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The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat and Other Stories from the North
The best fiction from across the Nordic region, selected and introduced by Sjon - Iceland's internationally renowned writer.
This exquisite anthology collects together the very best fiction from across the Nordic region. Travelling from cosmopolitan Stockholm to the remote Faroe Islands, and from Denmark to Greenland, this unique and compelling volume displays the thrilling diversity of writing from these northern nations.
Selected and introduced by Sjon, The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat includes both notable authors and exciting new discoveries. As well as an essential selection of the best contemporary storytelling from the Nordic countries, it's also a fascinating portrait of contemporary life across the region. The perfect book to curl up with on a cold winter's evening.
This exquisite anthology collects together the very best fiction from across the Nordic region. Travelling from cosmopolitan Stockholm to the remote Faroe Islands, and from Denmark to Greenland, this unique and compelling volume displays the thrilling diversity of writing from these northern nations.
Selected and introduced by Sjon, The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat includes both notable authors and exciting new discoveries. As well as an essential selection of the best contemporary storytelling from the Nordic countries, it's also a fascinating portrait of contemporary life across the region. The perfect book to curl up with on a cold winter's evening.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 12, 2017
60 people are currently reading
368 people want to read
About the author
Sjón
58 books635 followersSjón (Sigurjón B. Sigurðsson) was born in Reykjavik on the 27th of August, 1962. He started his writing career early, publishing his first book of poetry, Sýnir (Visions), in 1978. Sjón was a founding member of the surrealist group, Medúsa, and soon became significant in Reykjavik's cultural landscape.
Since then, his prolific writing drove him to pen song lyrics, scripts for movies and of course novels such as The Blue Fox.
Since then, his prolific writing drove him to pen song lyrics, scripts for movies and of course novels such as The Blue Fox.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
June 29, 2018
"The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat" is a compilation consisting of eighteen short stories. Eight distinct Nordic lands are represented...Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Aland Islands. Some stories reflect endurance and survival in the forest or at sea. Others are based upon folklore. One thing is certain, the storytelling is superb.
"The Man in the Boat" by Per Olov Enquist (Sweden) is the story of two young boys who haul and hide three logs stuck on shore during springtime logging season. They cover and camouflage the logs, planning to build a raft. Upon completion, they pole out at night into the nearby lake. This is to become "a day when everything ended and everything began", the day tragedy struck.
"In a Deer Stand" by Dorthe Nors (Denmark), it is a question of time. A forty-seven year old man has driven out to the forest alone, no cell phone, has he broken his ankle? When he left home he seemed depressed. He is sitting in a deer stand. Will help come? Did he hear a wolf?
"From Ice" by Ulla-Lena Lundberg (Aland Islands). How did Irina Gyllen flee from the Soviet Union to Finland? She once was a Finnish citizen. She has left a child behind in Russia. Her medical license from the Soviet Union is not valid in Finland. She practices midwifery instead now. When she wakes up each morning, she takes pills to make her memories manageable.
"The Dark Blue Overcoat" by Johan Bargam (Finland). Why did an estranged father turn into a dog? Father has remarried. New wife Melaine says he is a mongrel. "I got him from a lady that did not want him anymore". Did he have a specific agenda? After all, his son was called to New York from Finland to visit him.
"Some People Run in Shorts" by Solrun Michelsen (Faroe Islands). Life in the modern world. People are always running, in a hurry to get from point A to point B. The runner is worn out, he can't stop himself. He wants to stop the carousel and get off. He needed help, even at another person's expense.
By presenting a snippet of five stories, it is my hope that readers will be encouraged to check out this anthology of Nordic literature. I am glad I did! Thank you to Ted Hodgkinson and Sjon for their informative introduction.
Thank you Pushkin Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The Dark Blue Overcoat & Other Stories from the North".
"The Man in the Boat" by Per Olov Enquist (Sweden) is the story of two young boys who haul and hide three logs stuck on shore during springtime logging season. They cover and camouflage the logs, planning to build a raft. Upon completion, they pole out at night into the nearby lake. This is to become "a day when everything ended and everything began", the day tragedy struck.
"In a Deer Stand" by Dorthe Nors (Denmark), it is a question of time. A forty-seven year old man has driven out to the forest alone, no cell phone, has he broken his ankle? When he left home he seemed depressed. He is sitting in a deer stand. Will help come? Did he hear a wolf?
"From Ice" by Ulla-Lena Lundberg (Aland Islands). How did Irina Gyllen flee from the Soviet Union to Finland? She once was a Finnish citizen. She has left a child behind in Russia. Her medical license from the Soviet Union is not valid in Finland. She practices midwifery instead now. When she wakes up each morning, she takes pills to make her memories manageable.
"The Dark Blue Overcoat" by Johan Bargam (Finland). Why did an estranged father turn into a dog? Father has remarried. New wife Melaine says he is a mongrel. "I got him from a lady that did not want him anymore". Did he have a specific agenda? After all, his son was called to New York from Finland to visit him.
"Some People Run in Shorts" by Solrun Michelsen (Faroe Islands). Life in the modern world. People are always running, in a hurry to get from point A to point B. The runner is worn out, he can't stop himself. He wants to stop the carousel and get off. He needed help, even at another person's expense.
By presenting a snippet of five stories, it is my hope that readers will be encouraged to check out this anthology of Nordic literature. I am glad I did! Thank you to Ted Hodgkinson and Sjon for their informative introduction.
