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Stvarno koliko i ja
Roman o odnosu majke i ćerke od kog podilazi jeza.
Johane je religiozna studentkinja psihologije koja živi sa majkom. Kada se zaljubi u Ivara konačno postaje spremna da napusti porodični dom. Par je isplanirao put u Ameriku, ali na dan polaska Johane shvata da je zaključana u svojoj sobi. Da li će uspeti da prevaziđe svoje strahove? Da li će se usuditi da izađe kroz prozor na četvrtom spratu? Da li joj Bog brani da izađe iz kuće ili je u pitanju nekakav eksperiment?
Roman Stvarno koliko i ja otvara zaključana vrata jednog mladog uma rastrzanog između prirodnih nagona i razdirućeg osećaja krivice otkrivajući čitaocima najintimnije misli i fantazije zarobljene naratorke.
„Remek-delo nepouzdanog pripovedanja” – Gardijan
Johane je religiozna studentkinja psihologije koja živi sa majkom. Kada se zaljubi u Ivara konačno postaje spremna da napusti porodični dom. Par je isplanirao put u Ameriku, ali na dan polaska Johane shvata da je zaključana u svojoj sobi. Da li će uspeti da prevaziđe svoje strahove? Da li će se usuditi da izađe kroz prozor na četvrtom spratu? Da li joj Bog brani da izađe iz kuće ili je u pitanju nekakav eksperiment?
Roman Stvarno koliko i ja otvara zaključana vrata jednog mladog uma rastrzanog između prirodnih nagona i razdirućeg osećaja krivice otkrivajući čitaocima najintimnije misli i fantazije zarobljene naratorke.
„Remek-delo nepouzdanog pripovedanja” – Gardijan
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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666 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
September 8, 2015
I absolutely loved this book. So much so, in fact, that I'm tempted to learn Norwegian, in order to read the rest of Hanne Orstavik's work! My understanding is that this is her only book so far to be translated into English, though I hope it's not the last.
This psychological study of the relationship between a mother and daughter is very subtle and cleverly drawn. The main protagonist, Johanne, is an inexperienced young woman, who finds herself locked inside her bedroom on the morning that she is due to go away on a trip with her boyfriend. This leads to an introspective, one-sided explanation of how she came to be that situation.
Johanne would fit into the category of unreliable narrator. However, enough is said for the reader to see that she is probably suffering from some undiagnosed mental or emotional problems, expressed as intrusive thoughts or flashbacks.
The mother is also portrayed by Orstavik with a wonderful lightness of touch, which nonetheless manages to convey how coldly manipulative she is, and how the pair's back story possibly contains something more untoward. The word 'gaslight' comes to mind, although the narration is very restrained and keeps us guessing. However, the novel becomes increasingly claustrophobic, the more we learn of their codependent relationship.
Some people will absolutely hate this book, but I could relate to many of the issues dealt with in The Blue Room and therefore adored it.
Peirene's publications are really gorgeous, beautifully produced books. However, I do have a slight problem with their marketing of this novel - the comparison to Fifty Shades of Grey seems downright ridiculous, not to mention an insult to Orstavik, who is clearly an excellent writer.
This psychological study of the relationship between a mother and daughter is very subtle and cleverly drawn. The main protagonist, Johanne, is an inexperienced young woman, who finds herself locked inside her bedroom on the morning that she is due to go away on a trip with her boyfriend. This leads to an introspective, one-sided explanation of how she came to be that situation.
Johanne would fit into the category of unreliable narrator. However, enough is said for the reader to see that she is probably suffering from some undiagnosed mental or emotional problems, expressed as intrusive thoughts or flashbacks.
The mother is also portrayed by Orstavik with a wonderful lightness of touch, which nonetheless manages to convey how coldly manipulative she is, and how the pair's back story possibly contains something more untoward. The word 'gaslight' comes to mind, although the narration is very restrained and keeps us guessing. However, the novel becomes increasingly claustrophobic, the more we learn of their codependent relationship.
Some people will absolutely hate this book, but I could relate to many of the issues dealt with in The Blue Room and therefore adored it.
Peirene's publications are really gorgeous, beautifully produced books. However, I do have a slight problem with their marketing of this novel - the comparison to Fifty Shades of Grey seems downright ridiculous, not to mention an insult to Orstavik, who is clearly an excellent writer.
August 9, 2021
3.75
Hanne Ostavik pasirodė viena keistesnių ir man nežinoma šiuolaikinė Norvegijos rašytoja.
Knyga mane ir pribloškė ir ištaškė, kad net nežinau kaip vertintinti. Žinot kai būna toks keistumas kur nežinai ar 1 ar 10?! Tai čia būtent tai.
Knyga apie sudėtingus ir toksiškus motinos ir dukros santykius. Net iškrypusius nors ten nieko tokio tiesiogiai nevyksta. Skaitant atrodo jauti kaip motinos nekenti ir jauti jos nemeilę ir kontrolę.
Johanne 20+ amžiaus studentė gyvenanti Oslo bute su mama. Johanne įsimylėjus Ivarą jie kartu nusprendžia važiuoti į Ameriką. Kelionės rytą atsikėlusi Johanne randa užrakintas duris. Visa knyga tas rytas. Trumpai atsiskleidžia ir meilės istorija ir santykis su religinga motina. Ar ji iššoks per balkoną? Ar pašauks ir paprašys žmonių pagalbos gatvėje? Ar jos vidinis psichologinis barjeras taip ir liks užrakintas?
Knyag labai konceptuali, daug sekso. Tokio tiesioginio, gluminančio. Kai net nesupranti ir reikia grįžti atgal, ar čia tikrai buvo ar čia tik Johanne įsivaizduoja? Jei tikitės, laimingos ar tragiškos pabaigos, neistikėkit. Nieko nebus. Tiesiog taip kažkaip neiaškiai ir baigsis. Labai norėčiau su kažkuo padiskutuoti kaip jie suprato.
Tekstas lengvas, bet labai puikus . Trumpas, tirštas vietomis net snobiškas, bet neakivaizdžiai. Viena stų atvejų kai knygą paėmiau dėl viršelio iš knygų namuko. Ir mane taip nustebino, Kad negaliu nustot apie ją galvot.
Nerekomenduoju niekam nes nemažai sunkių momentų. Labai sudėtingų ir nemalonių, užaštrintų gyvuliškų ir kūniškų. Bet labai norėčiau sutikt žmogų kuris perskaitė ir turi savo nuomonę. Ar tikrai joje kažkas yra ar tiesiog pasirodys nesamonė ir tik aš per giliai kapstau. Vienu momentu galvojau, kad gal ji net neužrakinta ir viskas tik galvoje?
