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Oneiron
The international bestseller from Finlandia Prize winner Laura Lindstedt.
ONEIRON /ó.ne:.ron/ noun, dream
Origin: Ancient Greek
Seven women meet in a white, undefined space seconds after their deaths. Time, as we understand it, has ceased to exist, and all bodily sensations seem to have disappeared. None of the women can remember what happened to her, or how she got there. They don't know each other. They don't know why they are there - or where they are. In turn they try to remember, to piece together the fragments of their lives, their identities, their lost loves, and to pinpoint the moment they left their former lives behind.
Playing with genres from essay to poetry, Oneiron is an astonishing work that explores the question of what follows death and delves deep into the lives and experiences of seven unforgettable women.
ONEIRON /ó.ne:.ron/ noun, dream
Origin: Ancient Greek
Seven women meet in a white, undefined space seconds after their deaths. Time, as we understand it, has ceased to exist, and all bodily sensations seem to have disappeared. None of the women can remember what happened to her, or how she got there. They don't know each other. They don't know why they are there - or where they are. In turn they try to remember, to piece together the fragments of their lives, their identities, their lost loves, and to pinpoint the moment they left their former lives behind.
Playing with genres from essay to poetry, Oneiron is an astonishing work that explores the question of what follows death and delves deep into the lives and experiences of seven unforgettable women.
362 pages, Hardcover
First published July 20, 2015
128 people are currently reading
3118 people want to read
About the author
Laura Lindstedt
12 books80 followersLaura Lindstedt was born in Kajaani, Finland.
Her debut novel, Sakset (2007), was nominated for Finland's most prestigious literary award, the Finlandia Prize. Her second novel from 2015, Oneiron, received both the Finlandia Prize and the Toisinkoinen Prize, along with several nominations.
Her debut novel, Sakset (2007), was nominated for Finland's most prestigious literary award, the Finlandia Prize. Her second novel from 2015, Oneiron, received both the Finlandia Prize and the Toisinkoinen Prize, along with several nominations.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 261 reviews
December 6, 2022
Nie będę ukrywał, że „Oneiron” ma dość wysoki próg wejścia. Nie jest historią, którą pochłania się szybko i łatwo — wymaga od czytelnika zaangażowania na każdym poziomie. Zachwyca swoją formą, ale może zrazić ekscentrycznością. Jednak dla mnie to jest właśnie to, co lubię i doceniam najbardziej. Od pierwszych stron książki jest nieco dziwacznie, nie wiadomo co się dzieje, bo i postać z którą wkraczamy do „Oneironu” nie ma pojęcia, czego właśnie doświadcza. Ten tekst powinien wsiąknąć w osobę czytającą na wielu poziomach i myślę, że udało mi się dotrzeć tam, gdzie chciała zabrać mnie autorka. Donikąd. To nie jest powieść o odnajdywaniu, a raczej o błądzeniu. Poznawałem wszystkie historie kobiet z większa lub z mniejszą ciekawością, acz na pewno z zaintrygowaniem. Tak szeroki wachlarz doświadczeń, wydarzeń, przemyśleń jest na swój sposób obezwładniający, dlatego nie dziwię się, że „Oneiron” powstawał tak długo. To mogłoby być siedem różnych, osobnych książek. Bardzo dobrych zresztą. Niemniej dostajemy projekt monumentalny, dopracowany, uniwersalny, bo każdy w którejś historii znajdzie część siebie, jestem o tym przekonany. Mnie najbardziej urzekła opowieść o sercu. Rosa na zawsze będzie w mojej głowie tą wyjątkową kobietą, którą miałem przyjemność zaprowadzić do innego świata.
Warto wychodzić poza granice prozy polskiej i anglojęzycznej, bo wielkie bogactwo tkwi w literaturze fińskiej, skandynawskiej i nie tylko. Zakochałem się w „Oneironie”. Dziwnym, niepokojącym, dającym mi intelektualną i emocjonalną rozrywkę. Z całego serca polecam.
Więcej na Instagramie @talkincloud
Warto wychodzić poza granice prozy polskiej i anglojęzycznej, bo wielkie bogactwo tkwi w literaturze fińskiej, skandynawskiej i nie tylko. Zakochałem się w „Oneironie”. Dziwnym, niepokojącym, dającym mi intelektualną i emocjonalną rozrywkę. Z całego serca polecam.
Więcej na Instagramie @talkincloud
July 2, 2018
A messy, problematic, mixed bag.
It took me a full month to read this book, the 2015 winner of the Finlandia Prize. Had I not paid hard-earned Canadian dollars for the hardcover, I just might have abandoned it. My body was rejecting it. Any other book beckoned me. Reading it was a conscious effort, a fight against the restlessness of my mind. I described my experience to some fellow readers as eating a kale salad. As in: it's good for me, but I'm not really enjoying it.
Seven women find themselves in a sort of afterlife, or 'bardo'. An anorexic, a cancer patient, a teenager, a woman pregnant with twins, an alcoholic, a woman hoping to escape her country to be the next Iman, a heart transplant recipient. The afterlife is a blank. It's white. That's it. The women don't know how they got there, do not know each other, and don't even necessarily speak the same language.
The unevenness of this book bothered me. Like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it is precariously engineered and just barely held up by the parts that contain some sort of action, development, or story. It's this unevenness that kept me from enjoying the book the way I had hoped.
For example, the pacing. The women's backstories are told through a series of many flashbacks. The stories are mainly interesting, but inevitably, we are dragged back into the surreal white void, grinding the story to an excruciating halt. Each and every time. I consistently fluctuated between interest and boredom.
Also, the point of view is wobbly. The first chapter is entirely in 2nd person. I never understood this, it's the first and only time this happens. Then, the point of view shifts to 3rd, and later from time to time, the reader is addressed almost conversationally, breaking the "fourth wall". I was super aware every time this happened.
