Плуващата мечка

by Frode Grytten, Калина Димитрова (Translator)

Една мистериозна катастрофа ще промени живота на няколко човека завинаги. И живота на един град...

В резултат на страна автомобилна катастрофа загива млад националист. Полицията и медиите са уверени, че пръст в това имат увеличаващите се емигранти. Свидетели обаче няма, ако не се броят безименно момче и местният бездомник, мърморещ, че реката на практика е плуваща мечка, от която малките момченца трябва да се страхуват. И тогава журналистът-единак Роберт Бел, виждайки, че нещата някак не се връзват, и усещайки неясна тревога, се захваща самоволно с разследването. Брат му е полицай, но това само усложнява нещата, защото Роберт е отчаяно влюбен в жена му.

Престъплението в красифия фиорд изкарва на повърхността дълго тлеещия конфликт между местните и емигрантите. Градът е изправен на нокти. А реката, прорязваща идиличното място е все по-прииждаща. И търси новите си жертви...

Красивият норвежки фиорд вече има нов господар вместо лятното слънце. Страхът.

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Mystery Thriller

204 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Frode Grytten (born December 11, 1960 in Odda) is a Norwegian writer and journalist. He is the author of the Brage award-winning novel Bikubesong ('Song of the Beehive'), and other collections of short stories and poetry. His works have been translated into Swedish, Danish, Finnish, German, Dutch, Albanian, Croatian and Chinese.

Grytten is a native of the industrial town Odda, which often features in his work.

As a journalist he has mainly worked for Bergens Tidende, the local newspaper of Bergen, Norway. He is also writing for the Oslo-based national newspaper Dagbladet.

Reviews

[Louise Gabrielsen]

I love u frode

[Guro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Det er juli. Det er hetebølgje på Vestlandet. Det er rasistar som hissar seg opp over "multikulturell innvandring" og "muslimar som tek over". Boka er skriven i 2006, men kunne like gjerne ha vore skriven i dag. Og så er det jo Grytten, då. Alltid like aktuell.

[osoi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Если сразу уйти от ожидания лихо закрученного детектива или полицейского процедурала, то книга становится сборником фотокарточек. Декорации – затухающий норвежский городок, журналистский цинизм, разжигаемый для привлечения туристов расизм, людские пороки разного толка и и полнейшее отсутствие иллюзий. Фотокарточки мелькают перед глазами – одни выцветшие от времени, другие яркие как палящее летнее солнце.

Мумуки, медленно танцующая на мокрой траве в свете луны. «Воксхолл», который больше уже никуда не уедет со свалки брошенных машин. Отряхивающаяся от капель дождя собака, смотрящая так, будто они могли стать друзьями. Мама-утка с утятами и кружающие вокруг Макдональдса чайки. Дрожащий с головы до ног олень, забежавший на территорию закрытого завода. Прощупывающие повороты огни фар и несущийся навстречу город.

Я опустил боковое стекло и закурил. В зеркале заднего вида пропал мой дом. Я подумал, что этот дом уже и не мой. Это дом, в котором идет дождь.

hisashiburi

[Nick Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot to admire about the powerful sense of time and place in this novel, the author creating a strong feeling of the atmosphere between people and the atmosphere they were living in. I found the plot, when it came together, was interesting and felt real too. Certainly this is a book - about murder, xenophobia and tension in a backwater Norwegian town - which will stay with me.

For all this, it didn't completely work for me. The relentless grimness and fragmented nature of the novel made this short novel a bit of a slog at times. Perhaps the translation gave it a little more bleakness than in its original language. It felt to me like the author had been listening to early 1980s Bruce Springsteen (esp. the album 'Nebraska') for too long in a dark room alone, there was just too much of a sense of everything being completely fucked, too little light, which (curiously - I don't normally need a happy ending, but this was too desperate) left me feeling I appreciated the book more than enjoyed it.

[Ann Tonks · Rating 3 out of 5]

The toughest of all the Scandanian thrillers I've read. Not in terms of violence - there isn't much - but in terms of environment in which the story is told. The writter captures the ugliness of industry, the challenge of immigration, the cynicism of the media - all explored by a lead character who doesn't trust himself.