Hanne Ostavik pasirodė viena keistesnių ir man nežinoma šiuolaikinė Norvegijos rašytoja.
Knyga mane ir pribloškė ir ištaškė, kad net nežinau kaip vertintinti. Žinot kai būna toks keistumas kur nežinai ar 1 ar 10?! Tai čia būtent tai.
Knyga apie sudėtingus ir toksiškus motinos ir dukros santykius. Net iškrypusius nors ten nieko tokio tiesiogiai nevyksta. Skaitant atrodo jauti kaip motinos nekenti ir jauti jos nemeilę ir kontrolę.
Johanne 20+ amžiaus studentė gyvenanti Oslo bute su mama. Johanne įsimylėjus Ivarą jie kartu nusprendžia važiuoti į Ameriką. Kelionės rytą atsikėlusi Johanne randa užrakintas duris. Visa knyga tas rytas. Trumpai atsiskleidžia ir meilės istorija ir santykis su religinga motina. Ar ji iššoks per balkoną? Ar pašauks ir paprašys žmonių pagalbos gatvėje? Ar jos vidinis psichologinis barjeras taip ir liks užrakintas?
Knyag labai konceptuali, daug sekso. Tokio tiesioginio, gluminančio. Kai net nesupranti ir reikia grįžti atgal, ar čia tikrai buvo ar čia tik Johanne įsivaizduoja? Jei tikitės, laimingos ar tragiškos pabaigos, neistikėkit. Nieko nebus. Tiesiog taip kažkaip neiaškiai ir baigsis. Labai norėčiau su kažkuo padiskutuoti kaip jie suprato.
Tekstas lengvas, bet labai puikus . Trumpas, tirštas vietomis net snobiškas, bet neakivaizdžiai. Viena stų atvejų kai knygą paėmiau dėl viršelio iš knygų namuko. Ir mane taip nustebino, Kad negaliu nustot apie ją galvot.
Nerekomenduoju niekam nes nemažai sunkių momentų. Labai sudėtingų ir nemalonių, užaštrintų gyvuliškų ir kūniškų. Bet labai norėčiau sutikt žmogų kuris perskaitė ir turi savo nuomonę. Ar tikrai joje kažkas yra ar tiesiog pasirodys nesamonė ir tik aš per giliai kapstau. Vienu momentu galvojau, kad gal ji net neužrakinta ir viskas tik galvoje?
April 16, 2022
THE BLUE ROOM (first published in 1999) is the unsettling story of Johanne, a student in her early twenties, who wakes up one morning and finds herself locked up in her own room, the blue room of the title.
Johanne spends the whole day inside her room, and the reader spends the day inside her head while she reflects on the events which have lead up to this day. She lives in a tiny claustrophobic apartment with her manipulative, rather sinister mother who locked her up before she went to work.
We soon learn that precisely on that morning Johanne was supposed to be leaving home to fly to Pennsylvania with her boyfriend Ivar, whom she has only known for only a couple of weeks. We also learn about her strange, unhealthy relationship with her mother, who unsurprisingly doesn't approve of her plan. We are told about her devoutly religious upbringing, her erotic, sometimes violent sexual fantasies and her guilt.
In this novella, Ørstavik explores an unhealthy mother-daughter relationship. Johanne makes enormous efforts to please her cold, distant mother, but she is seldom successful. She loves her mother so much, yet, their relationship is so odd and disturbing that the reader becomes captivated and horrified by the subtle forms of abuse present in that bond. It's hard to put this novel down, despite the unease and discomfort of the story.
Johanne spends the whole day inside her room, and the reader spends the day inside her head while she reflects on the events which have lead up to this day. She lives in a tiny claustrophobic apartment with her manipulative, rather sinister mother who locked her up before she went to work.
We soon learn that precisely on that morning Johanne was supposed to be leaving home to fly to Pennsylvania with her boyfriend Ivar, whom she has only known for only a couple of weeks. We also learn about her strange, unhealthy relationship with her mother, who unsurprisingly doesn't approve of her plan. We are told about her devoutly religious upbringing, her erotic, sometimes violent sexual fantasies and her guilt.
In this novella, Ørstavik explores an unhealthy mother-daughter relationship. Johanne makes enormous efforts to please her cold, distant mother, but she is seldom successful. She loves her mother so much, yet, their relationship is so odd and disturbing that the reader becomes captivated and horrified by the subtle forms of abuse present in that bond. It's hard to put this novel down, despite the unease and discomfort of the story.
October 18, 2014
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 26, 2021
Such an odd little Nordic-noir. This is the story of Johanne - a university student (studying Psychology, naturally🙄) - and her mother with whom she lives. They have a very strange, co-dependent relationship, and both are equally immature. Johanne is a true "unreliable narrator". On the one hand, she appears to be a devout Christian, yet on the other she has frequent cringe-worthy thoughts. The reader has no idea if they are memories or invented visions. She's delusional about most every thing, it seems. We get a kind of play-by-play of her day and even about the most mundane things it's clear she's horribly selfish, insensitive, and completely out of touch with reality. At one point, she considers her character traits and diagnoses herself as sociopathic. Uh-huh. No argument here.🙄
The gist of the story is that she's met a young man who works at the university canteen (and he's a musician, of course 🙄). Within 2 weeks he's invited her to fly to the U.S. with him. Unfortunately, Johanne mentions this to her mother, and on the morning they're to leave, she discovers she cannot get out of her bedroom (she thinks the lock is broken but, of course, crazy Mama has locked her in to "save her" from the awful musician). The book takes place, for the most part, as she's locked in her room, being introspective about what lead up to this point. Her mind quickly and often switches channels and now she's envisioning grisly sex scenes - real or imagined, it's unclear.
It ends very suddenly with her mother opening the bedroom door. Yup. Just like that; The End.
I'm not exactly sure what I've just read, but I know for sure I never want to read it again. And I've NEVER had to use so many eye-roll emojis in my life!🙄
The gist of the story is that she's met a young man who works at the university canteen (and he's a musician, of course 🙄). Within 2 weeks he's invited her to fly to the U.S. with him. Unfortunately, Johanne mentions this to her mother, and on the morning they're to leave, she discovers she cannot get out of her bedroom (she thinks the lock is broken but, of course, crazy Mama has locked her in to "save her" from the awful musician). The book takes place, for the most part, as she's locked in her room, being introspective about what lead up to this point. Her mind quickly and often switches channels and now she's envisioning grisly sex scenes - real or imagined, it's unclear.