Thank you Pushkin Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The Dark Blue Overcoat & Other Stories from the North".
July 13, 2020
This collection contains 18 short stories by writers from the eight distinctive Nordic lands of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Åland Islands, Greenland and Iceland. Among the authors are some well-known names like Per Olov Enquist, Madame Nielsen, Linda Boström Knausgård, and Guðbergur Bergsson, and some writers whom I hadn't heard of yet, but I am glad that I know now. In case you are hesitant regarding the selection that was made here - the editor was the fantastic Sjón, so don't fear, you're in for a treat!
While the themes and topics of the texts vary strongly, there is one element that seems to connect them: In these stories, there is more to life than reality, emotional landscapes and the fantastical are important means to describe the human experience, and to find truth, these writers don't stop at the factual - there is far more territory to conquer. And of course, the book is full of dry humor and outrageous imagination.
Who is the mysterious man in the boat? Will Madame Nielsen sooner or later turn into Peter Høeg? Why does a father suddenly behave like a dog? And why does Greenlander Fia absolutely need to get to San Francisco? I particulary loved "The White-Bear King Valemon", a story that was modelled after a Norwegian fairytale and is equally enchanting and disturbing.
So go and read more Nordic literature, starting with this book!
While the themes and topics of the texts vary strongly, there is one element that seems to connect them: In these stories, there is more to life than reality, emotional landscapes and the fantastical are important means to describe the human experience, and to find truth, these writers don't stop at the factual - there is far more territory to conquer. And of course, the book is full of dry humor and outrageous imagination.
Who is the mysterious man in the boat? Will Madame Nielsen sooner or later turn into Peter Høeg? Why does a father suddenly behave like a dog? And why does Greenlander Fia absolutely need to get to San Francisco? I particulary loved "The White-Bear King Valemon", a story that was modelled after a Norwegian fairytale and is equally enchanting and disturbing.
So go and read more Nordic literature, starting with this book!
January 6, 2020
Stories from “the North”, proclaims the cover of this anthology. But what are we to understand by “the North”? For the purposes of this collection, co-editors Sjón (Sigurjón B. Sigurðsson) and Ted Hodgkinson have harvested short stories from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Åland Islands, Greenland and Iceland, which are the countries which generally feature in the Nordic Literature Prize awards. In the co-editors’ interview-like introduction, they try to single out the elements which unite these seemingly disparate cultures. A more-or-less shared millennial history is one of these characteristics. But there’s also a common experience of battling with extreme weather and social conditions at the furthest Northern outposts of civilisation.
The co-editors make another very interesting and relevant point – namely that in Nordic literature, the magical, the supernatural and the surreal, possibly remnants of the storytelling of old, often live side-by-side with a hyper-realist, naturalistic approach to fiction. And this, indeed, seems to be one of the main strands which binds the collection together.
Some of the stories are, in fact, explicitly “mythical” in conception. Thus 'The White-Bear King Valemon' by Linda Boström Knausgaard is an Angela-Carteresque retelling of a traditional fairy-tale whilst "The Man in the Boat" by Per Olov Enquist is, at face-value, an account of the drowning of a boy in a lake, but recounted in a way which calls to mind both traditional ghost stories and pagan/Norse mythology (the dead being led away in a both). Other pieces are more surreal in nature – for instance the title story by Johan Bargum, featuring a man who starts to behave like (turn into?) a dog.
As the anthology progresses, the ‘realist’ genre starts to take over and we get to the really depressing stuff. Because living at the Northern edge of the world, especially within lonely island communities, seems to intensify social challenges. Certainly alcoholism, marriage breakdown, abuse and harassment of minorities (whether racial, sexual or otherwise diverse) are, unfortunately, problems which can be found in every continent. However, pieces like San Francisco by Niviaq Korneliussen, 'Zombieland' by Sørine Steenholdt and 'A World Apart' by Rosa Liksom, seem to suggest that such issues can be particular hurtful in the lonely, northern reaches of the world.
There’s much to enjoy and to discover in this book, especially since Sjón and Hodgkinson have featured several writers who, despite their domestic success, are as yet little-known on the international stage . Perhaps it is easier to “sense” than to “define” what makes their stories “Nordic”. Eventually, however, one starts to feel that despite the variety of style and subject-matter there seems to be a common soul to these tales. This collection should be experienced for this, if for nothing else.
The co-editors make another very interesting and relevant point – namely that in Nordic literature, the magical, the supernatural and the surreal, possibly remnants of the storytelling of old, often live side-by-side with a hyper-realist, naturalistic approach to fiction. And this, indeed, seems to be one of the main strands which binds the collection together.
Some of the stories are, in fact, explicitly “mythical” in conception. Thus 'The White-Bear King Valemon' by Linda Boström Knausgaard is an Angela-Carteresque retelling of a traditional fairy-tale whilst "The Man in the Boat" by Per Olov Enquist is, at face-value, an account of the drowning of a boy in a lake, but recounted in a way which calls to mind both traditional ghost stories and pagan/Norse mythology (the dead being led away in a both). Other pieces are more surreal in nature – for instance the title story by Johan Bargum, featuring a man who starts to behave like (turn into?) a dog.
As the anthology progresses, the ‘realist’ genre starts to take over and we get to the really depressing stuff. Because living at the Northern edge of the world, especially within lonely island communities, seems to intensify social challenges. Certainly alcoholism, marriage breakdown, abuse and harassment of minorities (whether racial, sexual or otherwise diverse) are, unfortunately, problems which can be found in every continent. However, pieces like San Francisco by Niviaq Korneliussen, 'Zombieland' by Sørine Steenholdt and 'A World Apart' by Rosa Liksom, seem to suggest that such issues can be particular hurtful in the lonely, northern reaches of the world.