This is a novel that deserves the word "gritty" - one can feel the polution on one's skin.

[Iva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Odlična knjiga, tipični gritenovski stil, odličan glavni lik... za svaku preporuku :)

[Vegaread · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fin bok, fikk lyst til å dra til Odda

[Zdravko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nakon zbirke „Sobe uz more, sobe u gradu“, ovo je druga Gryttenova knjiga koju sam pročitao. Podosta drugačije napisana od prethodne, „Medvjed koji teče“ je mračan, noirovski roman tipičnog skandinavskog ugođaja. U početku su me smetale šture, kratke rečenice (očito je ovaj put izabrao taj stil pisanja) ali je to nadomješteno odličnim završecima poglavlja i samim svršetkom romana. Knjiga nema puno stranica i ako nekog zanima malo hladnog, zimskog ugođaja u nadolazećim toplim ljetnim danima bit će razočaran jer je u mračnoj, opustjeloj Oddi zatoplilo ali neće biti razočaran samim štivom.
Ovo je negdje 3.5 ali bliže četvorci pa sam tako i ocijenio.

[Jana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like this book because of the wrong reason - love theme. I should just stick with romances and not go into wild waters of mystery thrillers.

[Mark Lisac · Rating 4 out of 5]

The opening few chapters do a marvellous job of creating a noir atmosphere. The developing story adds depressing detail to the overall sense of environmental, economic, social, and moral disaster. Throw in a narrator who's a depressed, alienated, insolent, somewhat apathetic, often drunk local journalist in a sagging town on a Norwegian fjord, and you get a novel that pushes darkness to nearly satirical depths. It doesn't cross that line but readers should know what they're in for. The book is in the same category as neo-noir films like Chinatown and Night Moves. It's not entirely clear how the emotionally battered narrator could develop affection for some people in the story. You also have to accept what sound like self-indulgent passages from the author as he has the narrator heaping scorn on locals who spout prejudice against foreign asylum seekers living in the community. But the writing makes what could have been a ludicrous yarn believably gritty. It's good enough, even in translation, to raise this one from 3 stars.
* The setting is the town of Odda. Was surprised to see that it's a real place. Grytten is apparently a native of the town, so knows the surroundings well. One wonders what the locals thought of the book. Google Street View shows Odda as a rather scenic community. However, it does have an abandoned former smelter and possibly some other decayed industrial sites. Grytten's book also laments the state of the river running through the town. He may have stretched a point about the physical environment for the sake of the story, or things may have changed in the two decades since the book was published.

[Tony · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe something got lost in the translation to an english version, but this book was depressing and boring. None of the characters, none whatsoever, presented anything to make the reader feel they could relate to them, empathise with them or even dislike them. They were all very bland, living in a bleak and bland world. The connection between the murder and the missing wife/girlfriend was not at all well established as being a possibility and the 'solving' of the murder just seemed to be plucked out of the air and was not very plausible. I just hope there wasn't a sequel!

[Tessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't like this book at all. I couldn't get on board with the writing style and the characters weren't interesting. The main character was so annoying I had to put the book down multiple times. The crime story was boring and didn't help my growing problems with this book at all. When I was nearly finished I at least hoped that the ending would make up for everything before but got disappointed there as well.

[Erik Vesterhus Rasmussen · Rating 3 out of 5]

35 i 2025:
Dessverre litt skuffende av Frode Grytten denne gangen. Han skriver på et veldig flott nynorsk, og miljøbeskrivelsene av Odda er veldig gode.
Men plottet får jeg ikke noe fot av. "Krimdelen" synes jeg ikke er spesielt bra bygget opp, og jeg får heller ikke grep på "kjærlighetsdelen".
Så litt nedtur.

Første setning :
"Kvelden før hadde eg kjent eit kjølig drag, men også denne dagen ville bli varm"

[Jennifer]

Written after reading this...

When I travel I look for books by local authors. I bought this at the airport in Oslo on my way home from Trondheim, Norway. It's a rather dark story about a small town's 21st century struggles.