It ends very suddenly with her mother opening the bedroom door. Yup. Just like that; The End.
I'm not exactly sure what I've just read, but I know for sure I never want to read it again. And I've NEVER had to use so many eye-roll emojis in my life!🙄
September 21, 2016
Hanne Orstavik’s The Blue Room was the fourteenth book to be published by the wonderful Peirene Press, a publishing house which we are incredibly fortunate to have. Their intention is to bring the best of European fiction to the forefront of our consciousness, providing us with powerful and memorable stories which will linger on in our minds for months to come. The Times Literary Supplement deems Peirene’s publications as ‘literary cinema for those fatigued by film’, and as each is designed to take no more than two hours to read, they are the perfect treats to settle down with.
Orstavik’s novella, which has been translated from its original Norwegian by Deborah Dawkin, and is the first of her works to appear in English, is billed as ‘a gripping portrayal of a mother-daughter relationship that will send a chill down your spine’. Meike Ziervogel, the founder of Peirene Press, believes that ‘The Blue Room holds up a mirror to a part of the female psyche that yearns for submission… It then delves further to analyse the struggle of women to separate from their mothers – a struggle that is rarely addressed in either literature or society’.
The first person protagonist of the piece is Johanne, a woman in her young twenties, who is living with her mother in Oslo and studying psychology at the local University. At the very beginning of the novella, Johanne finds herself locked into her room, following her announcement that she is to be travelling to the United States the very next day with Ivar, a man whom she has met in her University canteen and fallen in love with. When she discovers that she cannot leave, she says: ‘I cannot get out. Something must have happened to the lock. I’ll have to wait until Mum comes home from work to help me’. She goes on to describe her surroundings: ‘This is my room. Here I am. Inside a small cube. Floor area: six square metres. Height: three and a half metres. Twenty one cubic metres’. Rather than trying to attract help from her window, Johanne, a rather devout character, goes on to tell us that ‘I’ve decided to leave it to God, to put my fate in his hands’.
The Blue Room is quite profound at times, particularly as Johanne asks a lot of pertinent questions throughout her narrative. The prose which Orstavik has crafted seems rather innocent and naive at first, and the darker aspects of it come as short, sharp shocks, which the reader is never quite prepared for. Whilst other elements are entwined within the plot – the love story, for example, and musings about different aspects of psychology – the relationship between Johanne and her mother is the novella’s focal point. ‘We belong together like two clasped hands’, Johanne writes. Her mother is psychologically cruel, and she instils such fear within her daughter, making her expect the worst in every situation. She essentially cripples Johanne with doubts and fear. As one might expect from such behaviour, The Blue Room is rather dark on the whole. Johanne often has brutal visions which seem to come out of nowhere, and her self doubt creeps in as the narrative gains speed.
In The Blue Room, past and present converge to give the novella an interesting structure. No episodes of Johanne’s life are quite separated from others, and the plot feels almost circular in consequence. Orstavik’s idea is clever, particularly in terms of the plot spilling outside of the small room which Johanne is trapped within. The story is unpredictable, and it has the power both to surprise and overwhelm. Throughout, one gets the impression that Orstavik’s writing suits her narrator completely; Johanne feels real, and her vulnerability continually seeps through the cracks in her outer facade. The Blue Room is a thought-provoking novella, which certainly deserves its place upon Peirene’s diverse list.
Orstavik’s novella, which has been translated from its original Norwegian by Deborah Dawkin, and is the first of her works to appear in English, is billed as ‘a gripping portrayal of a mother-daughter relationship that will send a chill down your spine’. Meike Ziervogel, the founder of Peirene Press, believes that ‘The Blue Room holds up a mirror to a part of the female psyche that yearns for submission… It then delves further to analyse the struggle of women to separate from their mothers – a struggle that is rarely addressed in either literature or society’.
The first person protagonist of the piece is Johanne, a woman in her young twenties, who is living with her mother in Oslo and studying psychology at the local University. At the very beginning of the novella, Johanne finds herself locked into her room, following her announcement that she is to be travelling to the United States the very next day with Ivar, a man whom she has met in her University canteen and fallen in love with. When she discovers that she cannot leave, she says: ‘I cannot get out. Something must have happened to the lock. I’ll have to wait until Mum comes home from work to help me’. She goes on to describe her surroundings: ‘This is my room. Here I am. Inside a small cube. Floor area: six square metres. Height: three and a half metres. Twenty one cubic metres’. Rather than trying to attract help from her window, Johanne, a rather devout character, goes on to tell us that ‘I’ve decided to leave it to God, to put my fate in his hands’.
The Blue Room is quite profound at times, particularly as Johanne asks a lot of pertinent questions throughout her narrative. The prose which Orstavik has crafted seems rather innocent and naive at first, and the darker aspects of it come as short, sharp shocks, which the reader is never quite prepared for. Whilst other elements are entwined within the plot – the love story, for example, and musings about different aspects of psychology – the relationship between Johanne and her mother is the novella’s focal point. ‘We belong together like two clasped hands’, Johanne writes. Her mother is psychologically cruel, and she instils such fear within her daughter, making her expect the worst in every situation. She essentially cripples Johanne with doubts and fear. As one might expect from such behaviour, The Blue Room is rather dark on the whole. Johanne often has brutal visions which seem to come out of nowhere, and her self doubt creeps in as the narrative gains speed.
In The Blue Room, past and present converge to give the novella an interesting structure. No episodes of Johanne’s life are quite separated from others, and the plot feels almost circular in consequence. Orstavik’s idea is clever, particularly in terms of the plot spilling outside of the small room which Johanne is trapped within. The story is unpredictable, and it has the power both to surprise and overwhelm. Throughout, one gets the impression that Orstavik’s writing suits her narrator completely; Johanne feels real, and her vulnerability continually seeps through the cracks in her outer facade. The Blue Room is a thought-provoking novella, which certainly deserves its place upon Peirene’s diverse list.
June 16, 2016
'Waarheid' of Waar als ik ben (als ik de letterlijke vertaling van Google Translate mag geloven) is een boek dat je meeneemt naar de groezelige holten van de psychologiestudenten. Je weet dat er mensen zijn die het gaan studeren om hun eigen labyrinthen te begrijpen. Johanne is één van hen.
