sport, you can also transfer your knowledge and spectator experience from, say, the NBA in my case to soccer: do teams play together or do players play on their own? Can a player be a genius defender? Why are some players likeable and others not so much? What's it like to watch a player who's playing in the flow? Knausgaard at one point observes that the players on the field are always older than him, since when we watch sports we are always twelve years old, an observation I absolutely recognize. What also makes this work well is that the older (in his sixties), more knowledgeable, better soccer player is in Brazil, hanging with locals, speaking Portuguese, attending some games, playing soccer on the beach and on musician Chico Buarque's private pitch, totally immersed in the World Cup environment, whereas the more famous younger (45) writer is in Sweden at home with four kids and his wife and their new trampoline, totally immersed in domestic summer life, heading to beaches and pools, smoking two packs a day and trying to write an essay on fate and handle other administrative duties for his publishing company and then at night settle down and watch the games, often dozing off. The back and forth is wonderful, the rhythm of it, the different settings (at one point, Knausgaard says that in writing what matters most is difference), also the flexibility to essentially go off on quick little improvised essays about whatever. KOK in particular digresses about the rising tide of nationalism and anti-immigration sentiments (hmm, still relevant in 2017), Stefan Zweig's The World of Yesterday (one of our -- me and Karl Ove's -- favorites), writing of course, the reception of My Struggle, how he breaks out of a period of extreme physical and existential lethargy (spoiler: he takes up painting for a few weeks), and most surprisingly/engagingly he defends himself against hyper-feminist critique, citing examples of visits to universities where he felt like the interviewer and the students were all united in saying that what he experienced and wrote about was "wrong." Although Karl Ove supports Argentina and Fredrik supports Brazil, both writers are primarily on the side of literature, ultimately, which values complexity and diversity and inter-relationships over cut/dry us-versus-them-type oppositional dualities. All in all, if you're a Knausgaard fan, this is a must -- it's very much like the "My Struggle" series in many ways, with the same setting and characters (Linda, Yngve, Geir, et al.) -- and Ekelund more than holds his own as a guide through the games and the World Cup in Rio. It's ultimately a book filled with life, lightly structured to keep its squirming vitality in place, which is something I most tend to like.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win.
-- Gary Lineker

It’s the 16th of June 2018 and another Football ⚽ World Cup is upon us (that’s “soccer” for my American friends). In fact the tournament started two days ago with the first match between Russia and Saudi Arabia. I have to confess that I’m not a great football fan, and my knowledge of the game is limited. I don’t even know all of the players’ names of “my” team (Germany). But every four years I crawl from under my rock, and watch some games.

While I’m writing this, another game, the first one for today, between France (“Le Bleau”) and Australia (“The Socceroos”) just started. In fact, I finished the book with the whistle for the kick-off of this game, and I hope I can finish my review before the game ends.

The last World Cup was held exactly four years ago, between June 12 and July 13, in Brazil. And that’s what the two authors wrote about. The original title (in Norwegian) of this book is Hjemme Borte, which could be translated as Home and Away (and did, as I see, when I look at the English edition). This, of course, is the first football metaphor but it’s also an apt description of the book and the situation of the authors. The Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgård stays at home with his family (wife and four children) in the little village called Glemmingebro in Southern Sweden (one hour by car to Malmö) while his friend, the Swedish author Fredrik Ekelund, travels to Rio de Janeiro zu experience the event first hand and on location. The two of them exchange daily “letters” (that’s what they call it, but those are actually E-Mails) and tell one another about how they experienced the games and comment on teams and players. But they also, and that is the great strength of the book, convey about their lives outside of the football event. You don’t have to be an expert in football to appreciate the book!

It is clear from the outset that those “letters” will eventually become a book. However, the content was not planned, I think, in the same way that you cannot predict how the football games will end and who will become world champion that year. You can not plan something like that. One of them writes something and plays the ball to the other. The other one picks up the ball, completes the writing, agrees, contradicts, expands, comments, or writes something entirely different. Some threads end up nowhere but that didn’t bother me. Digressions as a working principle.

Just now the first half of the game has ended and the score is still 0:0. The French are nominally the favorites in this game, but what I’ve seen from the Australians (with one eye I look at a small window on my screen, and with the other on my text) I like quite well. Now I can spend 15 minutes (takes how long the half-time break is) focusing entirely on my text here.