Plus, the backstories of the various women (which are difficult to keep track of) varied in depth. The teenager's story was patchy. But the anorexic woman - thankfully, I found her the most engaging - had much more focus than the rest. I had the sense that she should have gotten her own novel. Due to this focus, a great deal of air-time was given to her belief that the Jewish religion and culture fosters eating disorders. While the subject is interesting, it takes us on a bit of a goose-chase that muddies what I assume is the main drive of the book: woman's experience of life and death.
In the end, no questions are answered. No deity is revealed, no explanations offered. Not that I needed an explanation, for the author to explain in concrete terms what is actually humankind's eternal mystery. She can't do that. But there is something in this book that leaves me feeling shifty and sullen. The fact that one of the characters is a performance artist got me thinking that this book is much like performance art: a display which can sometimes make the audience feel dull-witted, lost in a quagmire of interpretation and ideas.
I don't want to give the impression that there isn't value in reading Lindstedt's critically acclaimed book. There's a lot in these women's stories that reflect the female experience. There exists a strange sisterhood here, displayed in the way they help each other and work together. These women are captivating and their backgrounds varied and colourful. It's evident that the author did a great deal of research. Her imagination is rich and far-reaching. I'm sure I will be thinking of this book in the days to come. Kale is fibrous, you know - it can get stuck in your teeth.
It took me a full month to read this book, the 2015 winner of the Finlandia Prize. Had I not paid hard-earned Canadian dollars for the hardcover, I just might have abandoned it. My body was rejecting it. Any other book beckoned me. Reading it was a conscious effort, a fight against the restlessness of my mind. I described my experience to some fellow readers as eating a kale salad. As in: it's good for me, but I'm not really enjoying it.
Seven women find themselves in a sort of afterlife, or 'bardo'. An anorexic, a cancer patient, a teenager, a woman pregnant with twins, an alcoholic, a woman hoping to escape her country to be the next Iman, a heart transplant recipient. The afterlife is a blank. It's white. That's it. The women don't know how they got there, do not know each other, and don't even necessarily speak the same language.
The unevenness of this book bothered me. Like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it is precariously engineered and just barely held up by the parts that contain some sort of action, development, or story. It's this unevenness that kept me from enjoying the book the way I had hoped.
For example, the pacing. The women's backstories are told through a series of many flashbacks. The stories are mainly interesting, but inevitably, we are dragged back into the surreal white void, grinding the story to an excruciating halt. Each and every time. I consistently fluctuated between interest and boredom.
Also, the point of view is wobbly. The first chapter is entirely in 2nd person. I never understood this, it's the first and only time this happens. Then, the point of view shifts to 3rd, and later from time to time, the reader is addressed almost conversationally, breaking the "fourth wall". I was super aware every time this happened.
Plus, the backstories of the various women (which are difficult to keep track of) varied in depth. The teenager's story was patchy. But the anorexic woman - thankfully, I found her the most engaging - had much more focus than the rest. I had the sense that she should have gotten her own novel. Due to this focus, a great deal of air-time was given to her belief that the Jewish religion and culture fosters eating disorders. While the subject is interesting, it takes us on a bit of a goose-chase that muddies what I assume is the main drive of the book: woman's experience of life and death.
In the end, no questions are answered. No deity is revealed, no explanations offered. Not that I needed an explanation, for the author to explain in concrete terms what is actually humankind's eternal mystery. She can't do that. But there is something in this book that leaves me feeling shifty and sullen. The fact that one of the characters is a performance artist got me thinking that this book is much like performance art: a display which can sometimes make the audience feel dull-witted, lost in a quagmire of interpretation and ideas.
I don't want to give the impression that there isn't value in reading Lindstedt's critically acclaimed book. There's a lot in these women's stories that reflect the female experience. There exists a strange sisterhood here, displayed in the way they help each other and work together. These women are captivating and their backgrounds varied and colourful. It's evident that the author did a great deal of research. Her imagination is rich and far-reaching. I'm sure I will be thinking of this book in the days to come. Kale is fibrous, you know - it can get stuck in your teeth.
August 4, 2020
Some books leave me speechless at the end. I mean this quite literally. I’m not making a metaphorical “there are no words” comment about the quality of what I have just read. I am instead trying to report a physical phenomenon, a feeling in my throat and lungs that comes only rarely, just after a last sentence is read, and a book is closed, when I’m left with a dazzling void of complicated feeling that renders me mute. After a while the words come back, and my feelings about the book begin to shape themselves into language.
So here is this novel, Oneiron*. In it seven dead women find themselves together in a placeless place, a white void with only the clothes on their backs. At some point they notice they aren’t breathing. Not long after, they realize they are dead. They share their stories. They help one another. They bear witness to the one another’s final moments.These seven women are remarkable only in the way that every human being is remarkable. The stories of their final moments before death are haphazard and sometimes violent and always meaningless. They have nothing in common, not even a common language. But even so these women make themselves into a caring community, in this strange afterlife, where nothing is ever explained, either to these seven characters, or to the reader. As in real life, the characters, and through them the reader, need to take it on faith that their experiences have purpose.
Oneiron is one of those books that stunned me into silence at the end, and when words did come back, they were from I. Corinthians:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Oneiron is not a religious book. God has no place in the afterlife Lindstedt creates. I’m not a religious person. Yet somehow this novel embraces a life philosophy that reminded me of Paul’s teaching. The novel suggests that caring for others–even in the flawed ways these strangers reach out and care for one another after death–is the most vital motivating impulse that gives meaning to our lives.
For a novel in which everyone is dead, this is a remarkably life-affirming novel.
*from Greek ὄνειρον, oneiron, “dream”
So here is this novel, Oneiron*. In it seven dead women find themselves together in a placeless place, a white void with only the clothes on their backs. At some point they notice they aren’t breathing. Not long after, they realize they are dead. They share their stories. They help one another. They bear witness to the one another’s final moments.These seven women are remarkable only in the way that every human being is remarkable. The stories of their final moments before death are haphazard and sometimes violent and always meaningless. They have nothing in common, not even a common language. But even so these women make themselves into a caring community, in this strange afterlife, where nothing is ever explained, either to these seven characters, or to the reader. As in real life, the characters, and through them the reader, need to take it on faith that their experiences have purpose.