Met moeder's adem in haar nek - traumata en mythen herbevestigend - zoekt Johanne haar plek in het leven. Ze zoekt haar weg, maar wordt daarin telkens gehinderd door Unni (Moeder) en haar beeld van (wellustige) mannen. Letterlijk gehinderd haar eigen weg te zoeken zwalpt dochter tussen geloof in de Goddelijke (letterlijk) Vader en haar eigen / moeders seksuele ontdekkingstocht. Het thema hoe ver een kind bereid is te gaan in de liefde (en loyaliteit) voor zijn moeder deed me erg denken aan 'Birk' van Jaap Robben (nota bene ook op Noorse grond). Tegelijkertijd flitste 'TussenEenPersoon' van Esther Gerritsen door mijn hoofd: hoe de wereld hier-en-nu te laten stilstaan, op het hoogtepunt, ook als je daarmee het risico neemt alles nadien kapot te maken. Het schijnt mij toe dat kinderen véél meer kunnen verdragen dan partners... De mens is een eigenaardig dier.
Met moeder's adem in haar nek - traumata en mythen herbevestigend - zoekt Johanne haar plek in het leven. Ze zoekt haar weg, maar wordt daarin telkens gehinderd door Unni (Moeder) en haar beeld van (wellustige) mannen. Letterlijk gehinderd haar eigen weg te zoeken zwalpt dochter tussen geloof in de Goddelijke (letterlijk) Vader en haar eigen / moeders seksuele ontdekkingstocht. Het thema hoe ver een kind bereid is te gaan in de liefde (en loyaliteit) voor zijn moeder deed me erg denken aan 'Birk' van Jaap Robben (nota bene ook op Noorse grond). Tegelijkertijd flitste 'TussenEenPersoon' van Esther Gerritsen door mijn hoofd: hoe de wereld hier-en-nu te laten stilstaan, op het hoogtepunt, ook als je daarmee het risico neemt alles nadien kapot te maken. Het schijnt mij toe dat kinderen véél meer kunnen verdragen dan partners... De mens is een eigenaardig dier.
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September 27, 2022Odlično napisana knjiga.
Johane je mlada studentkinja psihologije koja živi sa veoma posvećenom samohranom majkom. Njihov odnos je prepun pasivne agresije, toksičan, gotovo sadomazohistički, a sve to sakriveno tankim slojem navodne brige i međusobne ljubavi.
Ukratko, Johane je psihički zarobljenik svoje majke koja joj ne dozvoljava ništa što bi joj omogućilo da se oslobodi, razvije, napreduje i osamostali (psihički i faktički).
Taj njihov status kvo biva poremećen kada se Johane zaljubi u mladog Invara. To je onaj neodoljivo slobodan momak sa gitarom i bendom. Ljubav daje snage mladoj Johane da se otrgne od majčine kontrole i da počne da priprema bekstvo sa Ingveom.
Na taj dan odlaska Johane se budi u svojoj sobi i otkriva da ju je majka zaključala.
U samoći počinje da se seća opisanih dogadaja i da preispituje sebe, svoj odnos sa majkom, drugima, životom i Bogom.
Savršeno napisana knjiga. Bukvalno može da posluži kao udžbenik na kursu kreativnog pisanja. Tako se gradi priča. Pažljivo, znalački i sa mnogo poštovanja prema čitaocima.
Velika preporuka.
Johane je mlada studentkinja psihologije koja živi sa veoma posvećenom samohranom majkom. Njihov odnos je prepun pasivne agresije, toksičan, gotovo sadomazohistički, a sve to sakriveno tankim slojem navodne brige i međusobne ljubavi.
Ukratko, Johane je psihički zarobljenik svoje majke koja joj ne dozvoljava ništa što bi joj omogućilo da se oslobodi, razvije, napreduje i osamostali (psihički i faktički).
Taj njihov status kvo biva poremećen kada se Johane zaljubi u mladog Invara. To je onaj neodoljivo slobodan momak sa gitarom i bendom. Ljubav daje snage mladoj Johane da se otrgne od majčine kontrole i da počne da priprema bekstvo sa Ingveom.
Na taj dan odlaska Johane se budi u svojoj sobi i otkriva da ju je majka zaključala.
U samoći počinje da se seća opisanih dogadaja i da preispituje sebe, svoj odnos sa majkom, drugima, životom i Bogom.
Savršeno napisana knjiga. Bukvalno može da posluži kao udžbenik na kursu kreativnog pisanja. Tako se gradi priča. Pažljivo, znalački i sa mnogo poštovanja prema čitaocima.
Velika preporuka.
August 18, 2017
This is my everything. My whole life. When a thing isn’t put into words, it can’t be destroyed. So it’s better to keep it inside.
September 27, 2014
Johanne, a young woman in her early twenties, wakes up one morning, happy, excited and looking forward to what the day will bring... She hears the front door closing. It is too early for her mother to leave for work. But when she doesn't hear any further sound, she gets up and ... her door doesn't open. She tries and tries, but she cannot get out of her room. Everything she needs, bathroom, clothes, food, etc. is outside her room. The apartment is on the fourth floor. Without outside help she is a prisoner. Where is her Mum?
Hanne Ørstavik opens her short novel, The Blue Room with this, for her heroine, rather disconcerting scenario. She describes the difficulties the young woman finds herself in detail, with a tongue in cheek tone. At least in the beginning. Still, we can feel for her... Johanne's growing anxiety can easily lead the reader to wonder how any of us would have dealt with a comparable situation. What might have happened and why?
In the course of the time Johanne spends in her room, we get to know the young woman, her life so far, her dreams and ambitions and... the complex relationship between daughter and mother. Johanne is torn between her need for independence and her loyaltly and also responsibility towards her mother. Whenever she tries to convince herself that "[Wh]en a thing isn't put into words, it can't be destroyed. So it's better to keep it inside..." she questions the wisdom of her position. Her description of her mother's voice conveys more of Johanne's emotions: "Her voice seemed to stick to the walls, so its imprint would be permanent and I'd hear it whenever I walked past, Mum's voice screaming at me, echoing between the walls, like the noise of a helicopter scouring the terrain, nothing escaping its scrutiny."
Not wanting to give away anymore of storyline, suffice to add that Ørstavik has written a story that is engaging. Despite her heroine's easy-going and straight foward narrative voice, the author convincingly explores serious issues that can underlie, in particular, a mother-daughter relationship that are believable and not at all unique. Hanne Ørstavik
Hanne Ørstavik is an award winning Norwegian author whose fiction has been translated into many languages. This is her first work translated into English, thanks to Peirene Books.