Both of them are brilliant narrators. The 640 pages (German edition) went by like a breeze. I didn’t read anything by Ekelund before, but Knausgård, mainly through his Min Kamp series seems almost like an old acquaintance. Stylistically I liked Knausgård’s writing more than the one of Ekelund. On the other hand the themes of Ekelund seem more interesting. He speaks Portuguese perfectly and knows the country very well through numerous visits and has many friends there. What he says about Brazil in general and about Rio de Janeiro in particular is fascinating. This pulsating metropolis between Copacabana and favelas is almost tangible and it contrasts the rural life of Sweden that Knausgårs describes. In fact, it is a book of contrasts…

1:0 France! A penalty kick, which was given only after the video evidence was used. I do not like this new regulation. I think it takes something away from a game’s spontaneity and emotions. Again, it is technology people rely on. I prefer mistakes rather than sterility.

Knausgård writes about himself: I'm a Protestant right down to my bones. I am someone who denies things, says “no” to things, and even though I like to read about the bustling, steaming, extroverted, and lively activities in which there is a wealth of humanity, it is not a world in which I could live. Ekelund has a completely different view: I’m more of a samba type, I want the big wave that makes the whole body swing, the Dionysian, I prefer that to the quiet rocking of the Bossanova. Consequently, Knausgård is a fan of Argentine (and Italian) football, while Ekelund naturally prefers the jogo bonito, the beautiful game, of Brazil. Between these two poles the whole book is rocking back and forth.

Australia evens the score! 1:1. Who would have thought. This time it was a hand penalty. So far no goal “out of the game”. Now France has 30 minutes left to avert a little embarrassment.

Like I said, the digressions made the book for me. At one point Ekelund speaks of little doors that open behind which sometimes quite different things come to light than originally thought, and sometimes there are more doors behind and on and on. The themes touched upon are far too many to be listed here. Of course literature is one of them. They start talking about feminism in Sweden, and political correctness then somehow switch perspective and end up with Bolaño’s 2666 and the murder of hundreds of women in Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez. They start with Stefan Zweig and his World of Yesterday (which was written in Brazil shortly before Zweig’s suicide (the suicide note is printed in the book)) and end up with current nationalism in Sweden and other European countries (that was in 2014 and I wonder if and how Knausgård’s attitude has changed since then). At one time Ekelund compares Knausgård’s first installment of Min Kamp with Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time and wonders how Knausgård managed to write in such detail without drowning the story.

France scores again! 2:1. And another controversial decision. A Wembley-goal, so to speak, only this time the ball really was behind the line. At least that’s what the “magic eye” says – another superfluous gadget in my eyes. Now it’s only 9 minutes left for the Socceroos to turn this into a draw.

I originally planned to read this long book all through the current tournament (four weeks), but once I started I couldn’t stop. And perhaps that’s good, because now that (most) of the 2014 games came to live again through this book (including, of course the “Mineiraço”, the Semifinal between Brazil and Germany which ended 1:7), I’m in the mood to actually watch some football games. As it happens both authors are no fans of the German team and they never miss an opportunity to mention that. Well, a week from now it’s going to be Germany vs. Sweden. It’s the day after Midsommar and I think I know what Karl Ove Knausgård and Fredrik Ekelund are going to do that day. Sorry, guys ;)



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

[Mark McKenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to receive a proof from the guys at Vintage, and I feel privileged to have done so. I would have bought this book and gobbled it up anyway.. the good thing was I was able to do that sooner, and can now write this review telling you why it gets 5 stars.

1) It's Knausgaard, and for me, this guy and his writing can't go wrong. Why do I love his writing so much? Because it's pure. It's just, about, well, life. His life, my life, all our lives. His writing makes me happy that I am living, and able to think and feel.

2) Ekelund's letters are also very good. I didn't know anything about this man prior to this, but reading through his correspondence with Karl Ove, I know more about him, about what he enjoys, about how he views the world. He's the type of guy I'd like to have a drink with.

3) FOOTBALL! Love it. Always have. Always will. It's in my blood and has been for generations. When I found out Knausgaard (one of my favourite writers) was releasing a book about Football I thought I was dreaming. It surprised me how much of the World Cup I'd actually forgotten, so reading this was a total joy. I felt like I was living the tournament again.