Oneiron is one of those books that stunned me into silence at the end, and when words did come back, they were from I. Corinthians:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Oneiron is not a religious book. God has no place in the afterlife Lindstedt creates. I’m not a religious person. Yet somehow this novel embraces a life philosophy that reminded me of Paul’s teaching. The novel suggests that caring for others–even in the flawed ways these strangers reach out and care for one another after death–is the most vital motivating impulse that gives meaning to our lives.
For a novel in which everyone is dead, this is a remarkably life-affirming novel.
*from Greek ὄνειρον, oneiron, “dream”
November 28, 2021
Dziwna, porąbana, cóż... fantazja. Czułam się jednak dziwnie wciągnięta w tę szaloną koncepcję, chociaż nie do końca byłam zawsze zadowolona z realizacji. Książka gdzieś gubi się w połowie, zdaje mi się, że autorka traci punkt ciężkości i z siedmiu historii rozwija tak naprawdę moim zdaniem jedną czy dwie, ale zakończenie mi to wszystko wynagradza. Poza tym ta książka ma porywającą zmieniającą się narrację, a wprowadzenie do książki narracją w drugiej osobie uważam za mistrzostwo. Polecam wszystkim lubiącym eksperymenty literackie i szaloną jazdę bez wielu wyjaśnień.
January 2, 2016
Huh, vau.
June 30, 2016
Laura Lindstedt on kirjoittanut vahvan kirjan, mutta minulle vahvuus näkyi vain kirjan kakkososassa. Ensimmäinen osa oli haahuilua pitkäveteisesti henkimaailmassa, josta en siis pidä, eikä mielipiteeni muuttunut miksikään tämän kirjan lukemisen jälkeen. Oneiron ei ollut minulle voittajakirja.
May 25, 2016
Pitkään takkusi ja vanusi, rikkonaisessa luennassa flow katkeili ja jo tapahtuneet unohtuivat ja sekoittuivat muihin tarinoihin. Sisältö on kaiken lisäksi kovin runsas, eri tekstityypit vaihtelevat, samoin kerronnan tyyli. Toinen osio kirjasta kuitenkin palkitsi, vei mukanaan ja tuli luettua kuin yhdessä hujauksessa. Olisi ehkä pitänyt lukea koko teos yhtä kyytiä yhtenäisyyden vuoksi. Varsin mainio joka tapauksessa kunhan pääsi mukaan sinne välitilaan tai mikä olikaan.
December 28, 2015
Vuoden hämmentävin lukukokemus, jota pitää vielä sulatella. Vaikea antaa tälle tähtiä, sillä Oneiron tuntuu painivan vähän omassa sarjassaan. Ehdottomasti lukemisen arvoinen teos. Oneiron pitää itse kokea.
October 28, 2015
No moro! Laura Lindstedt, löit minulle luun kurkkuun, eikä se taida sieltä hevin irrota.
March 4, 2021
Labai mažai esu skaičiusi suomių, reiktų pasitempti. Bet Lindstedt nežinau ar tas variantas, kur gerai ieškoti nepažįstamos littradicijos pavyzdžių. Ji LABAI eksperimentinė ir sykiu labai klasikinė, iš tokių, kur turi suprasti, su kuo ji ten kovoja, į ką lygiuojasi, kas jai svarbu. Dėl to turbūt ir tą Suomijos prestižinį prizą gavo. O atskirai, pavienė atrodo keista.
Bet gal tuo ji ir gera, kad nėra nupiginta ir visiems prieinama kaip koks Motinos pienas ar Kai baigiasi vienatvė??
Bet ir nėra tokia savita, bet ir perkandama kaip Sostinė.
Tematiškai buvo žiauriai panašu į Linkolną bardo. Bet jisai sentimentalus / panoraminis / moralinis, o šioji vis dėlto tokia - nori provokuoti, nori probleminti, kažkaip toli nuo budistinės ramybės. Pomirtinėje būsenoje susitinka 7 moterys, visos iš skirtingų šalių, visos vienokia ar kitokia forma patyrusios kokią nors diskriminaciją ar smurtą, arba šiaip explorinančios moteriškumą. Pvz viena -performansistė, kuri visą laiką perženginėja ribas: badauja iki nusimarinimo, liepia lankytojams ją badyti šaudyti deginti (jei biški primena Abramovič, tai paskutiniuose knygos puslapiuose nuo to apsisaugojama, nes Abramovič tipo šitą performansistę kritikavo. Bet nuo to ji nepasidaro mažiau Abramovič kopija :D ). Kita - vėžiu mirštanti jokio normalaus santykio gyvenime nepažinusi moteris. Trečia smarkiai išgerianti, bet labai geros širdies. Etc etc. Iš pradžių, pirmoj knygos daly (300 psl) gauni jų interakciją tokio, galima sakyti, kratinio su beliberdom pavidalu, o paskui antroj daly per kokį 100 psl tau greit papasakoja kiekvienos iš jų mirties istoriją.
Labai norėjau paskaityti būtent dėl temos, to pomirtinio pasaulio ir klausimų kaip atsiskiriama, daug apie tai vis galvoju. Bet ar knyga apie pomirtinį pasaulį tokia jau gera, jei tu vis tiek susidomi tik tomis kriminalinėmis pabaigomis, kaip kokiam detektyve?? Arba gal nepakėliau visų tų big idėjų. Arba gal jų buvo per daug: yra mirtis / pomirtis, ir feminizmo visi įmanomi variantai, ir BELEKIEK citatų (Stein Dworkin hooks Duchamp etc etc etc), ir visokie prievartos siužetai, IR DAR pusė knygos apie žydų kultūros egzotiškumą (gyvenimas kibuce, kūno samprata etc etc etc). VISKO PER DAUG, LEISKIT IŠLIPTI.
Not for me.
Susumuojantis pasažas:
Ooooi...gal-ne.