Hanne Ørstavik opens her short novel, The Blue Room with this, for her heroine, rather disconcerting scenario. She describes the difficulties the young woman finds herself in detail, with a tongue in cheek tone. At least in the beginning. Still, we can feel for her... Johanne's growing anxiety can easily lead the reader to wonder how any of us would have dealt with a comparable situation. What might have happened and why?
In the course of the time Johanne spends in her room, we get to know the young woman, her life so far, her dreams and ambitions and... the complex relationship between daughter and mother. Johanne is torn between her need for independence and her loyaltly and also responsibility towards her mother. Whenever she tries to convince herself that "[Wh]en a thing isn't put into words, it can't be destroyed. So it's better to keep it inside..." she questions the wisdom of her position. Her description of her mother's voice conveys more of Johanne's emotions: "Her voice seemed to stick to the walls, so its imprint would be permanent and I'd hear it whenever I walked past, Mum's voice screaming at me, echoing between the walls, like the noise of a helicopter scouring the terrain, nothing escaping its scrutiny."
Not wanting to give away anymore of storyline, suffice to add that Ørstavik has written a story that is engaging. Despite her heroine's easy-going and straight foward narrative voice, the author convincingly explores serious issues that can underlie, in particular, a mother-daughter relationship that are believable and not at all unique. Hanne Ørstavik
Hanne Ørstavik is an award winning Norwegian author whose fiction has been translated into many languages. This is her first work translated into English, thanks to Peirene Books.
August 7, 2015
I was attracted to this book because I like reading stories about relationships between parents and children; this is a Norwegian novella which has been beautifully written and then translated. The story is narrated by the daughter, and this is one odd relationship though, with the mother locking the twenty-something university student daughter in her room to prevent her from taking a holiday with her new boyfriend. Whilst I might not wish my daughter to go on holiday with a man she's known for 2 weeks, I wouldn't think that locking her all day in her room was the best way of dealing with the situation. The daughter / narrator seemed more adult than the mother, who needed both looking after, and who also seemed to have no awareness of boundaries, particularly emotional and social.
The blurb suggested to me that it might be related to psychology, and although I was not expecting to read a psychological thriller I was also not expecting to be wading through psychological theory, which, admittedly, was cleverly weaved through the story. Fortunately I have both an interest and (some) knowledge of psychological theory and found the narrator's frequent references to theory interesting, but the heavy emphasis on psychological theory (used as a means for the narrator to understand her situations) might be off-putting for some.
I was also slightly surprised by the references to God throughout, and initially I thought I'd stumbled unaware into Christian fiction. The narrator appeared to have a close relationship to God but as her relationship to her man grows the relationship with God is questioned. Again, like the references to psychological theory, it is used as a mechanism to allow the narrator to make sense of her world.
Finally, this novella does contain infrequent sexually graphic references so please be aware of this if you prefer not to read this type of material. The sexual references are related to the story, although sometimes I struggled to understand whether she was fantasising whilst locked in the room, or it was experiences the narrator was actually going through.
Overall I enjoyed this novella and thought it beautifully written. I didn't award it 5 stars because I sometimes struggled to understand whether it was present, past, or future that was being referred to within the narration.
The blurb suggested to me that it might be related to psychology, and although I was not expecting to read a psychological thriller I was also not expecting to be wading through psychological theory, which, admittedly, was cleverly weaved through the story. Fortunately I have both an interest and (some) knowledge of psychological theory and found the narrator's frequent references to theory interesting, but the heavy emphasis on psychological theory (used as a means for the narrator to understand her situations) might be off-putting for some.
I was also slightly surprised by the references to God throughout, and initially I thought I'd stumbled unaware into Christian fiction. The narrator appeared to have a close relationship to God but as her relationship to her man grows the relationship with God is questioned. Again, like the references to psychological theory, it is used as a mechanism to allow the narrator to make sense of her world.
Finally, this novella does contain infrequent sexually graphic references so please be aware of this if you prefer not to read this type of material. The sexual references are related to the story, although sometimes I struggled to understand whether she was fantasising whilst locked in the room, or it was experiences the narrator was actually going through.
Overall I enjoyed this novella and thought it beautifully written. I didn't award it 5 stars because I sometimes struggled to understand whether it was present, past, or future that was being referred to within the narration.
August 15, 2024
This novella takes place over one day in which, Johanne, a young college student in Oslo, wakes to discover she is locked in her room and will not be able to meet her lover and fly to America.
Locked in with nothing but her thoughts we begin to see that things are not right with Johanne, there are dark secrets that haunt her in spite of her efforts to stay close to God, please her mother, and stay on track with her college and career goals. Although she is an unreliable narrator, as the book progresses and Johanne’s mind wanders we see disturbing glimpses of what it is that haunts her.
Orstavik did a masterful job of showing us how repressed memories manifest and letting us know what binds Johanne to her mother without spelling it out.
The story was a bit longer than it needed to be, if it was slimmed down it would have been even more intense, which is why I gave it 4 stars rather than 5, but this is another worthy read from Peirene Press.
Trigger warning:
Locked in with nothing but her thoughts we begin to see that things are not right with Johanne, there are dark secrets that haunt her in spite of her efforts to stay close to God, please her mother, and stay on track with her college and career goals. Although she is an unreliable narrator, as the book progresses and Johanne’s mind wanders we see disturbing glimpses of what it is that haunts her.
Orstavik did a masterful job of showing us how repressed memories manifest and letting us know what binds Johanne to her mother without spelling it out.
The story was a bit longer than it needed to be, if it was slimmed down it would have been even more intense, which is why I gave it 4 stars rather than 5, but this is another worthy read from Peirene Press.
Trigger warning:
February 14, 2018
An odd little psychological thriller! The comparison with Fifty Shades by the publisher really isn't true at all.
June 3, 2014
Such an interesting (and almost taboo) subject - a young girl's sexual awakening under the far too watchful and suspicious eyes of her mother. There is such a lot going on under the surface here. The author is very clever at conveying fears, manipulation, misunderstanding, obstinancy, rebelliousness and counter-attacks in a very subtle and thoughtful fashion. The sexual imaginings (and actual sex scenes) were shocking because of the suddenness with which they erupted on the page, almost in the middle of a descriptive scene - very much like our own thoughts might sneak up on us during the day.
I'm not sure why I didn't give it 4 rather than 3 stars - perhaps the subject was one I personally found too painful, too close to my own experience for comfort. I certainly appreciated what the author was trying to do with this novel, but it also felt rather claustrophobic within that room (deliberately so, of course).