4 & 5) Format/structure, idea. It's a very good book. The idea is brilliant, I think it worked better that Knausgaard didn't travel to Brazil. The letters (email I presume?) are normally a day apart, so they take turns. Sometimes the other is busy so we get 2 on the run. But don't be put off (non football fans) this book is about much more than football. Like all of Knausgaard's work, it's about living. Both writers delve into their pasts, talking about things that have troubled them, in their childhoods and more recently. And they also talk about their kids. About parenthood. It's a really touching read.

Blessed to have read this. Blessed to have discovered Knausgaard during my lifetime. I recommend you all to read his works, and I will certainly look out for more of Ekelund. Thanks again Vintage.

[Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I were a football fan I'm quite sure this would have been a back-of-the-net five stars. As I'm not, however, it's still a pretty solid 4. Knausgaard, as always, is endlessly fascinating.

[Tobias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps the only book you'll read this year in which the authors attempt to find a soccer equivalent to Virginia Woolf's prose.

[David Svinth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeg havde egentlig stillet mig tilfreds med at læse 13 ud af 14 romaner i Knausgårds forfatterskab. Den sidste handler nemlig om VM i fodbold, og det interesserer mig ikke. Da den pludselig var på tilbud til en 50'er, måtte jeg alligevel købe den.

Knausgård er berygtet for at kunne skrive tykke bøger. Hans debut var på over 700 sider, hans hovedværk er i seks bind på mere end 3400 sider, og denne bog, som må siges at være en parentes i forfatterskabet, er på næsten 600 sider. Den er skrevet sammen med forfatterkollegaen Fredrik Ekelund som en brevveksling under VM i fodbold 2014 - det vil sige på godt en måneds tid (!).

Lange bøger er for mig på ingen måde et kvalitetskriterium. Jeg holder mest af korte, skarpe bøger, og det er dem jeg læser flest af, men indimellem kan de lange rumme en ny dimension i kraft af længden. Denne bog er en af de få, der vinder ved at være lang. Den virkede klodset og usammenhængende i begyndelsen, men efter godt 100 sider får de to forfattere skrevet sig ind på noget virkelig godt. Den handler forbavsende lidt om fodbold, men langt mere om hverdag, politik, litteratur og livserfaring. Intensiteten er ret lav, og det er ok, men jeg oplever ikke, at der fra forfatternes side bliver langt så meget energi i den. Det gør den til en parentes i forfatterskabet, og dermed også i min læsning. Ok bog. Fascinerende, men ikke forførende.

[Didde Elnif · Rating 2 out of 5]

Det her er noget nær den kedeligste bog, jeg har læst det seneste år. Og det siger ikke så lidt. Det er ikke fordi d'herrer ikke kan skrive, og jeg plejer at kunne lide Knausgårds fabulerende navlepilleri, men *bum*, der ramte jeg muren. Hvis du synes småbanale refleksioner over VM i 2014 er pivfrækt og hashtagget #notallmen er spot on og super relevant, så er dette bogen skrevet med netop dig som målgruppe. Hvis ikke, og du alligevel læser den, så sig til, hvis vi skal splejse til en pakke tudekiks til Ekelund og Knausgård, for sjældent har hvide, midaldrende mænd da pebet så meget over at være let misforståede.