There’s much to enjoy and to discover in this book, especially since Sjón and Hodgkinson have featured several writers who, despite their domestic success, are as yet little-known on the international stage . Perhaps it is easier to “sense” than to “define” what makes their stories “Nordic”. Eventually, however, one starts to feel that despite the variety of style and subject-matter there seems to be a common soul to these tales. This collection should be experienced for this, if for nothing else.
February 24, 2025
I am truly drawn to the stories of the North. There is something about the place, space and peoples of Scandinavia that draws me like the metaphorical moth to a flame. From Nordic Noir, to the sagas of Iceland, and the astounding literature of the Nobel laureates, the North bears witness to stories that are at times timeless, raw and authentic, unashamedly human, violent, melancholic, peaceful, reflective, contemplative, bleak, atmospheric, hopeful, a mirror to the reader and above all, incredibly rich in diversity and relationship to self, others, and place.
The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat is an eclectic and unique collection of 18 short stories from 18 storytellers, hailing from across the breadth and depth of Scandinavia and Greenland. Icelandic novelist and poet, Sjón along with the reknown Ted Hodgkinson have captured the elements of the Nordic spirit in an amazing anthology featuring writers from Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Faroe and Åland Islands and Greenland. The result is quite mesmerising and at times jarring and readers are privileged to gain access to an incredible array of literature.
I took my time reading this anthology, savouring each morsel, seeking to understand something of each writer, taking notes, copying quotes and allowing myself to be immersed. It’s hard to know how to adequately review such a feast but what I do know even more so now is that people are the core and centre of the North. Relationship is paramount as it expresses itself in many and varied diverse manifestations. Relationships are complex, intensely personal and not able to be contained to simplistic ways of understanding.
This is a 5 star collection. Needs to be read and reread and each author explored further. I’ve already added a number of new books to my TBR list.
The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat is an eclectic and unique collection of 18 short stories from 18 storytellers, hailing from across the breadth and depth of Scandinavia and Greenland. Icelandic novelist and poet, Sjón along with the reknown Ted Hodgkinson have captured the elements of the Nordic spirit in an amazing anthology featuring writers from Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Faroe and Åland Islands and Greenland. The result is quite mesmerising and at times jarring and readers are privileged to gain access to an incredible array of literature.
I took my time reading this anthology, savouring each morsel, seeking to understand something of each writer, taking notes, copying quotes and allowing myself to be immersed. It’s hard to know how to adequately review such a feast but what I do know even more so now is that people are the core and centre of the North. Relationship is paramount as it expresses itself in many and varied diverse manifestations. Relationships are complex, intensely personal and not able to be contained to simplistic ways of understanding.
This is a 5 star collection. Needs to be read and reread and each author explored further. I’ve already added a number of new books to my TBR list.
January 6, 2019
A collection of short stories is usually a collection of various quality. I found a lot of these short stories to below par. Some were ok but if the book meant to be selling the quality of Scandinavian literature it didn't work for me.
February 15, 2018
This was a book that I was looking forward to very much last year - it had a beautiful cover, it had short stories by Scandinavian authors, it was a new collection, it was perfect winter reading. But I could get into it only last week, and I finished reading it today.
'The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat and other stories' has eighteen short stories. Authors from countries which are the usual suspects are featured - Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland. The interesting thing though is that authors from some of the lesser known islands are featured too - Faroe islands, Åland islands, Greenland. One of the Norwegian writers featured belongs to the indigenous Saami community. There is also a Finnish writer featured who is originally from Iraq. That is lots of diversity in a small book and it is pretty impressive. I had heard of only one writer featured in the book, Per Olov Enquist. His story was one of my favourites. I might have heard of another writer, Dorthe Nors too, but I am not sure. So, I discovered atleast sixteen new writers because of this book, which is a wonderful thing.
My favourite stories from the book were these.
The Man in the Boat by Per Olov Enquist - Two boys make a raft without anyone knowing and they take a trip in the lake. Then strange things happen. The story was about the carefree nature of young people, the innocence of youth and how that innocence is lost because of sudden and surprising life experiences. I loved the nod to Greek / Pagan mythology in the story. The story had a poignant, heartachingly beautiful ending.
The Author Himself by Madame Nielsen - The narrator of the story meets her favourite author Peter Høeg once, and the story tracks the narrator's own life between the encounters she has with Peter Høeg across time, either personally or through the news.
1974 by Frode Grytten - This depicts events in a short period in the summer of 1974. It made me remember 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. There were some beautiful passages in this story.
San Francisco by Niviaq Korneliussen - The narrator has a tragic event happen in her life and suddenly ends up in a new country with her not remembering how she got there. The story narrates events of the present in which the narrator survives because of the kindness of strangers and also looks back into the past and we learn what actually happened. A very beautiful, poignant story.
I also liked 'A World Apart' by Rosa Liksom, in which the short story was divided into chapters, each of which was a short story in itself, 'Zombieland' by Sørine Steenholdt, in which the narrator has a tough life because of her mother, "Don't kill me, I beg you. This is my tree" by Hassan Blasim, which depicts an immigrant's life in Finland and also shows how it is not always possible to run away from the past, 'The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat' by Johan Bargum, in which the narrator's father starts behaving like a dog (I don't know whether it was a take on Kafka's 'Metamorphosis') and 'Sunday' by Naja Marie Aidt, which had an interesting surprise in the end. There is also an interesting interpretation of the Norwegian fairytale, 'East of the Sun, West of the Moon', called 'The White-Bear King Valemon' by Linda Boström Knausgaard.