I'm not sure why I didn't give it 4 rather than 3 stars - perhaps the subject was one I personally found too painful, too close to my own experience for comfort. I certainly appreciated what the author was trying to do with this novel, but it also felt rather claustrophobic within that room (deliberately so, of course).
January 2, 2021
3,5
Hovedpersonen minner litt om hovedpersonen i Ida tar ansvar i det at hun er en drømmende, slitsomt naiv og fullstendig manipulert psykologistudent som refererer usedvanlig mye til førsteårspensum.
Ørstavik er flink til å gjøre det implisitte og usagte til romanens kjerne og drivkraft. Jeg satt igjen med en følelse av intens relasjonell klaustrofobi og avsky for denne moren, og en samtidig frustrasjon over at hovedpersonen aldri følte det samme.
Hovedpersonen minner litt om hovedpersonen i Ida tar ansvar i det at hun er en drømmende, slitsomt naiv og fullstendig manipulert psykologistudent som refererer usedvanlig mye til førsteårspensum.
Ørstavik er flink til å gjøre det implisitte og usagte til romanens kjerne og drivkraft. Jeg satt igjen med en følelse av intens relasjonell klaustrofobi og avsky for denne moren, og en samtidig frustrasjon over at hovedpersonen aldri følte det samme.
February 26, 2015
I don't know where the author was going with this. Warning: there are descriptions of child rape in this book. What makes it worse is that it adds nothing to the story. A rather shitty shock tactic.
May 13, 2018
Stream-of-consciousness exploration of a messed-up mother-daughter relationship. Didn't find it as compelling as Love, Ørstavik's more famous book, but The Blue Room does confirm that she has a gift for creating complex psychological portrayals of women that transcend the sympathetic/unsympathetic dichotomy. Deborah Dawkins, the translator, gave this short novel smooth-flowing prose, with pretty much zero awkward phrases to impede the reader's progress, which works particularly well with the multiple-page-long paragraphs.
January 27, 2022
Bara väldigt skum. Ganska intressant på så sätt att hennes tankar hoppar runt överallt, men man lyckas ändå hänga med i kronologin.
February 6, 2023
Om faren ved ikke å få lov til å fullføre individueringsprosessen fra sin mor. Narrativet legger seg som en klam hånd om halsen. Jeg føler med Johanne, men flere ganger i løpet av boka får jeg også lyst til å riste henne. Hun er så passiv! Men så forstår jeg de psykologiske mekanismene som utspiller seg, morens fysiske og psykiske kontroll. Det er så mye som går galt i livet hennes, på så mange nivå. Det hele skrevet i Hanne Ørstaviks fantastisk presise, undrende og subtile språk. En av mine absolutte favorittbøker fra en av mine favorittforfattere. En klassiker.
August 18, 2014
Biblibio, who is running Women in Translation Month, last week, posted an interesting article entitled “Are we all reading the same thing?”
“The Blue Room” is probably one of those books. Being a recent release by an independent publisher and one who supports Women in Translation, it was always going to be a prime candidate for reviews. Time for me to add my thoughts to the mix – and I’m possibly off on a tangent here, I have a different take than most....
The original Norwegian title is ‘Like sant som jeg er virkelig” (literally translated as “As true as I really am”), and personally I think this is a more apt title, however the English title reveals a theme too.
So why “The Blue Room”? This is the scene for our novel, a place where our narrator, Johanne, is trapped. Instead of travelling to America with her recent love Ivar, Johanne is reviewing her actions up until this moment where her “armpits are damp” and her “hands are cold and dry”.
I get up and go back to the window, the sheet covering me. The sky is so light and open. My exercises haven’t has the least effect. I don’t understand people who swear by body therapies, who seem happy to stretch and pummel and rub, believing these activities offer a path to inner understanding. Ultimately it is through thought that we discriminate or make decisions. The physical may act as a signpost, but the mind does the work and passes judgement. I run my fingers along the window ledge; the paintwork is flaking, I’ve told Mum that we ought to keep it in good repair, scrape and paint it, but nothing has happened so far. There are bubbles, tiny blisters, here and there. How do we recognize when something starts. I think of the beginnings of various things in my life: my studies, my desire to be a psychologist, this thing with Ivar, my connection with God. Only in retrospect does a starting point become clear, something I can pin down to a particular book read at a certain moment, the light on those trees on that day, glimpsing a brown dog at a particular spot, the sound of the church bells ringing. But the fact is, there are no true beginnings, everything connects. And this continual interconnectedness constitutes original sin. But what do we do with the guilt? Being ignorant of the moment things begin, we can repeatedly deny guilt, pointing even further back to a previous event at the starting point – it wasn’t me. I prefer to think the opposite. To think of myself as guilty of everything, thus giving me a responsibility and a duty to change. Everything should be as new.
For my full review go to http://messybooker.blogspot.com.au/
“The Blue Room” is probably one of those books. Being a recent release by an independent publisher and one who supports Women in Translation, it was always going to be a prime candidate for reviews. Time for me to add my thoughts to the mix – and I’m possibly off on a tangent here, I have a different take than most....
The original Norwegian title is ‘Like sant som jeg er virkelig” (literally translated as “As true as I really am”), and personally I think this is a more apt title, however the English title reveals a theme too.
So why “The Blue Room”? This is the scene for our novel, a place where our narrator, Johanne, is trapped. Instead of travelling to America with her recent love Ivar, Johanne is reviewing her actions up until this moment where her “armpits are damp” and her “hands are cold and dry”.
I get up and go back to the window, the sheet covering me. The sky is so light and open. My exercises haven’t has the least effect. I don’t understand people who swear by body therapies, who seem happy to stretch and pummel and rub, believing these activities offer a path to inner understanding. Ultimately it is through thought that we discriminate or make decisions. The physical may act as a signpost, but the mind does the work and passes judgement. I run my fingers along the window ledge; the paintwork is flaking, I’ve told Mum that we ought to keep it in good repair, scrape and paint it, but nothing has happened so far. There are bubbles, tiny blisters, here and there. How do we recognize when something starts. I think of the beginnings of various things in my life: my studies, my desire to be a psychologist, this thing with Ivar, my connection with God. Only in retrospect does a starting point become clear, something I can pin down to a particular book read at a certain moment, the light on those trees on that day, glimpsing a brown dog at a particular spot, the sound of the church bells ringing. But the fact is, there are no true beginnings, everything connects. And this continual interconnectedness constitutes original sin. But what do we do with the guilt? Being ignorant of the moment things begin, we can repeatedly deny guilt, pointing even further back to a previous event at the starting point – it wasn’t me. I prefer to think the opposite. To think of myself as guilty of everything, thus giving me a responsibility and a duty to change. Everything should be as new.