Bet gal tuo ji ir gera, kad nėra nupiginta ir visiems prieinama kaip koks Motinos pienas ar Kai baigiasi vienatvė??
Bet ir nėra tokia savita, bet ir perkandama kaip Sostinė.
Tematiškai buvo žiauriai panašu į Linkolną bardo. Bet jisai sentimentalus / panoraminis / moralinis, o šioji vis dėlto tokia - nori provokuoti, nori probleminti, kažkaip toli nuo budistinės ramybės. Pomirtinėje būsenoje susitinka 7 moterys, visos iš skirtingų šalių, visos vienokia ar kitokia forma patyrusios kokią nors diskriminaciją ar smurtą, arba šiaip explorinančios moteriškumą. Pvz viena -performansistė, kuri visą laiką perženginėja ribas: badauja iki nusimarinimo, liepia lankytojams ją badyti šaudyti deginti (jei biški primena Abramovič, tai paskutiniuose knygos puslapiuose nuo to apsisaugojama, nes Abramovič tipo šitą performansistę kritikavo. Bet nuo to ji nepasidaro mažiau Abramovič kopija :D ). Kita - vėžiu mirštanti jokio normalaus santykio gyvenime nepažinusi moteris. Trečia smarkiai išgerianti, bet labai geros širdies. Etc etc. Iš pradžių, pirmoj knygos daly (300 psl) gauni jų interakciją tokio, galima sakyti, kratinio su beliberdom pavidalu, o paskui antroj daly per kokį 100 psl tau greit papasakoja kiekvienos iš jų mirties istoriją.
Labai norėjau paskaityti būtent dėl temos, to pomirtinio pasaulio ir klausimų kaip atsiskiriama, daug apie tai vis galvoju. Bet ar knyga apie pomirtinį pasaulį tokia jau gera, jei tu vis tiek susidomi tik tomis kriminalinėmis pabaigomis, kaip kokiam detektyve?? Arba gal nepakėliau visų tų big idėjų. Arba gal jų buvo per daug: yra mirtis / pomirtis, ir feminizmo visi įmanomi variantai, ir BELEKIEK citatų (Stein Dworkin hooks Duchamp etc etc etc), ir visokie prievartos siužetai, IR DAR pusė knygos apie žydų kultūros egzotiškumą (gyvenimas kibuce, kūno samprata etc etc etc). VISKO PER DAUG, LEISKIT IŠLIPTI.
Not for me.
Susumuojantis pasažas:
Moterys ratu susikibo už rankų. Jei ir bijojo, tai smalsumo buvo dar daugiau. Valanda išmušė, jos tą žinojo. Visata su visais savo laiko sluoksniais, dimensijomis, vidinėmis kišenėmis, paslėptomis klostėmis ir raukšlėmis, rodės, apgaubė jas, sulaikė kvapą ir ėmė laukti.
Tada kažkas kažkur ėmė lyg timpanais mušti - it plaktų milžiniška širdis. Staiga, sustojusios į ratą, moterys pajuto, kaip pačios pradėjo pulsuoti, jos jautė savyje ritmą: pulsas tvinkčiojo delnuose, pirštuose, kurie nejautriai buvo surakinę kitus delnus ir pirštus.
Dabar jos turėjo ritmą, žemo dažnio pulsą, ir jis ragino jas į kelionę. Tad jos užsimerkė ir ištarė, kiekviena savaip, kuri garsiai, o kuri - vos krutindama lūpas: Oooon...ei-ron.
Ir niekas joms nebekliudė pasakyti iki galo: Oooon...ei-ron. (p. 332)
Ooooi...gal-ne.
May 18, 2021
3.5
Polecam, jeśli lubisz:
- rozbudowane powieści,
- powieści pisane przez kobiety i o kobietach,
- powieści eksperymentujące z konstrukcją i formą,
- realizm magiczny,
- serię skandynawską.
Mnie wystarczyły 2 punkty, by docenić "Oneiron" i poczuć sporą satysfakcję po jej skończeniu.
"Oneiron" nie do końca jest opowieścią o zaświatach. To bardziej opowieść o życiu z perspektywy zaświatów. Laura Lindstedt spotyka ze sobą siedem różnych kobiet w tajemniczym miejscu. Orientują się, że nie oddychają, nie czują, nie pamiętają, jak i dlaczego się w owym miejscu znalazły. Drogę ostatniej kobiety do zaświatów wypełnia cielesna przyjemność zadawana przez pozostałą szóstkę. Kobiety dzieli w zasadzie wszystko (poza płcią i śmiercią będącą najbardziej prawdopodobnym powodem ich spotkania). Zaczynają dzielić się swoimi historiami, tworzyć kameralną społeczność, szukając w sobie oparcia i akceptacji, próbując zrozumieć przyczyny obecnego stanu rzeczy.
Traktuję "Oneiron" trochę jak niewygładzony eksperyment. Lindstedt technicznie bawi się prozą. W "Oneironie" znajdziecie zarówno tekst główny, jak i różne formy poboczne - nekrologi, manifesty, przedruki z gazet, ogłoszenia. I o ile pomysł na fabułę zdaje egzamin, tak przekierowanie w pewnym momencie uwagi na życie jednej z nich trochę zaburza płynność tej powieści. Nie podobało mi się faworyzowanie przez Lindstedt jednej bohaterki, bo niemniej ciekawe (a nawet i bardziej!) zdawały mi się historie innych kobiet. Środkowa część powieści jest zdecydowanie zdominowana przez Shlomith, Żydówkę, która swoją anoreksję potraktowała jak motyw działalności artystycznej jako performerka. Z tego względu "Oneiron" jest powieścią nierówną - wciągającą w pierwszej części, dość męczącą w drugiej i całkiem zachwycającą w części finalnej. To właśnie ostatnia część spajająca wszystkie opowieści wyciąga z tej powieści jej esencjonalność. Lindstedt świetnie kończy wątki, wypełnia luki fabularne, oddaje bohaterkom należną im przestrzeń, której pozbawiła ich gdzieś po drodze.