I liked 'The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat and other stories from the North'. Some of the stories were straightforward reads, while others were more challenging and had to be read closely and carefully. I am glad to have discovered so many new Scandinavian writers through this book. I can't wait to explore some of their longer works. This book also has an introduction at the beginning, in the form of a conversation between the editors. It is a beautiful, interesting introduction to Scandinavian literature.
I will leave you with some of my favourite passages from the book.
From 'The Author Himself' by Madame Nielsen
"I opened the book and began to read as I stood. Impossible. I grasped nothing. What I saw on the pages was at once regular and yet utterly chaotic. I understood the words on their own, of course, or at least most of them, and could even, as though through a dense entanglement of branches, make out a scene, or at least its outline, or perhaps more exactly a structure, and behind that structure another structure, and behind that another, and so on. If it was a circus trick, then it was of such virtuosity that one could no longer see the artist or the figure he was drawing, the illusion. It was like thousands upon thousands of da Vinci drawings layered on top of each other, so dense and so extremely complex there was nothing to see. It was the opposite of nothing. It was everything. And all too much."
From 'Zombieland' by Sørine Steenholdt
"I want to live like them. To fall. To give up. To live without the weight of the world, just existing and being there. I want to seem as if I'm OK. I want to rely on people to take over. I want to be able to count on other people to deal with all of it. I am fascinated by the people who have given up, but continue to live. I could let myself fall down with them. Leave here with them, go drink with them, forget about the future and live by the bottle. Stop working, stop having an opinion about myself, stop paying the rent, stop having a place to live. I could just spend the nights wherever. I could just drink and be happy. How easy life would be : to be the living dead."
From '1974' by Frode Grytten
"In the year 1974 my father started attacking his own family. In 1974 I waited for phone calls from a crazy girl who I knew was going to drop me the minute she got tired of me. But that's how it is, that's how you lose a city, and it's only afterwards that you can write the story. When you're in the middle of it, you think everything will stay the same, everything will remain the way it is, just a little bit different.
Then you're standing there one day on the empty street when you've come home after having been away for a long time, and you meet people you don't know, or people you don't recognize. The grey factory buildings and the grey mountains are the same as they have always been. But everything has changed and the workers don't walk through the gate to punch the clock any more. That's how it happens : first your best friend loves, then you move, then they shut down the smelting works, then there's a whole gang of men nobody needs, and then the radio stations don't play the records you like any longer. Then they ship the entrails of the factory to Poland, China and Argentina, and then they start arguing about what's going to happen to the shells of the buildings that have started falling down. The benches are empty, there's no longer water in the fountain outside city hall, and the neon lights on the cinema have stopped working.
There used to be something here, something beautiful and disturbing all at once, and it seemed important, a sparkling future that perhaps nobody fully believed in, but which was ingrained in you - this is your city, this is your time, this is what you are. And look now : I can't even remember everybody's names."
Have you read 'The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat and other stories from the North'? What do you think about it?
'The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat and other stories' has eighteen short stories. Authors from countries which are the usual suspects are featured - Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland. The interesting thing though is that authors from some of the lesser known islands are featured too - Faroe islands, Åland islands, Greenland. One of the Norwegian writers featured belongs to the indigenous Saami community. There is also a Finnish writer featured who is originally from Iraq. That is lots of diversity in a small book and it is pretty impressive. I had heard of only one writer featured in the book, Per Olov Enquist. His story was one of my favourites. I might have heard of another writer, Dorthe Nors too, but I am not sure. So, I discovered atleast sixteen new writers because of this book, which is a wonderful thing.
My favourite stories from the book were these.
The Man in the Boat by Per Olov Enquist - Two boys make a raft without anyone knowing and they take a trip in the lake. Then strange things happen. The story was about the carefree nature of young people, the innocence of youth and how that innocence is lost because of sudden and surprising life experiences. I loved the nod to Greek / Pagan mythology in the story. The story had a poignant, heartachingly beautiful ending.
The Author Himself by Madame Nielsen - The narrator of the story meets her favourite author Peter Høeg once, and the story tracks the narrator's own life between the encounters she has with Peter Høeg across time, either personally or through the news.
1974 by Frode Grytten - This depicts events in a short period in the summer of 1974. It made me remember 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. There were some beautiful passages in this story.
San Francisco by Niviaq Korneliussen - The narrator has a tragic event happen in her life and suddenly ends up in a new country with her not remembering how she got there. The story narrates events of the present in which the narrator survives because of the kindness of strangers and also looks back into the past and we learn what actually happened. A very beautiful, poignant story.
I also liked 'A World Apart' by Rosa Liksom, in which the short story was divided into chapters, each of which was a short story in itself, 'Zombieland' by Sørine Steenholdt, in which the narrator has a tough life because of her mother, "Don't kill me, I beg you. This is my tree" by Hassan Blasim, which depicts an immigrant's life in Finland and also shows how it is not always possible to run away from the past, 'The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat' by Johan Bargum, in which the narrator's father starts behaving like a dog (I don't know whether it was a take on Kafka's 'Metamorphosis') and 'Sunday' by Naja Marie Aidt, which had an interesting surprise in the end. There is also an interesting interpretation of the Norwegian fairytale, 'East of the Sun, West of the Moon', called 'The White-Bear King Valemon' by Linda Boström Knausgaard.