For my full review go to http://messybooker.blogspot.com.au/
April 25, 2020
Peirene Press has done it again; introduced me to a new author I love, this time one of the most admired authors in contemporary Norwegian literature (that I had never heard of). Peirene's goal is to bring to English speaking readers: "Contemporary European Literature. Thought provoking, well designed, short." They never disappoint.
April 1, 2022
Johannes dörr går inte att öppna, mamman har redan gått till jobbet. Hon ska egentligen följa med sin pojkvän till New York, men nu missar hon flyget. Johanne minns tillbaka, till hur hon träffade Ivar, vad som hänt sedan dess, på hennes relation med mamman och psykologiplugget. Intressant premiss för en roman, och Johannes sinne är ett speciellt landskap att vistas i, bland annat flashar det en slags tvångstankar på utsatta barn då och då. Hon har ett rätt knepigt förhållande till mamman, som hon verkar behöva ta hand om en del, som hon är rätt underdånig kan man säga. Religion tar också upp en stor del av hennes sinne, men verkar vara på ett rätt hyfsat sätt, inte att det ger henne så mycket skuldkänslor. Eller så är jaget opålitligt, och under hennes lätta kommentarer om saker och ting, ligger ett annat allvar?
Det här är Ørstaviks första bok på svenska, men inte hennes debut, så då föll den ju bort från temat för debut på #52böcker2022 - men det gör ingenting. Jag gillar Ørstavik, det är alltid rätt speciella mänskliga psyken man får kliva in i.
Det här är Ørstaviks första bok på svenska, men inte hennes debut, så då föll den ju bort från temat för debut på #52böcker2022 - men det gör ingenting. Jag gillar Ørstavik, det är alltid rätt speciella mänskliga psyken man får kliva in i.
September 2, 2014
It shouldn't have taken me this long to read such a short book. I really wanted to like it, I'd read good reviews and the plot seemed like an enjoyable and thought-provoking read. However, I didn't get it.
I think that's all there is to it. I didn't connect with Johanne at all really, I found her character a little weird and I don't think that her personality is fully explained. I don't think the book is long enough to explain parts which I personally felt needed explaining. There are a lot of strange parts of the book which I didn't enjoy reading and felt as though I wanted to give up (but I couldn't do it!) because of these.
The idea of a mother & daughter bond is something I was looking forward to reading but I was left cold.
I don't know if that was the point or not.
I think that's all there is to it. I didn't connect with Johanne at all really, I found her character a little weird and I don't think that her personality is fully explained. I don't think the book is long enough to explain parts which I personally felt needed explaining. There are a lot of strange parts of the book which I didn't enjoy reading and felt as though I wanted to give up (but I couldn't do it!) because of these.
The idea of a mother & daughter bond is something I was looking forward to reading but I was left cold.
I don't know if that was the point or not.
December 21, 2018
From my Instagram account @Onebookonecountry
I cannot get out, is how Johanne begins the #novel and how the #reader feels as we discover this seemingly cold and calculating #character. However, @hanne_orstavik has a gift in store inside Joahnne's mind full of #sexualadventures and #submission. Ambiguously, she favors public restraint and even considers #fiction books a waste of her time and money! I've enjoyed being pulled back and forth by Joahnne's fierce grasp of reality and her graphic fantasies.
This edition is by @peirenepress
#HanneØrstavik
#peirenepress
More European books here #onebookEurope
More Norwegian books here #onebookNorway
I cannot get out, is how Johanne begins the #novel and how the #reader feels as we discover this seemingly cold and calculating #character. However, @hanne_orstavik has a gift in store inside Joahnne's mind full of #sexualadventures and #submission. Ambiguously, she favors public restraint and even considers #fiction books a waste of her time and money! I've enjoyed being pulled back and forth by Joahnne's fierce grasp of reality and her graphic fantasies.
This edition is by @peirenepress
#HanneØrstavik
#peirenepress
More European books here #onebookEurope
More Norwegian books here #onebookNorway
August 28, 2017
Hanne Ørstavik's The Blue Room was published by Pereine Press in 2014, translated by Deborah Dawkin. Its original Norwegian title is Like sant som jeg er virkelig (1999), which Google Translate translates as 'As true as I really am'; I personally prefer the more literal title but I can see why they went for The Blue Room; it's more punchy and more memorable. Ørstavik has written twelve novels but this is the first one to be made available in English.
The novel opens with Johanne, a twenty-something woman who lives in a flat with her mum (or Mum in the text), discovering that her mum has locked her in before going off to work. The whole novel is Johanne's account of recent events leading up to this event. The narrative flits back and forth a bit without a break in the flow of the narrative but it is easy to get used to Ørstavik's technique as little clues are given in the text. We discover that Johanne is a psychology student, she's a little odd, a little quirky and doesn't have many friends apart from Karin, who is about to embark on becoming a minister. Johanne's father left when she was young and she was brought up, along with her brother Edward, by her mother. Johanne's relationship with her mother is the main subject of this book and it's a fascinating story to read even if we're only getting Johanne's view. It's tempting to think that her mother is a tyrant as she's locked her daughter in her room and so, as the story develops, it's interesting to hear Johanne's views of her mother. When Karin remarks how much she likes Johanne's mother, Johanne says:
Ivar asks Johanne, rather vaguely, to accompany him on a trip he's about to take to the United States and Johanne, rather vaguely, agrees; the offer is left open. She torments herself as she wants to go, to be spontaneous for once, but worries about her studies, her mother and Karin.
There is so much in this novel that I've had to leave out of this post but there is a lot in the novel that is left ambiguous, not least the ending. The main reason is that we're only getting Johanne's point of view and she's a very unreliable narrator. But it's all done so perfectly that the ambiguities reflect those ambiguities that we all experience in life; where not only are others' actions are difficult to understand but our own are as well. What a brilliant novel. If Ørstavik's other novels are as half as good we're really missing out in not having English translations available.