"Oneiron" może zmęczyć, miejscami nużyć, ale równie mocno angażować i satysfakcjonować. Cieszę się, że znalazł się w serii dzieł pisarzy skandynawskich, mimo że nie trafi do grona moich ulubieńców to ustawia się w rzędzie powieści do polecenia z małym zastrzeżeniem, jak na początku.
Polecam, jeśli lubisz:
- rozbudowane powieści,
- powieści pisane przez kobiety i o kobietach,
- powieści eksperymentujące z konstrukcją i formą,
- realizm magiczny,
- serię skandynawską.
Mnie wystarczyły 2 punkty, by docenić "Oneiron" i poczuć sporą satysfakcję po jej skończeniu.
"Oneiron" nie do końca jest opowieścią o zaświatach. To bardziej opowieść o życiu z perspektywy zaświatów. Laura Lindstedt spotyka ze sobą siedem różnych kobiet w tajemniczym miejscu. Orientują się, że nie oddychają, nie czują, nie pamiętają, jak i dlaczego się w owym miejscu znalazły. Drogę ostatniej kobiety do zaświatów wypełnia cielesna przyjemność zadawana przez pozostałą szóstkę. Kobiety dzieli w zasadzie wszystko (poza płcią i śmiercią będącą najbardziej prawdopodobnym powodem ich spotkania). Zaczynają dzielić się swoimi historiami, tworzyć kameralną społeczność, szukając w sobie oparcia i akceptacji, próbując zrozumieć przyczyny obecnego stanu rzeczy.
Traktuję "Oneiron" trochę jak niewygładzony eksperyment. Lindstedt technicznie bawi się prozą. W "Oneironie" znajdziecie zarówno tekst główny, jak i różne formy poboczne - nekrologi, manifesty, przedruki z gazet, ogłoszenia. I o ile pomysł na fabułę zdaje egzamin, tak przekierowanie w pewnym momencie uwagi na życie jednej z nich trochę zaburza płynność tej powieści. Nie podobało mi się faworyzowanie przez Lindstedt jednej bohaterki, bo niemniej ciekawe (a nawet i bardziej!) zdawały mi się historie innych kobiet. Środkowa część powieści jest zdecydowanie zdominowana przez Shlomith, Żydówkę, która swoją anoreksję potraktowała jak motyw działalności artystycznej jako performerka. Z tego względu "Oneiron" jest powieścią nierówną - wciągającą w pierwszej części, dość męczącą w drugiej i całkiem zachwycającą w części finalnej. To właśnie ostatnia część spajająca wszystkie opowieści wyciąga z tej powieści jej esencjonalność. Lindstedt świetnie kończy wątki, wypełnia luki fabularne, oddaje bohaterkom należną im przestrzeń, której pozbawiła ich gdzieś po drodze.
"Oneiron" może zmęczyć, miejscami nużyć, ale równie mocno angażować i satysfakcjonować. Cieszę się, że znalazł się w serii dzieł pisarzy skandynawskich, mimo że nie trafi do grona moich ulubieńców to ustawia się w rzędzie powieści do polecenia z małym zastrzeżeniem, jak na początku.
March 11, 2016
Oikein mielenkiintoinen lukuelämys.
June 26, 2016
Two and a half stars rounded up to three: even though the writing was technically good, the structure of the narrative - the division of POV into seven - proved to be a big, whopping disappointment. If you have a powerful protagonist and a clear preference over other main characters, you stick with her. Because now I, as a reader, can't help wondering why those other women were involved to this degree if they were not treated equally. And they certainly weren't: Shlomith was clearly given the spotlight while the others seemed very decorative-like. Like they were placed there just so that the story would become more interesting. Which, in the end, it didn't.
The novel was also a disappointment regarding its content: I expected deeper exploration of death and issues leading to it. Now we basically saw the women's deaths and some bits of their lives. So also content-wise the novel was only okay. Shlomith's story was enticing and seemed rich enough for further study, whereas the others' didn't seem to offer anything of real value to the novel. In the end, I was wondering why these stories were even told as they offered no insight into the novel's themes. They just... were.
The novel was praised for its "new way of combining different types of literature" with which I have to disagree - I have seen information recited by characters before, and I have seen news paper clips etc. before. Thankfully, the author was gifted and smart enough to lure her reader into seeing those more informative sections as an essential part of the narrative, and as such they didn't stand out or vex me like they normally would: I expected them to be just boring fact or news clip sections which Johanna Sinisalo uses quite often for example, but luckily Lindstedt used them only sparingly and integrated them well.
I know that technically this book should earn four stars probably, as the writing was good, but as stated, it didn't live up to my expectations nor did it offer anything special. It definitely would have if the novel had focused on Shlomith properly, which makes me angry and disappointed beyond words. This novel could have been really moving, deep and provoking... excellent in general! But now it was just a collection of plain stories of women who died, instead of offering something to really think about. Argh!
I hope this novel offers you something more than what it offered to me. Like I said, the writing is really good and the characters themselves have potential. I just wish Lindstedt had given each women their own novel and built a series from their stories. Cramping them up into one title didn't serve the characters or their stories, least the reader, in any meaningful way. Shame.
The novel was also a disappointment regarding its content: I expected deeper exploration of death and issues leading to it. Now we basically saw the women's deaths and some bits of their lives. So also content-wise the novel was only okay. Shlomith's story was enticing and seemed rich enough for further study, whereas the others' didn't seem to offer anything of real value to the novel. In the end, I was wondering why these stories were even told as they offered no insight into the novel's themes. They just... were.
The novel was praised for its "new way of combining different types of literature" with which I have to disagree - I have seen information recited by characters before, and I have seen news paper clips etc. before. Thankfully, the author was gifted and smart enough to lure her reader into seeing those more informative sections as an essential part of the narrative, and as such they didn't stand out or vex me like they normally would: I expected them to be just boring fact or news clip sections which Johanna Sinisalo uses quite often for example, but luckily Lindstedt used them only sparingly and integrated them well.