I liked 'The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat and other stories from the North'. Some of the stories were straightforward reads, while others were more challenging and had to be read closely and carefully. I am glad to have discovered so many new Scandinavian writers through this book. I can't wait to explore some of their longer works. This book also has an introduction at the beginning, in the form of a conversation between the editors. It is a beautiful, interesting introduction to Scandinavian literature.
I will leave you with some of my favourite passages from the book.
From 'The Author Himself' by Madame Nielsen
"I opened the book and began to read as I stood. Impossible. I grasped nothing. What I saw on the pages was at once regular and yet utterly chaotic. I understood the words on their own, of course, or at least most of them, and could even, as though through a dense entanglement of branches, make out a scene, or at least its outline, or perhaps more exactly a structure, and behind that structure another structure, and behind that another, and so on. If it was a circus trick, then it was of such virtuosity that one could no longer see the artist or the figure he was drawing, the illusion. It was like thousands upon thousands of da Vinci drawings layered on top of each other, so dense and so extremely complex there was nothing to see. It was the opposite of nothing. It was everything. And all too much."
From 'Zombieland' by Sørine Steenholdt
"I want to live like them. To fall. To give up. To live without the weight of the world, just existing and being there. I want to seem as if I'm OK. I want to rely on people to take over. I want to be able to count on other people to deal with all of it. I am fascinated by the people who have given up, but continue to live. I could let myself fall down with them. Leave here with them, go drink with them, forget about the future and live by the bottle. Stop working, stop having an opinion about myself, stop paying the rent, stop having a place to live. I could just spend the nights wherever. I could just drink and be happy. How easy life would be : to be the living dead."
From '1974' by Frode Grytten
"In the year 1974 my father started attacking his own family. In 1974 I waited for phone calls from a crazy girl who I knew was going to drop me the minute she got tired of me. But that's how it is, that's how you lose a city, and it's only afterwards that you can write the story. When you're in the middle of it, you think everything will stay the same, everything will remain the way it is, just a little bit different.
Then you're standing there one day on the empty street when you've come home after having been away for a long time, and you meet people you don't know, or people you don't recognize. The grey factory buildings and the grey mountains are the same as they have always been. But everything has changed and the workers don't walk through the gate to punch the clock any more. That's how it happens : first your best friend loves, then you move, then they shut down the smelting works, then there's a whole gang of men nobody needs, and then the radio stations don't play the records you like any longer. Then they ship the entrails of the factory to Poland, China and Argentina, and then they start arguing about what's going to happen to the shells of the buildings that have started falling down. The benches are empty, there's no longer water in the fountain outside city hall, and the neon lights on the cinema have stopped working.
There used to be something here, something beautiful and disturbing all at once, and it seemed important, a sparkling future that perhaps nobody fully believed in, but which was ingrained in you - this is your city, this is your time, this is what you are. And look now : I can't even remember everybody's names."
Have you read 'The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat and other stories from the North'? What do you think about it?
August 12, 2022
This is an interesting collection of stories from the Nordics which includes works from the Faroes and Greenland, as well as Scandinavia and Iceland as would be expected. Though they may share a ‘dark’ theme, and even ‘blue’ in that many characters are mentally on the edge, the contrasting style of writing could not be more marked. In that way, Sjón as editor, holds the reader’s attention, though not always due to the content.
By some way the stand-out story for me was The Man in the Boat by Per Olov Enquist translated from the Swedish by Deborah Bragan-Turner.
During their summer holidays, living with their grandfather in Västerbotten in the north of Sweden two young boys make a simple raft from felled timber and sail out to the middle of their lake. But don’t forget that it’s going to be dark, and blue..
It's hard to praise this highly enough. I may have a degree of bias, as I am currently amongst those wild forests and lakes of Västerbotten in northern Sweden in which it is set, but it is one of the best short stories I have read.
Worthy of mentions also, are
1974 by Frode Grytten, (Norwegian) in which a teenage boy witnesses the violent complexities of his parents’ relationship and experiences his own sexual awakening.
and from the Greenlandic author Niviaq Korneliussen, San Francisco which is a devastating account of a single sex relationship that ends tragically,
and the Faroese author Carl Johan Jensen’s May Your Union Be Blessed with the sense of location that one was hoping for when embarking on such a book.
By some way the stand-out story for me was The Man in the Boat by Per Olov Enquist translated from the Swedish by Deborah Bragan-Turner.
During their summer holidays, living with their grandfather in Västerbotten in the north of Sweden two young boys make a simple raft from felled timber and sail out to the middle of their lake. But don’t forget that it’s going to be dark, and blue..
It's hard to praise this highly enough. I may have a degree of bias, as I am currently amongst those wild forests and lakes of Västerbotten in northern Sweden in which it is set, but it is one of the best short stories I have read.
Worthy of mentions also, are
1974 by Frode Grytten, (Norwegian) in which a teenage boy witnesses the violent complexities of his parents’ relationship and experiences his own sexual awakening.
and from the Greenlandic author Niviaq Korneliussen, San Francisco which is a devastating account of a single sex relationship that ends tragically,
and the Faroese author Carl Johan Jensen’s May Your Union Be Blessed with the sense of location that one was hoping for when embarking on such a book.
August 19, 2022
‘The North conjures epic storytelling.’