[David Ball · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is there anything better than Murakami and running? Yes, Knausgaard and football. This time he has a foil in effervescent Swede Fredrik Ekelund, a perfect contrast to the ascetic Norwegian. The book is a series of letters (or emails more likely) between the two writers exchanged during the World Cup summer of 2014. Ekelund is by himself in Brazil, Knausgaard is with his family in Sweden. Both share their thoughts, news, stories, and of course insights into matches as the tournament progresses. First of all if was a real treat to read relatively serious football analysis from two thoughtful writers. Perhaps it's obvious but I found it fun that their personalities were so stereotypically reflected in the style of football they supported: the dour, disciplined, deeply analytical Knausgaard preferring defensive, tactically astute, win-at-all costs teams like Italy and Argentina; while the out going Ekelund opting for the flamboyant talents of Brazil. Beyond personality, reading their commentary got me thinking that the team one supports can also reflect one's stage of life. When I was young I often preferred underdogs - perhaps I could see a bit of myself in their quest; the older I get the more I lean towards dynasties, as I now appreciate how difficult it is to sustain greatness year after year. I wonder if this line of thought could be carried over to stages of parenthood? To a parent with young kids like Knausgaard life is all about hard work, sacrifice, self discipline and organization. Perhaps viewing the world through this lens colours other aspects of one's life, like the type of team one would like to see succeed. A parent with older children like Ekelund has already put in the hard work, and is therefore more care free, more relaxed, and perhaps after the years of routine and responsibility, is now more open to new stimulation, which makes unpredictable entertaining teams a treat to enjoy. If this theory holds true, it will be interesting to see if Knausgaard's team preference evolves as his life changes. Otherwise, there's quite a bit of late night philosophizing from Knausgaard and late night carousing from Ekelund. At times I felt the writing lacked editing - was unsure if this was intentional to maintain the authenticity of the voices, or a sign of the rushed nature of the project (i.e. to capitalize on Knausgaard's recent celebrity).

[Melting Uncle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Knausgaard but have never spent time with soccer aka "football".

The sports writing held my interest although I half-skimmed some of it. Wow, these dudes can write!

I'm glad I got to know Frederik.

If you're a Karl Ove fan, he has some amazing parts in here. On par with My Struggle for sure.

I'm really glad I read this but would only recommend it to people who are already KOK fans.

[Ellen IJzerman (Prowisorio) · Rating 5 out of 5]

"[...] want voetbal is toch niet anders dan opium voor het volk? Het is de verdoving, de vlucht, de fictie. Maar is ook het tegenovergestelde. Voetbal maakt contact mogelijk, je kunt er met jan en alleman over praten. Ook met buren en medepassagiers. het is dat wat ons bindt, het is een referentiekader."

Aan het woord is Karl Ove Knausgard, Noor, wereldbekend als schrijver van de Mijn strijd-boeken, woonachtig in Zweden. Hij schrijft bovenstaande in 2014 in zijn derde brief aan Fredrik Ekelund, Zweed, schrijver, vertaler en tolk en een stuk minder wereldberoemd - in ieder geval in Nederland - dan Knausgard. Het is Ekelund die in zijn eerste brief direct de toon zet als hij begint met een herinnering uit 1983 toen hij in Parijs aan zijn afstudeerscriptie over Georges Navel werkte: "Overdag bezocht ik het Collège de France, waar ik naar Michel Foucault en Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie luisterede, of ik sloop de École Normal binnen om naar Jacques Derrida te luisteren." Op 19 november ontmoet hij Juan, een Mexicaan, die hem via de gedichten van Octavia Paz Spaans leert en waarmee de Latijns-Amerikaanse deur voor Ekelund op een kier gezet wordt. Op het moment dat Ekelund de brief schrijft is hij er zo'n twintig keer geweest, en staat hij op het punt om naar Rio de Janeiro af te reizen om daar verslag te doen van, onder andere, het WK voetbal.
Tijdens het WK schrijven Knausgard en Ekelund elkaar dagelijks een brief over de wedstrijden die ze zien, over wat zij er van vinden en over wat hen verder nog bezighoudt. Knausgard heeft een sterke voorkeur voor Italië en Argentinië, Ekelund houdt van het sambavoetbal van Brazilië. Knausgard houdt van Italië omdat het alles representeert wat hij niet is: cynisch, calculerend, sluw, waarmee elke vorm van eerlijkheid, bloed, zweet en tranen onschadelijk wordt gemaakt. Beiden houden niet van het Duitse voetbal, maar bewonderen het wel. Ekelund legt het waarom als volgt uit:

"Ik juich nooit als ze winnen of scoren, maar ik heb een enorme bewondering voor de ploeg, een rationele en ietwat berustende bewondering/ Ze zullen nooit tot in het diepst van mijn hart doordringen. Het is een beetje zoals mijn bewondering voor schrijvers als Italo Calvino, Borges, Flaubert of Cortázar. Fantastische 'constructeurs', maar ze raken me nooit diep. Niet zoals Proust, Thomas Mann, Balzac, Bolaño, Simenon of Ivar Lo. Die betovering voel ik niet bij de Duitsers."

