Damaskus Sölvesborg

by Per Nilsson

Leo har levt hela sitt liv i Sölvesborg, Nour är född i Damaskus. Nu går de i samma klass på gymnasiet, men de har aldrig pratat med varandra. Under en utedag med klassen hamnar Leo och Nour i ett vindskydd mitt i skogen. Nour har skadat foten, de är genomblöta, det är kallt och det mörknar. De måste hjälpas åt för att överleva. Och de måste prata.

Genres: Young Adult

175 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2017

About the author

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

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

On Rabén & Sjögren's page for Per Nilsson, he writes this about himself:

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

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

Reviews

[Ruba Kal-Omar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Denna roman verkar vara enkel från början; stor stil och få sidor. Däremot innehåller den många symboler med fina budskap som lämnar läsaren med djupa funderingar. Rekommenderas starkt.

[Elin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fint samtal om vad två ungdomar tänker och tror, när de får möjlighet att faktiskt prata.
Ovanlig form, många kapitel var skrivna i ren monolog-form. Full av spännande potentiella ansöknings-monologer.

[Elin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Per Nilsson knows how to write about feelings and how people think about different things in their lives. He is able to go deep and really portray life-like people. He interviews people to make it even more life-like, and you can really tell.

It was a story that started out as a fanfiction. Two characters that are very different and have never interacted before are forced together and then are stranded in the forest and while they wait for rescue they start talking and getting to know each other.
I mean, it is a cliché that would never happen, but they needed a pretence to start talking and I bought it. Since the characters were very well written, it made the story come alive. It was about them having a conversation, and even though the way they started talking was a little basic, the conversation was really good. I could have had them on a bench waiting for the bus and talking as well. Where they were did not matter much at all.

Spoiler!!
The ending was a little bit too cheesy. I mean, it was open-ended in a way, but it felt like the reader should feel like they were about to become a couple. And I did not need that from the story. That kind of took away a little bit of everything they've said and done up until then.

All in all I liked this book, as I always like Per Nilsson's books. They are short and sweet and they make you look at life from different angles and think about new things. There is no action or danger or anything explicit, it is just life and people coming together. And it is really nice to read about.

[Liselotte Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bästa tipset (även till mig själv, som brukar glömma) när en haft en läsupplevelse som riskerar att leda till dito baksmälla och limbo: kör en snabb YA-bok. Sist (efter språkfascinationen över Tessa Hadley) gjorde jag misstaget att ta vägen via en (dålig) deckare. Nu (efter förälskelsen i Aimee Bender) blev det bättre. Igen slås jag över att de svenska böcker under bibliotekets e-bokslista för "Unga" så ofta har en högre - och allmänt mer tilltalande - nivå på språket (och ofta även innehållet!) än de dussinutgivningar som hamnar under "Romaner". Det kan ha att göra med att det ges ut mer (för många) e-böcker riktade till vuxna, men också på att unga faktiskt är mer kräsna och krävande - på ett bra sätt.
För det här tycker jag är jättebra. Jag älskar upplägget, tilltalet, perspektiven. Jag hinner lära känna, och bry mig om, både Leo och Nour, på de korta kapitel jag slukar under tillfälliga bussresor. Kanske blir för politiskt i en riktig skolklass (SD framställs inte som de trevligaste typerna, typ), men jag tycker boken ska sättas i många tonårshänder. Och lika många vuxnas.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literature is a dreamer's cry for order.

In literature, it is possible to create a set up where different worlds meet and talk and gain understanding and move forwards. In life, there is no real, satisfying, identifiable pay off for the thousands of "set ups" each human being faces each day. There is no closure and no "result".

But reading creates hope for that to possibly happen. And everything starts with HOPE!

[sislasus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ganska banal. Snabbläste.

[book_leafs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Åk 8 VT-25