Indeed, it does. The only novel of Sjón’s that I have read was ‘CoDex 1962: A Trilogy’, and that took me on an epic journey which I intend (at some stage) to revisit. But this collection of short stories, edited by Sjón and Ted Hodgkinson has sat peacefully on my bookshelf for some years, awaiting its turn to be read.
I started reading, slowly, fitting each short story around other chapters of other books. There are eighteen short stories in this anthology. The authors represent eight different countries: Denmark, Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Aland Islands, and the Faroe Islands. While each story held my attention, I have three favourites:
‘The Man in the Boat’ by Per Olov Enquist (Sweden) is the story of two young boys who hide three logs stuck on shore during the springtime logging season. They cover the logs because they are planning to build a raft. Once complete, they head out one night into a nearby lake. Tragedy follows.
I was intrigued by ‘The Dark Blue Overcoat’ by Johan Bargam (Finland). A son travels from Finland to New York to visit his estranged father. He finds that his father has turned into a dog. His father’s second wife, Melaine, says he is a mongrel: ‘I got him from a lady who didn’t want him anymore’. Seriously weird, and yet totally absorbing.
And there is this story, of a displaced person. ‘From Ice’ by Ulla-Lena Lundberg (Aland Islands). Irina Gyllen somehow fled from the Soviet Union to Finland. She was once a Finnish citizen but leaving the Soviet Union has meant leaving her child behind. She cannot work as a doctor in Finland because her medical licence is not valid. Instead, she practices midwifery. And each day, she tries to keep her memories at bay by taking pills.
These are stories to read slowly, to think about.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Indeed, it does. The only novel of Sjón’s that I have read was ‘CoDex 1962: A Trilogy’, and that took me on an epic journey which I intend (at some stage) to revisit. But this collection of short stories, edited by Sjón and Ted Hodgkinson has sat peacefully on my bookshelf for some years, awaiting its turn to be read.
I started reading, slowly, fitting each short story around other chapters of other books. There are eighteen short stories in this anthology. The authors represent eight different countries: Denmark, Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Aland Islands, and the Faroe Islands. While each story held my attention, I have three favourites:
‘The Man in the Boat’ by Per Olov Enquist (Sweden) is the story of two young boys who hide three logs stuck on shore during the springtime logging season. They cover the logs because they are planning to build a raft. Once complete, they head out one night into a nearby lake. Tragedy follows.
I was intrigued by ‘The Dark Blue Overcoat’ by Johan Bargam (Finland). A son travels from Finland to New York to visit his estranged father. He finds that his father has turned into a dog. His father’s second wife, Melaine, says he is a mongrel: ‘I got him from a lady who didn’t want him anymore’. Seriously weird, and yet totally absorbing.
And there is this story, of a displaced person. ‘From Ice’ by Ulla-Lena Lundberg (Aland Islands). Irina Gyllen somehow fled from the Soviet Union to Finland. She was once a Finnish citizen but leaving the Soviet Union has meant leaving her child behind. She cannot work as a doctor in Finland because her medical licence is not valid. Instead, she practices midwifery. And each day, she tries to keep her memories at bay by taking pills.
These are stories to read slowly, to think about.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
February 13, 2018
This is a captivating collection of contemporary Nordic literature -- thankfully with no crime fiction! Many stories have haunted me since finishing the book more than a week ago, including:
The Man in the Boat by Per Olov Enquist, a story that is by turns strange, moving, and comforting;
The White-Bear King Valemon by Linda Boström Knausgård, an experimental story of transformation, grounded in folklore and fairy tale;
The Author Himself by Madame Nielsen, a hilarious account of a writer who stalks author Peter Høeg; and
Avocado by Guðbergur Bergsson, a masterfully told, darkly funny portrait of a middle-aged actress and mother
The Man in the Boat by Per Olov Enquist, a story that is by turns strange, moving, and comforting;
The White-Bear King Valemon by Linda Boström Knausgård, an experimental story of transformation, grounded in folklore and fairy tale;
The Author Himself by Madame Nielsen, a hilarious account of a writer who stalks author Peter Høeg; and
Avocado by Guðbergur Bergsson, a masterfully told, darkly funny portrait of a middle-aged actress and mother
Read
February 5, 2019A collection of Scandinavian short stories - and they are short, many under ten pages and only one anywhere near 30 - by various authors. The introduction suggests they share a certain sensibility, which I can mostly see. There's more of the supernatural and surreal here than I associate with literary short stories from the Anglosphere; you're more likely to meet Death at the pond, or find a man who thinks he's a dog. But set against that, also a certain unflappability, stoicism, flatness of affect. Of course, I happen across British and American short stories in all sorts of places, so have a much wider sense of the overall landscape, whereas here I'm going by a single collection assembled in line with a particular set of editorial preferences, so who knows how much of this impression is regional character, and how much is the vision of these individuals? And even these attempts at a summary of sensibilities have exceptions, of course; there's a trying piece of Greenland miserablism, and a story about a miserable old couple trying avocado, which would only need a few names and workplaces changed to pass muster as uninspiring British or American kitchen sink realism. This is all even before the issue of translation arises, of course, though (Finnish aside) the source languages share enough of a skeleton with English that I'd suspect a direct match was easier even than crafting an English iteration of a Romance text, never mind anything from further linguistically afield. I'm not quite sure what to make of this book, as you may have gathered. But I'm glad I read it.