Knausgard mist tijdens het begin van het WK delen van wedstrijden omdat hij van vermoeidheid in slaap valt, waardoor hij er niet goed over van gedachten kan wisselen met Ekelund die wel alles ziet. Dat wordt later volop goedgemaakt omdat er steeds minder wedstrijden worden gespeeld en er dus meer tijd over is om met elkaar te praten over de universaliteit van de middenklasse, over muziek, over apen, en literatuur natuurlijk, zoals het opgroeien met de gedichten van Tranströmer, maar ook over wat talent is, hoe dodelijk gerationaliseerde emoties zijn (en niet de emoties zelf), hoe Google ervoor zorgde dat de Braziliaanse onderklasse letterlijk op de kaart werd gezet, over religie en waarom een voetbal-op-tv-kijkende paus, geen paus meer is en over het leven. Het leven van de huisman Knausgard en de feestende, voetballende, volop genietende Ekelund in Brazilië.

Het is meer dan een genot om de briefwisseling tussen deze twee uitstekende schrijvers te lezen, omdat het stilisten zijn, omdat ze interessante ideeën hebben en van ongebreideld van voetbal houden. Enigszins triest concluderen ze daarom halverwege dat dit - in ieder geval voorlopig - wel eens het laatste voetbalfeest in een fatsoenlijk voetballand zal zijn, want het volgende WK zal plaatsvinden in Rusland "onder de stalen blik van die gangster in het Kremlin" en daarna volgt Qatar... Waarschijnlijk hebben ze gelijk, maar als ze beloven om dan, net als nu, elkaar dagelijks te schrijven dan hebben we in ieder geval dát om naar uit te kijken in 2018 en 2022.

Gerecenseerd voor Hebban.nl

[Jack M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personally Knausgard represents some kind of fantasy life: a writer / cultural icon who had the fortune to grow up in a generous welfare state where one can focus life on reading, thinking, writing. And this is why I like to hear about his thoughts and how he spends his days. I can't imagine being intrigued if this was authored by an average middle classed American male. The bearded and smoking photographs that have been mass marketed also add to the allure.

Writing the Beautiful Game is like of a soap opera for males in written form. Two successful men writing about football and using that as a starting point to wander into several interesting trains of thought concerning individualism vs collectivism, literature vs visual, and class, to name a few. The authors acknowledge that they're in some cultural middle class bubble, which they most certainly are, and what better thing to do than write a book about football and middle class musings.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a book about the beautiful game, maybe 3 stars - of interest to those that understand the game and its history, but little relevance to others. However, if you've read the My Struggle series, this is a fascinating and quick read of the man behind the scenes. Almost an addendum of what those books did for him, in letter form.

[Wouter Hk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Voetbal als opium voor/ van het volk

Wanneer een literaire sensatie net een 3500 pagina’s lange autobiografische monoloog heeft gevoerd, dan is het stilaan tijd voor iets anders. De vraag die zichzelf dan stelt: Karl Ove Knausgård, kan je nu überhaupt nog fictie beginnen te schrijven? En zo niet, blijft er nog wel iets autobiografisch over om pagina’s te vullen? Het antwoord op deze vragen: brieven.

In ‘Uit & thuis’ ontstaat er een briefwissel tussen Knausgård en Fredrik Ekelund. Ekelund is een - bij ons weinig bekende - Zweedse schrijver, dewelke een nogal wispelturig leven leidt. In schril contrast met Knausgård is Ekelund niet zozeer gebonden aan zijn honkvaste protestantse roots. Rondsloffend op Copa Cabanna in Rio de Janairo trapt Ekelund graag een balletje met zijn Braziliaanse vrienden, alvorens het nachtleven in te duiken. Tijdterwijl zit Knausgård thuis met de kids aan de haard, te vloeken dat hij zijn tijd verspilt wanneer hij niet aan werken toekomt.