I know that technically this book should earn four stars probably, as the writing was good, but as stated, it didn't live up to my expectations nor did it offer anything special. It definitely would have if the novel had focused on Shlomith properly, which makes me angry and disappointed beyond words. This novel could have been really moving, deep and provoking... excellent in general! But now it was just a collection of plain stories of women who died, instead of offering something to really think about. Argh!
I hope this novel offers you something more than what it offered to me. Like I said, the writing is really good and the characters themselves have potential. I just wish Lindstedt had given each women their own novel and built a series from their stories. Cramping them up into one title didn't serve the characters or their stories, least the reader, in any meaningful way. Shame.
February 25, 2016
Hämmentävä fiilis. Ehkä 3,5-4, mutta kallistuu enemmän ylöspäin. Alussa ärsytti ruman kielen tahallisuus kauniin seassa, en kiintynyt hahmoihin (ja normaalisti oon hyvin hahmo-orientoitunut lukija), kaipasin enemmän eri tekstilajeja perustekstin sekaan, ja silti kun pääsin loppuun niin johonkin oli osunut. Oliko se erilaisten naisten aseman kuvaaminen, oliko se jäähyväiset yksi kerrallaan, en tiedä. Kakkososasta tykkäsin enemmän kuin ekasta, ja Slomithin luennosta myös (jos luento oli täyttä faktaa niin apua). Jotain järkevää tästä pitäisi osata blogiin kirjoittaa ja lukupiirissä keskustella, mutta nyt on takki vähän tyhjä.
April 6, 2016
Vähän on nyt hämmentynyt fiilis. Eikä edes vähiten tämän kirjan ympärillä pyörineen hypetyksen vuoksi, en vain millään saa tästä erinomaista teosta. Olihan se tarina hieno, ja kerrontakin omanlaistaan, mutta säväytys puuttui kokonaan. Lienekö liian korkeat odotukset tämän laski keskiverroksi, ihmeellisyys ja wow-efektit eivät auenneet tänne asti.
January 6, 2017
Oneiron: seven women, seven moments of death and the shared moments of accepting them.
Seven women meet in, what might be only be thought of as, afterlife, a moment after their deaths. Death too gruesome to accept. Together they try to face their faiths one at the time.
Each woman comes from a different culture and Lindstedt displays admirable skill in giving them individual voices and effective stories. While the Finnish author's choice of portraying women from cultures, ethnic backgrounds, races etc. feels slightly problematic, my main problem was with the longest story of the collection.
The story of Shlomith is given the central space and, indeed, the New York Jewish artist receives the most pages and different text styles. Through her the novel delves deeper into culture, art, and eating disorder building a narrative running through a life instead of merely one's end. However, the reportage/statement style also alienated me more from the novel than any other part of the whole.
Granted, the longer section was needed, even the momentary distance was needed to pull the reader deeper during the final pages. At its best the novel is a forceful work and the stories pull you deep despite or perhaps due to their style. It is both raw in its material and finely crafted in its composition.
Seven women meet in, what might be only be thought of as, afterlife, a moment after their deaths. Death too gruesome to accept. Together they try to face their faiths one at the time.
Each woman comes from a different culture and Lindstedt displays admirable skill in giving them individual voices and effective stories. While the Finnish author's choice of portraying women from cultures, ethnic backgrounds, races etc. feels slightly problematic, my main problem was with the longest story of the collection.
The story of Shlomith is given the central space and, indeed, the New York Jewish artist receives the most pages and different text styles. Through her the novel delves deeper into culture, art, and eating disorder building a narrative running through a life instead of merely one's end. However, the reportage/statement style also alienated me more from the novel than any other part of the whole.
Granted, the longer section was needed, even the momentary distance was needed to pull the reader deeper during the final pages. At its best the novel is a forceful work and the stories pull you deep despite or perhaps due to their style. It is both raw in its material and finely crafted in its composition.
June 1, 2019
This is a beautiful book. But I don't mean it from literature point, but more aesthetically. It felt illustrated with pictures tho it wasn't. It was full of font shifts, other languages, pages taken from magazines and such. At one point, it had a few pages written in hebrew. Naturally, I can't understand hebrew, but it was a stylistic call, it's important and I get why it was there.
It's a hard book to read. Not because of the topic or anything really shocking, but because it's messy and confusing. Maybe that's why it took me so long to finish it. The characters were all over the place, and even the author cares more about some of them and less about the other.
The whole aesthetic and a bit of the OA vibe its what sold this book for me. I feel like the author's purpose was to shock a reader. Sometimes to educate and even scold it. It was a little bit too pretentious. The ratting is on the higher side just because it was so pretentiously aesthetically weird.
It's a hard book to read. Not because of the topic or anything really shocking, but because it's messy and confusing. Maybe that's why it took me so long to finish it. The characters were all over the place, and even the author cares more about some of them and less about the other.
The whole aesthetic and a bit of the OA vibe its what sold this book for me. I feel like the author's purpose was to shock a reader. Sometimes to educate and even scold it. It was a little bit too pretentious. The ratting is on the higher side just because it was so pretentiously aesthetically weird.
January 15, 2016
Lähes täydellinen romaani.
Henkilökohtaisesti tämä oli raskain ja haastavin lukukokemus aikoihin, mutta myös palkitseva. Viides tähti jäi uupumaan, koska jossain reilun puolenvälin kohdilla lukeminen takkusi tosi pahasti, enkä päässyt tarinaan kunnolla sisälle, mutta sitten toinen osa imaisi taas täysin mukaansa. Lindstedtin tapa käyttää kieltä ja kertoa on aivan huikeaa, suorastaan kadehdittavan loistavaa. Jo pelkästään kirjan idea on nerokas. En voi kuin hämmästellä, miten joku osaakin!