[Camilla Hagen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sentralisering, rasisme, utroskap, kynisme, drap og elendighet, under en stekende sol i Odda. Gjenkjennelige omgivelser for en som har tilbrakt livet i en liten norsk industriby. Og på tross av alt det mørke og stygge, så er det en fin bok, som jeg ble veldig glad i.

[Brian Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gritty af

[Simen Ulriksen Straum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kjedelig

[Piyuk Trnokopf · Rating 2 out of 5]

Najslabije od Frodea. Inače sam fan, ali ovo mi nije sjelo. Jako nezanimljivi likovi. Kao loš noir film.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's the kind of book you finish in one sitting, and then immediately forget the plot.

[Vilde Hjemås · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vakkert om stygge ting. Følelsen av Odda biter seg godt fast, forstår at mye blir lost in translation for lesere på andre språk.

[Anamarija · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pohlepnih, glupih, ograničenih spodoba ima na svim paralelama. Nije uvijek južnije, i tužnije. A uz sve Frode jako dobro opisuje novinarstvo, koje je svugdje samo trka (na kratke staze) za pričom.

[Even · Rating 3 out of 5]

En intens, mørk og stemningsfull roman, der Grytten blander krim, samfunnskritikk og humor. Språket er nydelig og miljøskildringene sterke. Likevel savnet jeg dypere kontakt med karakterene, romanen engasjerte meg ikke like mye som jeg håpet.

[M M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grytten is a man of mordant wit, and he shows off his skills superbly in this tale of xenophobia in Odda, yet another depressingly small and moribund town in western Norway. Grytten is a journalist for the Bergens Tidende, a newspaper in neighbouring Bergen, and so is the protagonist of this book, Robert Bell, a disillusioned, semi-alcoholic man in love with his brother’s wife, a man whose career is not going anywhere, a man who is sinking into apathy but still manages to retain his biting satirical bent of mind. He investigates the death of a local man while public opinion begins to harden against immigrant Serbs with whom the victim had been seen to argue. His brother, a policeman in charge of the case, resents his interference, but surely the resentment stems from his suspicions of his wife’s relationship with Robert. This is black understated humour and poignant and moving.

[Katie Grainger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book it was nice to read something with a cynical male character. A crime novel from the look for the cover but the book actually goes much deeper focusing on the issues of racism in a small Norwegian town. Very dark and moody in places we see the world from the eyes of Robert the Journalist. The story also centres on Roberts affair with his sister in law and the prospect of the affair becoming exposed by one of the Journalist's sent to help him investigate the murder. A very well written novel with enough interesting characters and intrigue to keep you hooked until the final page.

[Guy · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is rare that I have to pan a Scandinavian mystery--in fact, this may be the first one I've read that I really didn't like. A meandering plot, truly repellent characters (including the protagonist AND his love interest) and a hard, nasty, cynical tone throughout. Deals with the decline of a former industrial town that one begins to think should be just pushed, with its inhabitants, into the fjord!

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have liked more depth in this book to explain the racial tensions amongst the refugees and immigrants in small Norwegian towns. The topic felt quite awkward to me and I'm sure there was more to enjoy and contemplate than I found! Sure there is a murder mystery, but the background seemed more interesting than solving the crime!

[r]

☆ DNF ☆ - normally when i feel like i’m about to dnf a book, i try to push through at least 50-100 pages but i only lasted 10 for this book. i just couldn’t read without being frustrated by how the sentences were set out and overall i spent the entire 10 pages being annoyed at everything. i didn’t even want to pick up this book to read two words .. so THAT’S how uninterested i was in it.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why do the Scandinavians always write such black crime stories? This novel is set in Norway - the first I have read by this author. A parable about racism in our brave new world. Racism and refugees seems to be a preoccupation of our times. Good, moody writing.

[David Grieve]

A story loosely based around a murder investigation but taking in racism and personal traumas in a small Norwegian town. Fairly bleak throughout in all aspects but not without an element of humour. Well worth reading.

[Carrie]

Library book