De briefwissel komt op gang tijdens het WK-voetbal van 2014 in, niet toevallig, Brazilië. Ekelund is ‘Uit’, Knausgård is ‘Thuis’. Op deze manier beleven ze in eerste plaats het voetbal, maar eigenlijk hun gehele leven met hun visie op voetbal, eten, vrouwen, literatuur,... De twee heren zijn echter op vrijwel op elk vlak elkaars tegendeel. Melancholisch, tegenover de levensgenieter. Sociaal tegenover introvert. Berekend tegenover contingent. Het gaat dus duidelijk over veel meer dan voetbal, als is dat de verbindende factor.

Knausgård definieert voetbal op een bepaald moment als ‘Opium voor het volk’. Dit is ronduit een fout afkooksel is van Karl Marx’s uitroep van ‘Religie als opium van het volk’. De fout zit in het verschil tussen de voorzetsels ‘van’ en ‘voor’. Knausgård doelt echter wel op hetzelfde als Marx, voetbal ontstaat - ondanks multinationale verenigingen als FIFA - wel degelijk vanuit de onderbuik van het volk. De verstrooiing, de sensatie, de samenhang.

Boeken in de vorm van briefwissels komen wel vaker voor. Van bekende personen worden bijvoorbeeld vaak excerpeten uit nagelaten briefwissels uitgegeven. Maar dit boek is anders. Zonder enige omkadering starten twee auteurs een briefwisseling, hetgeen erg geforceerd overkomt. Het lijkt duidelijk dat de twee auteurs elkaar niet of nauwelijks kennen alvorens de briefwissel op gang komt, waardoor dit boek het gevoel geeft louter uit commercie te zijn ontstaan, surfend op de naweeën van Knausgård schitterende ‘Mijn Strijd’. Toegegeven, sommige passages zijn echter wel magnifiek.

[Eirik Sande · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vipper litt mellom 3 og 4 her.

Ikke noe sjokk at Ekelund og Knausgård skriver veldig godt og levende (på hver sin måte), men brevvekslingen som litterært grep blir etter hvert litt gammelt og slitsomt, og det er ikke hvert brev som er like interessant, godt eller spennende. I tillegg bærer det litt preg av å være to godt voksne menn som skriver til hverandre, og beskrivelsene av det svenske samfunnets politiske korrekthet er tidvis unyansert og litt flau.

På den annen side er det også mange høydepunkter: fotballkampene Ekelund spiller i Rio, beskrivelsene av svensker i Brasil, Knausgårds vakre beskrivelser av Österlen og hjemlige sysler (har alltid likt det han skriver om å være far) og jeg tror jeg sjelden har hatt lyst til å besøke to så ulike steder som Ystad og Rio de Janeiro.

[Raul Clement · Rating 4 out of 5]

You don't have to be a soccer fan to enjoy this book. I'm not. But both authors write excellently and they capture the atmosphere and excitement of the World Cup, which even I have been sucked into occasionally.

Besides, the book includes a lot that is unrelated to soccer. Knausgaard is one of my favorite writers, and a lot of what attracts me in his writing is evident here: the emotional insight; the intellectual honesty; the close attention to detail. I particularly enjoyed the passages where he criticizes the political ideology of the left in Sweden; frankly the discourse problems in the literary community there sound as bad as they are in the US. For example, he mentions attending a panel where he was compared to Anders Behring Breivik -- the white-supremacist responsible for the 2011 Norwegian terrorist attacks. This is presumably because he had the gall to talk about how he felt emasculated by pushing around a stroller; never mind that he didn't condone his own feelings; it was inappropriate enough to say he had them. Or maybe it was because he's a white male who wrote a long book, so he must necessarily be a monster of phallus-driven ego. Clearly this makes him equivalent to a mass murderer. Humans, it seems, are compelled to paint with a broad brush; the only difference is who is holding the brush and who is getting painted.