Henkilökohtaisesti tämä oli raskain ja haastavin lukukokemus aikoihin, mutta myös palkitseva. Viides tähti jäi uupumaan, koska jossain reilun puolenvälin kohdilla lukeminen takkusi tosi pahasti, enkä päässyt tarinaan kunnolla sisälle, mutta sitten toinen osa imaisi taas täysin mukaansa. Lindstedtin tapa käyttää kieltä ja kertoa on aivan huikeaa, suorastaan kadehdittavan loistavaa. Jo pelkästään kirjan idea on nerokas. En voi kuin hämmästellä, miten joku osaakin!
December 28, 2015
Kielipelien kautta tarinointiin, enkä tiedä, kummasta nautin enemmän. Sanonpa vaan, että jos Bulgakovin Saatana saapuu Moskovaan ja Doris Lessingin Kultainen muistikirja tekisivät lapsen ja ottaisivat sille uskonnollis-filosofisen kasteen, se olisi tämän näköinen.
April 4, 2017
Hyvin hämmentävä lukukokemus, jonka jälkimaininkeja maistelen vielä pitkään.
Read
August 21, 2018Olipas erikoinen, mutta virkistävä lukukokemus. Pitkään mietin millä tähtimäärällä teosta lätkäisisin, mutta sitten tajusin ettei näin moniulotteista opusta voi pelkistää noin yksinkertaiseen arviointiin.
September 26, 2018
It is hard to know exactly where I stand on this novel. For a while I was enjoying it, then I seemed to lose my way a little, stuck in the lack of action and weight of detail, and then I got caught up in the ending – wanting to understand better and know exactly what happened.
I think much of the appeal of Oneiron is around that sense of not fully understanding what is happening or where things are connected.
Seven women come together in the afterlife. They inhabit a white space of nothingness where they have all been gradually coming to terms with their loss of sensations. As another woman appears, there is the need to tell all the stories all over again; who they are and how they came to be there. But only up to a point. The point of actual death is withheld, as though each woman does not know the final act.
Oneiron is divided into two parts. In the first the women tell their stories and we begin to know a little about each of their lives. They are also dwelling in the white space, with a weightlessness that is hard to move through. The women create a place form themselves. First with a fire made from an orange wig belonging to Wlibgis, a cancer patient, and then with their clothes and shoes which they spread out on the ground in order to make a room, or the outline of a room, in which they can sit and talk. A place to tell their stories. In Part Two each person’s story concludes, we find out about their death and each death is watched over by the remining spirits who flit around the world from New York to the deserts of Western Africa, to Russia, Germany and Holland and South America. The final death has no other spirits to watch. In this final section there are newspaper articles which report on the stories we have been watching, sometimes adding a little more detail, sometimes not as much.
At one point I started to wonder if the different women were connected in some way, that there was a reason behind them all being brought together. In one case there is, Nina who dies in Marseilles had a brother who was present when Maimuna dies in West Africa. But there the links end. I can find no other connection.
I am fascinated by the use of colour. Chapters in Part Two all have colours in the titles, and there is that heavy symbolism of the white surroundings and the descent into blackness. Again, I am not certain if there is a greater significance to all this.
If there is a main character, it is Shlomith, who is the first to arrive and the last to leave. Her central section of the book both dominates and overshadows all the other tales. She is a Jewish woman who has been gradually starving herself to death as part of a performance. At one point she delivers a long lecture to a crowded auditorium about Judaism and Anorexia. At thirty pages this is a considerable chunk of the book, with detailed footnotes and references, and specifics about Jewish religious practices and the evolution of the kibbutz which Shlomith blames for stealing her children. This overshadows the book, placing so much emphasis on one character to the detriment of the others. I assume that the facts in her lecture are true, but this is a novel, it is not the place that I come to expand my general knowledge, and because it is a novel, a made-up story, I fell less inclined to believe it all.
So, there are bits I like and bits I don’t. But I feel connected to the stories, they are plausible, many have a touching reality to them. It is a novel about the “bardo” which I enjoyed in a way that I didn’t at all with “Lincoln in the Bardo”.
I think much of the appeal of Oneiron is around that sense of not fully understanding what is happening or where things are connected.
Seven women come together in the afterlife. They inhabit a white space of nothingness where they have all been gradually coming to terms with their loss of sensations. As another woman appears, there is the need to tell all the stories all over again; who they are and how they came to be there. But only up to a point. The point of actual death is withheld, as though each woman does not know the final act.
Oneiron is divided into two parts. In the first the women tell their stories and we begin to know a little about each of their lives. They are also dwelling in the white space, with a weightlessness that is hard to move through. The women create a place form themselves. First with a fire made from an orange wig belonging to Wlibgis, a cancer patient, and then with their clothes and shoes which they spread out on the ground in order to make a room, or the outline of a room, in which they can sit and talk. A place to tell their stories. In Part Two each person’s story concludes, we find out about their death and each death is watched over by the remining spirits who flit around the world from New York to the deserts of Western Africa, to Russia, Germany and Holland and South America. The final death has no other spirits to watch. In this final section there are newspaper articles which report on the stories we have been watching, sometimes adding a little more detail, sometimes not as much.
At one point I started to wonder if the different women were connected in some way, that there was a reason behind them all being brought together. In one case there is, Nina who dies in Marseilles had a brother who was present when Maimuna dies in West Africa. But there the links end. I can find no other connection.
I am fascinated by the use of colour. Chapters in Part Two all have colours in the titles, and there is that heavy symbolism of the white surroundings and the descent into blackness. Again, I am not certain if there is a greater significance to all this.
If there is a main character, it is Shlomith, who is the first to arrive and the last to leave. Her central section of the book both dominates and overshadows all the other tales. She is a Jewish woman who has been gradually starving herself to death as part of a performance. At one point she delivers a long lecture to a crowded auditorium about Judaism and Anorexia. At thirty pages this is a considerable chunk of the book, with detailed footnotes and references, and specifics about Jewish religious practices and the evolution of the kibbutz which Shlomith blames for stealing her children. This overshadows the book, placing so much emphasis on one character to the detriment of the others. I assume that the facts in her lecture are true, but this is a novel, it is not the place that I come to expand my general knowledge, and because it is a novel, a made-up story, I fell less inclined to believe it all.