(Edelweiss ARC, which I've had for ages, but was saving for the winter. Of course, we don't really have more than a week or two of halfhearted winter in Britain anymore, what with the imminent end of the world, but at least I read it in the months where winter used to happen, so hopefully that counts for something)
(Edelweiss ARC, which I've had for ages, but was saving for the winter. Of course, we don't really have more than a week or two of halfhearted winter in Britain anymore, what with the imminent end of the world, but at least I read it in the months where winter used to happen, so hopefully that counts for something)
November 4, 2019
Contemporary Nordic Shorts 101
Review of the Pushkin Press paperback edition (2018).
18 stories were going to be hard to keep track of, so I started a table in order to keep myself oriented along the way. This was OCD on my part but it certainly helped in remembering details and fortunately the table copy/pasted into GR fairly easily with only minor edits. The asterisked* ones were my favourites. In several cases I found it hard to guess what the original language was and had to make a few deductions e.g. the Aland Islands are part of Finland, but are mostly Swedish speaking etc.
No one has yet listed the writers and translators in the GR synopsis, but I've linked the writers and at least listed the translators in the summaries below.
I'm mostly only giving the setups here, but some might consider these to be spoilers, so just in case...
.
Review of the Pushkin Press paperback edition (2018).
18 stories were going to be hard to keep track of, so I started a table in order to keep myself oriented along the way. This was OCD on my part but it certainly helped in remembering details and fortunately the table copy/pasted into GR fairly easily with only minor edits. The asterisked* ones were my favourites. In several cases I found it hard to guess what the original language was and had to make a few deductions e.g. the Aland Islands are part of Finland, but are mostly Swedish speaking etc.
No one has yet listed the writers and translators in the GR synopsis, but I've linked the writers and at least listed the translators in the summaries below.
I'm mostly only giving the setups here, but some might consider these to be spoilers, so just in case...
.
July 22, 2025
As ever with a compilation, impossible to rate to do it justice. Some excellent, some awful, and most dark and violent. Worth a read for the variety. Despite the fact I’ve read a lot of Nordic authors I’ve somehow not read any of these before. Sólrún Michelsen, Ulla-Lena Lundberg, Per Olov Enquist and Johan Bargum are names I’ll be looking out for.
August 25, 2024
I was curious about writing in Scandinavia, and this book of short stories seemed like a good idea, as it covered Scandinavia including Iceland, Greenland, and parts I've never heard of before. Sadly I didn't enjoy this collection. Some stories were good, some cryptic, others fragmented, and mostly weird.
November 2, 2017
Fascinating collection of short stories by Northern authors; includes diverse voices from seldom translated literatures. Especially recommend the stories "The Man in the Boat", "1974" and "Notes from a Backwoos Saami Core".
April 16, 2021
i found one review for this book, where the person stated how they enjoy happy endings and plot and that made me realize that's what was missing. no story felt complete. i was left with many unanswered questions and confusing thoughts and that made it difficult for me to find the motivation to continue reading. cause most of the time i had no idea what was going on.
however now as i'm thinking back and analyzing everything, these stories we're actually good in their own peculiar way. i tried to pick my favorites from those 18 short stories i liked and the list ended up consisting of almost all of them. all in all, i'm not sure how i feel.
here's a small and incomplete list for future references:
the man in the boat
a world apart
from zombieland
some people run in shorts
1974
san francisco
however now as i'm thinking back and analyzing everything, these stories we're actually good in their own peculiar way. i tried to pick my favorites from those 18 short stories i liked and the list ended up consisting of almost all of them. all in all, i'm not sure how i feel.
here's a small and incomplete list for future references:
the man in the boat
a world apart
from zombieland
some people run in shorts
1974
san francisco
October 8, 2023
Short story collections will always have stories of varying quality but generally these were either unremittingly bleak or else so strange and surreal that I literally had no idea what the story was about. The Man in the Boat was by far the best.
November 14, 2025
I think this is my first read from Nordic authors. Quite a mood.
February 25, 2018
Took me a while to get through this. It's good, but it's not for me. I like happy endings and plot or character driven books (with some exceptions) and I'm not generally overkeen on short stories, so I think perhaps this was just a bad choice. I did enjoy some of the stories, and a couple I'd have been happy to read in longer versions. I also read a couple of other reviews on book sites and I think the collection did what it should've admirably. It stayed away from some of the preconceived notions of Nordic countries, and did have a bit of variation between the stories. However it was overwhelmingly grim. I didn't think there was a single story that could be called happy, although maybe parts of a couple could be labelled as reservedly positive. The driving force behind a lot of these stories was just misery. I'm glad I read it, and it hasn't put me off seeking out more Nordic fiction, but if you aren't someone who can cope with torrential misery in your fiction then maybe skip this one. I think it's a good idea to read it with another book to offset it.
I get what people say about showing off all the crime you don't have in all the crime novels coming out of Scandinavia, though. I think the only people who could enjoy reading this are either the people who it's about, who feel cathartic having the grimness ans reality of their lives represented - which given the difference between all the stories, is not really going to be the same person for the whole book - or people who know that bad stuff happens but haven't actually had to be confronted with the reality of it everyday so can happily laugh about it as fiction. I think this would be a great book for someone in a nice big house earning tons of money with plenty of family and friends and support to read. If you read as escapism, maybe not so much.