Ekelund is an interesting writer in his own right. He is more worldly than Knausgaard, a little more open and optimistic. He also seems to be more charitable in his thinking. For example, even though he agrees with some of Knausgaard's points about the Swedish left, he also attempts to understand the reasoning behind the left's beliefs. His and Knausgaard's exchanges have an interesting give and take, fueled by their separate obsessions (self vs. world, home vs. away). I'm eager to read more of Ekelund, and this book satisfied my Knausgaard craving until Vol. 6 of My Struggle.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the reviews here come from people who are fans of Karl Ove Knausgard, and not soccer. I am the opposite - I live and die for soccer, but had never heard of KOK before this. After finishing this, I have no inclination to read any of his work. Perhaps I simply read his book at the wrong time, after too many books where I was expected to sympathize with a whiny male protagonist, and could not bring myself to care about the lives of two men so committed to their own ways they will not accept that they are sometimes bigots. Some choice quotes:
- when Fredrik completely dismisses local's complaints about how the clean-up of Rio was only superficial for the World Cup and did not help the quality of life in any way because "I've hardly see n any hookers in Copacabana."
- Both agree that nobody should say "Men's violence against women," saying instead "some men's violence against women," showing that they fundamentally miss the point. In order to support their argument they talk about a friend of theirs who beat his wife and how they intervened. However, they say that they stood up to him for his own sake so he could get treatment, not for the wife's sake, showing that they are part of the societal systems that make the phrase "men's violence against women" accurate.
- Both writers are obsessed with the idea of national characters, saying that all Latinos are "emotional people who hug, dance salsa and viva la vida this and viva la vida that," then extrapolate this to mean that South American teams should be bad at taking penalties. Shouldn't good writing move beyond stereotyping?

Tl; dr this book would have been much better had there been more soccer and less of the writers' awful personalities

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing is wonderful if you like My Struggle, but really have to be a soccer fan to get through it. I think it's a book-long metaphor, but I didn't make it all the way through so I'm not sure.
Rating reflects more of my ignorance than the authors' skill or style.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars if you love both Karl Ove (I do) AND soccer.

[joey t · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd give Karl Ove's shopping list 3 stars.

[michal k-c · Rating 3 out of 5]

Realized a lot of Knausgaard’s charm in his prose in the struggle books comes from that free indirect discourse method, not present here.

Did anyone else know that “Argentina” was the working title for the struggle books? Weird, right

Knausgaard must have been stoked about the 2022 World Cup, with Di María (kafka look alike according to him) scoring an important goal.

Some very funny letters in here which come across as light racism, with Knausgaard and Ekelund basically being like, oh these African and South American ballers are all flash. I like my footballers to look like they work at the bank and have good fundamentals. Other than that would love to watch a match with Karl Ove sometime

[Will Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knausgaard manages to tick every box, he is the purest and clearest writer there is, in my opinion. Ekelund wowed in moments too - sometimes I lost track of whose letter I was reading. So inspired by the style of the book…

[DaViD´82 · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took place seventy years ago, in another words, yesterday. Stejně jako je fotbal pouhou záminkou několika bezmozků si dát přes držku a vyřvat se ze svých mindráků, tak i skandinávskému duu autorů Knausgård/Ekelund slouží jako pouhá záminka k "tlachání nad pivem" v podobě korespondence v průběhu brazilského šampionátu.

A tlachají o všem (There are propably a thousand tiny threads running through these letters. Some have been taken up; some haven´t.); od předsudků, národnostních stereotypů, sociální nerovnosti, nostalgii, opakování historie počátku dvacátého století/třicátých let se současným děním, politické korektnosti, podobnosti středních vrstev napříč kontinenty, umění ve všech podobách a… A v neposlední řadě samozřejmě o fotbalu, lásce k němu, jeho významu, zašlých časech apod. Ano, něco podobného zkoušeli (a na pravidelné bázi zkouší) mnozí (a to ostatně i u nás), ale většinou to zabředne do nabubřelého kvazi sofistikovaného tlachání à la sklepácká parodie Katovny.

Tady se však skrze výjimku potvrzuje pravidlo, které obohatí čtenářův pohled (zdaleka nejen) na fotbal. Každopádně bez kladného vztahu ke kopané to i navzdory šíři záběru nemá smysl číst. Někde to označují jako „Můj boj na dovolené“ a byť je to tomu daleko, tak něco pravdy na tom je, to zase ne že ne.

[Dave Geyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absolute delight! I planned my reading to finish on the same date that the book and the 2014 World Cup ended. Reliving the tournament from the perspective of these two brilliant writers was thrilling. Though this book may not be for everyone, I'm clearly among the ideal target audience to enjoy this work. It is about soccer and the World Cup, but also so much more - travel, culture, politics, literature, family, fatherhood, to name a few. If you happen to be the rare American with some of the same overlapping interests I can't recommend this book enough.