So, there are bits I like and bits I don’t. But I feel connected to the stories, they are plausible, many have a touching reality to them. It is a novel about the “bardo” which I enjoyed in a way that I didn’t at all with “Lincoln in the Bardo”.
December 31, 2015
Naiivin pseudointellektuelli liibanlaaban ! Ihan helppolukuinen, mutta hahmot jäävät paperinohuiksi. Niillä on tietysti kaikilla Tosi Rankkaa (Naisten Ongelmia), mutta kukaan ei oikein tiedä miksi juuri he ylipäänsä ovat tässä yhdessä, kaikista vähiten kertoja itse. Yhteydet hahmojen välillä ovat vielä kömpelöt samalla tavalla kuin kaikki muukin romaanissa: Kotkanpesä-juutalaisuus ja onneton linkki Ninan miehen veljen ja Maimunan välillä eivät ole rinnastettavissa.
Ilmeisesti naisten kuolemat ovat kirjan crescendo, mutta väsyttävä sellainen. (Ja totta kai kaunis näsäviisas Ulrike raiskataan.)
Ehkä missasin jonkun suuren johtolangan, mutta oli niin pahvinen lukukokemus ettei kiinnosta ottaa selvää. Elikkäs HANURISTA
Ilmeisesti naisten kuolemat ovat kirjan crescendo, mutta väsyttävä sellainen. (Ja totta kai kaunis näsäviisas Ulrike raiskataan.)
Ehkä missasin jonkun suuren johtolangan, mutta oli niin pahvinen lukukokemus ettei kiinnosta ottaa selvää. Elikkäs HANURISTA
February 5, 2016
Oneiron on hämmentävä ja kiehtova lukukokemus, jota en osannut arvostella heti luettuani. Se on yhtä aikaa herkkä ja runollinen sekä raju ja ronski, selvästi tyylillisesti harkittu ja kunnianhimoinen kokonaisuus. Kirjoitin ristiriitaisista ajatuksistani enemmän blogissani.
February 7, 2016
Ymmärrän, miksi kirja viehättää monia ja omatkin odotukseni olivat korkealla Finlandia-palkinnon takia. Minun kirjani tämä ei kuitenkaan ollut. Kirja jäi minulle etäiseksi ja siihen tarttuminen oli jopa vaikeaa. En päässyt mukaan naisten maailmaan eikä kerronta imenyt minua mukaansa. Vähän liikaa kaikkea ja yliyrittämisen maku. Mutta olihan tämä erilainen, haastava ja epätavanomainen lukuelämys.
April 3, 2017
Oneironissa on samaan aikaan kauneutta ja rumuutta, herkkyyttä ja rajuutta. Joillekin tuo kaikki voi olla liikaa ja eihän tätä hetkessä sulata, mutta pidän siitä, että asiat jäävät vielä jälkeenpäin kaihertamaan mieltä. Tämä kirja pitää kokea itse :)
August 9, 2022
Ale ciężko ocenić tę książkę! Wystawiłabym jej wszystkie możliwe gwiazdki za pomysł, za budowanie klimatu, kreacja głównych bohaterek też mnie przekonała, chociaż gdzieś w okolicach 3/4 książki moja uwaga zaczęła się wytracać.
Wyjątkowo na plus: świadomość słowa pisarki. To powieść, w której poszczególne drobne zabiegi, nawiązania i wtrącenia tworzą mozaikę historii siedmiu pozornie niezwiązanych ze sobą kobiet i jest to prawie doskonałe.
Czuć, że autorka przemyślała, zaplanowała, zbudowała od fundamentów po komin na dachu całą sieć słów, a te utworzyły coś jedynego w swoim rodzaju. Wątek, śmierci, starzenia się, zmian, które w nas zachodzą, pytania o moralność sztuki i eksperymentów w jej imieniu...!!!
Ach, może jeszcze zmienię na pięć gwiazdek.
Wyjątkowo na plus: świadomość słowa pisarki. To powieść, w której poszczególne drobne zabiegi, nawiązania i wtrącenia tworzą mozaikę historii siedmiu pozornie niezwiązanych ze sobą kobiet i jest to prawie doskonałe.
Czuć, że autorka przemyślała, zaplanowała, zbudowała od fundamentów po komin na dachu całą sieć słów, a te utworzyły coś jedynego w swoim rodzaju. Wątek, śmierci, starzenia się, zmian, które w nas zachodzą, pytania o moralność sztuki i eksperymentów w jej imieniu...!!!
Ach, może jeszcze zmienię na pięć gwiazdek.
September 26, 2017
Hoppsan! Det var verkligen en speciell bok. Det var tur att jag inte hade lyssnat på Lundströms bokradio innan jag läste den. Det var många spoilers där. Förutom en rekommendation visste jag ingenting om boken och det var spännande att upptäcka den. Otroligt välskriven och mycket noggrann research. Inte ett ord för mycket och faktamässigt är den både trovärdig och intressant. Jag vill inte berätta vad den handlar om... Jag tycker dock att ni ska läsa den och bli överraskade. Och lite chockade. För den är stark.
January 31, 2016
Finlandia-palkinnon ja suitsuttavien arvioiden perusteella odotin paljon enemmän. Lopulta käteen jäi lähinnä irrallisia anekdootteja, sekava tarina ja yhdentekeviä henkilöhahmoja. Tässä oli liikaa kaikkea, joten kokonaisuus tuntui ylitehdyltä ja -yritetyltä. Ilman Finlandia-palkintoa olisin jättänyt luku-urakan kesken, mutta päätin katsoa mihin tämä lopulta menee. Kaiken kaikkiaan pettymys.
October 16, 2016
Hämmentävä teos, jonka outous teki siitä kiehtovan. Kirjassa oli hirveästi kaikkea mahdollista, josta ei saanut yhden lukukerran jälkeen riittävää otetta. Tähän on palattava uudelleen, toisena ajankohtana. Propsit siitä, miten pitkälle ajattelu on viety ja miten valtaisa taustatyö kirjan eteen on tehty.
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