I get what people say about showing off all the crime you don't have in all the crime novels coming out of Scandinavia, though. I think the only people who could enjoy reading this are either the people who it's about, who feel cathartic having the grimness ans reality of their lives represented - which given the difference between all the stories, is not really going to be the same person for the whole book - or people who know that bad stuff happens but haven't actually had to be confronted with the reality of it everyday so can happily laugh about it as fiction. I think this would be a great book for someone in a nice big house earning tons of money with plenty of family and friends and support to read. If you read as escapism, maybe not so much.
January 23, 2019
This has been a fantastic read for me and an experience in itself. The stories hold power to haunt, long after they have been read while letting your thoughts rolling and imagination flying.
The book delivers what it promises - displaying rich diversity in Nordic literature and an introduction to 18 distinct Nordic authors, making sure every country in the region is represented.
The anthology presents its readers with the region’s myths including a subtle & apt hint Norse mythology, folklore, survival in extreme social and weather conditions - it’s effect on shaping emotional landscape and thereby leading to human experiences and bonds. All this rounded with distinctive dry humour of the land. Multiplicity in story telling is further enhanced by inclusion of a Finnish author who migrated from Iraq and an indigenous Saami author of Norway. Some stories are easier to grasp and with others, it’s best to let them linger in your thoughts. Chances are that, you may grasp them in a moment in time.
The book delivers what it promises - displaying rich diversity in Nordic literature and an introduction to 18 distinct Nordic authors, making sure every country in the region is represented.
The anthology presents its readers with the region’s myths including a subtle & apt hint Norse mythology, folklore, survival in extreme social and weather conditions - it’s effect on shaping emotional landscape and thereby leading to human experiences and bonds. All this rounded with distinctive dry humour of the land. Multiplicity in story telling is further enhanced by inclusion of a Finnish author who migrated from Iraq and an indigenous Saami author of Norway. Some stories are easier to grasp and with others, it’s best to let them linger in your thoughts. Chances are that, you may grasp them in a moment in time.
September 28, 2025
All the authors represented in this anthology were new to me but clearly from the pen portraits at the back of this book they are all established in their home countries. There are no duds in this selection. I found some of them not to my taste but all anthologies like these are like a curate's egg. Many of them are set in the open air, more than I suspect would be the case in a British anthology and quite a few concern dysfunctional relationships. As an introduction to Scandinavian literature you could do a lot worse and there are a couple of authors I have noted and will look out for further works by them that have been translated into English.
August 29, 2025
As in every collection of short stories, the reader finds some stories resonate more than others. At the end of the collection the authors of every story are presented. I had to go back to the table of contents to reference which author wrote what, which in an electronic version of the book is time consuming. I like collections where the author is presented before or after the story. I love Scandinavian story telling. I read a lot of Scandinavian noir and I have read some classic literature as well. My favorite overall in this particular collection was 1974. It was an atmospheric lyrical piece that I could totally feel. The other stories were definitely interesting and worth reading but it was this one that really stood out for me.
October 9, 2018
This is a fascinating and timely collection of short stories from a wide variety of Nordic writers, many of whom will be new to readers in the UK.
This is a collection to dip into and savour, then put the book down and let the thoughts develop. Myths and stories, tales of families and relationships, moments in time, allegory and elusiveness - some stories are easier to read, but all are worthy of attention and the volume wonderfully illustrates the multiplicity of voices from the region.
This is a collection to dip into and savour, then put the book down and let the thoughts develop. Myths and stories, tales of families and relationships, moments in time, allegory and elusiveness - some stories are easier to read, but all are worthy of attention and the volume wonderfully illustrates the multiplicity of voices from the region.
June 15, 2020
I bought this book at Shakespeare & Co in Paris in the winter of 2017, which was one of the strangest months of my life. I definitely bought it because I had really liked Thor Ragnorak, which in retrospect, is ridiculous.
Anyway, I'm not a fan of short stories in general, but these in particular were not fantastic I thought. My brain like actively resisted absorbing them. And a couple of them had tidbits that seemed actually downright offensive possibly?
Glad to be done.
Anyway, I'm not a fan of short stories in general, but these in particular were not fantastic I thought. My brain like actively resisted absorbing them. And a couple of them had tidbits that seemed actually downright offensive possibly?
Glad to be done.
March 26, 2018
A really interesting, eclectic collection of short stories by Nordic writers. I was really pleased to have been introduced to authors I would not otherwise have encountered. I liked some more than others, of course - that's always the way - but I enjoyed how diverse the voices were. It's not all Scandinoir!
January 6, 2020
3.5 There is something for everyone in this collection, I guess. Some stories were fantastic and captivating, some were quite ordinary, but entertaining, some were confusing and didn't offer much to me and some were downright disturbing, but not in a good way. So, all in all, an interesting collection to dive in.
February 9, 2019
An interesting selection of short stories, some quite difficult to follow. A lot of the contributers are poets as is Sjon who edited the mix. I think this has meant a lot of the tales have quite flowery language.
February 16, 2023
One of the blandest collections of stories I've read in a long, long time. Really disappointing. Took me a better part of the year to work up the energy to muscle through it. Absolutely nothing in it stands out to me, and I can hardly remember the premise of any of the stories.
January 6, 2018
A series of short stories that reinforce the bleakness and complexity of Scandinavian fiction.
May 6, 2020
Some powerful, thought provoking and sensual writing, but generally not quite my genre of reading material. I did enjoy "Some people run in shorts" by Solrun Michelson from the Faroe Islands.
February 1, 2021
I struggled with this. Not my preferred style. Lots of the stories involve violence or abuse. Quite dark.
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