[Abigail Connors · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful book, full of memoir-y and philosophical digressions. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is b/c although I knew enough about soccer to get by, I probably would have enjoyed it more if I were familiar with the World Cup teams.

[Michael Sedor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like re-living a space and place in time, but with two additional friends you wish you had had

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

Upon finishing all of the currently available My Struggle books, I was itching to read some more Knausgaard to hold me over until book 6 is translated. My experience with soccer includes a few years playing in elementary school and watching not more than a couple of World Cup games in the last decade. I was excited to get Knausgaard's perspective on a world and culture I knew little about, in Knausgaard's signature writing style which is beautiful in it's simplicity and somehow always relatable even when concerning an experience or concept that is foreign.

Knausgaard delivers, as expected. What I didn't expect, was the equally insightful commentary of Fredrik Ekelund, which served as a great compliment to Knausgaard's free-flowing essays.

"...and this takes us onto an odd aspect of football. It fosters, and nourishes, turbid feelings deep within us, curious aversions and empathies, peculiar irrational sentiments which oppose any attempt at intellectual analysis."

Ekelund's musings, stemming from an animosity towards the Holland national team, offer a delightful take on the curious emotions that sports can give rise to. Days before reading this, a friend and I were discussing our mutual contempt towards the Golden State Warriors, but eventually we acknowledged the lack of true reason in this feeling, of directing hatred towards an entire organization due to the inane antics of just a few players and fans. Nonetheless, we resolved to embrace this our disdain for one simple reason - it was fun. What is any true contest without a villain? Having a bad guy for your heroes to knock down?

The ability to delve into these emotions as opposed to "intellectual analysis" is what allowed this non-soccer enthusiast to love this book. The exchange of letters is not between two soccer experts, but between two friends who share a passion for the world's most popular sport. Knausgaard letters consist of his occasionally meandering, but often thought-provoking analysis on not just the soccer games, but on everything from raising children to Polish architecture. Ekelund provides the perspective of a Swede being in Brazil for the World Cup itself with fascinating portraits of his friends there and day-to-day anecdotes of the culture, the people, and the event.

While perhaps a bit long, I found their exchange of letters to be an immensely pleasurable read that all Knausgaard fans should enjoy. It may have even motivated me to watch a soccer match before the next World Cup rolls around.

[Michael Bohli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein Briefwechsel zur Fussball-WM 2014 in Brasilien? Theoretisch könnte der Inhalt nicht ferner meiner täglichen Interessen sein. Ja, einzelne Spiele habe ich natürlich im damaligen Sommer mit Freunden geschaut, eine wirkliche Auseinandersetzung mit Mannschaften, Sport und Meisterschaft fand bei mir aber nicht statt. Wie es das Leben aber so spielt, hat "Kein Heimspiel" mein liebster nordischer Autor Karl Ove Knausgård ins Leben gerufen.

Und als Fanboy lohnt es sich natürlich mehr als dreifach, in diesen gesammelten E-Mails zu versinken. 600 Seiten geschriebene Diskussion, zwischen Knausgård und seinem Freund Fredrik Ekelund, ersterer im Alltagsleben in Schweden, zweiterer mittendrin in Brasilien, dem Samba, dem lebensfreudigen Wahn. So trifft das warme und leidenschaftliche Dasein auf die introvertierte und nachdenkliche Lebensweise, Analysen auf Emotion, Fussball auf intellektuelle Konstrukte.

"Kein Heimspiel" behandelt nicht nur die Spiele, die Fussballer und die FIFA, sondern viele Aspekte des Lebens. Gleichberechtigung, Familienleben, Kultur- und Sozialgeschichte, Feminismus, Suchtverhalten, Lebensentscheidungen. Ein überbordendes Buch voller Ideen und Gedanken, ein stetes Schwanken zwischen Vernunft, Zustimmung, Ausgelassenheit und Kritik. Wahnsinn.

[Charlie Brock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this a while back but never updated it here. Great book this, goes in to a lot of detail about how closely tied football is to working class culture in South America. the way these two write about football and football culture is untouchable.

[Hiran Venugopalan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazingly written. But not my cup of tea.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

toch te veel voetbal voor mij