The novel opens with Johanne, a twenty-something woman who lives in a flat with her mum (or Mum in the text), discovering that her mum has locked her in before going off to work. The whole novel is Johanne's account of recent events leading up to this event. The narrative flits back and forth a bit without a break in the flow of the narrative but it is easy to get used to Ørstavik's technique as little clues are given in the text. We discover that Johanne is a psychology student, she's a little odd, a little quirky and doesn't have many friends apart from Karin, who is about to embark on becoming a minister. Johanne's father left when she was young and she was brought up, along with her brother Edward, by her mother. Johanne's relationship with her mother is the main subject of this book and it's a fascinating story to read even if we're only getting Johanne's view. It's tempting to think that her mother is a tyrant as she's locked her daughter in her room and so, as the story develops, it's interesting to hear Johanne's views of her mother. When Karin remarks how much she likes Johanne's mother, Johanne says:
I told her how easy it was living with Mum, like being in a collective, that she was my best friend. Apart from you, I said smiling.Johanne is very studious, she has just embarked on a Psychology degree, and takes her studies seriously. She doesn't drink or party, she goes to church regularly and helps out with the chores, but there's another side to her, she keeps having images of sado-masochistic sex, or violent sex, she feels at times that she's living with her mother only as a way of spongeing off her and she can be quite tactless at times, like the time she dragged her mother to see the film Betty Blue even though she knew that her mother would not approve of the sexual imagery of the film. Johanne likes to get to the library reading room on time so she can start studying early and disapproves of her fellow students who have a more lax attitude though at the same time she is quite envious of them.
What they display, these students who don't arrive in the reading room until nine, or even later, is a kind of daring. They play with life, with possibilities. For me my studies are like a tightrope I'm balancing on, life will begin only when I've reached the other side. Only when I'm standing there triumphantly, with a glowing testimonial and glittering results, only then, I think to myself, will I be free.But things change when Johanne meets Ivar, who works at the university canteen and is in a band. Johanne has masochistic erotic daydreams about him. It turns out that Ivar is also attracted to Johanne and he asks her to go to see his band play. Johanne is unsure whether to go but in the end she does even though her mother disapproves. Her mother tells Johanne at one point 'Men are so simple. Controlled by sex and power. Like robots...' So, it is easy to think of her mother as either a prude or someone who hates men and therefore doesn't want her daughter to have any relationship with men but it's apparent from Johanne's narrative that her mother has a lover, or lovers, that visit regularly. It may be that her mother understands Johanne better than Johanne does herself and that she is concerned that her daughter will ruin her life over her fling with Ivar. Johanne's mother meets Ivar when he visits and is not impressed with him, especially when he offers her, a tea-totaller, some wine. As a test she asks him to explain what love is.
Ivar asks Johanne, rather vaguely, to accompany him on a trip he's about to take to the United States and Johanne, rather vaguely, agrees; the offer is left open. She torments herself as she wants to go, to be spontaneous for once, but worries about her studies, her mother and Karin.
I wished I could split my body in two, give one part to Mum and the other to Ivar. Then they could both have their share, and I could keep my ribcage as a little raft on which I'd curl up and float away.But the night before Ivar is due to leave Johanne packs her bags in preparation for the trip. Johanne, who had been so studious, so caring, is now prepared to abandon everything to go off with Ivar, whom she has only known for two weeks. And so her mother locks her in her room to prevent her from going.
There is so much in this novel that I've had to leave out of this post but there is a lot in the novel that is left ambiguous, not least the ending. The main reason is that we're only getting Johanne's point of view and she's a very unreliable narrator. But it's all done so perfectly that the ambiguities reflect those ambiguities that we all experience in life; where not only are others' actions are difficult to understand but our own are as well. What a brilliant novel. If Ørstavik's other novels are as half as good we're really missing out in not having English translations available.
September 9, 2015
I review this in detail here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF28z...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF28z...
January 14, 2024
jeg likte veldig godt måten den var skrevet på, og skildringen av Ivar minnet så mye om en jeg kjenner at historien like gjerne kunne vært om ham
September 10, 2023
The Blue Room takes place during a single day (rather like my previous read from the same publisher, Yesterday). Johanne wakes to find that the door of her bedroom is locked and her mother, the only other occupant of the flat, has gone out. She’s concerned, because she has plans for the day that involve catching a plane to America with Ivar, her first boyfriend.
Trying to calm herself, she reflects on her relationship with Ivar over the last few weeks and tries not to think about missing the flight. Her reflections reveal to the reader, but not so much herself, what a toxic relationship she has with her mother, and how the years of emotional abuse have affected her. What makes the book really interesting is that Johanne shields herself from the worst examples of the abuse and the reader is led to an awareness of it through how it manifests in her character, rather than the events that happen.
Johanne’s mind doesn’t seem to have compartments in place that stop her fantasies, fears, memories and current lived reality from bleeding into each other. This is can be disconcerting, especially when violent daydreams and thoughts intrude on her reflections and briefly seem to be part of the real world. She daydreams about pederastic priests, sex-traffickers and all sorts of masochistic and non-consensual sex, often at random moments, often in very explicit language, and often imbedded in a paragraph of description of something neutral. The effect is especially jarring because her usual thinking is very innocent.
It’s clear that her mother has been warning her against strangers, especially strange men and telling her horror-stories for much of her life. There’s also a few hints that the younger Johanne may have seen her mother taking part in some sort of S&M at an impressionable age. Johanne’s mother also uses a studied helplessness to control her, often calling her selfish or greedy and always being disappointed in Johanne’s efforts to please her. Johanne frequently believes that she’s sponging off her mother by living with her, an idea her mother both denies and encourages. There’s also a startling physical intimacy between the women, they pee in front of each other, change tampons and Johanne even waxes her mother’s leg hair.
Johanne’s abuse also comes out in her hyper-sexuality once she meets her first lover, her constant feelings of inadequacy, her tendency to cry frequently and a tension and stiffness in her back. She doesn’t even make an effort to escape the locked room, not even deciding to open the window until near the end of the book. This is especially marked because her plans for the day include ‘travelling and things’, essentially her escape from the life she’s trapped in - and something she hardly fights for.
It’s also interesting that Johanne is studying psychology, and wishes to become a psychotherapist in the future, yet doesn’t recognise the psychological difficulties in her own life. Nor does her religion help, it mainly masks her pain from herself, making her feel like a bad Christian. It doesn’t help that her best friend, a trainee minister, mostly sides with her mother.
I feel the people siding with the mother, or complaining that Johanne is weird have missed the point. Those ‘unlikeable’ aspects of Johanne are the windows into the years of abuse from her mother.
This is a subtle but devastating little book and I couldn’t help but feel that the ending is not a happy one at all.
Trying to calm herself, she reflects on her relationship with Ivar over the last few weeks and tries not to think about missing the flight. Her reflections reveal to the reader, but not so much herself, what a toxic relationship she has with her mother, and how the years of emotional abuse have affected her. What makes the book really interesting is that Johanne shields herself from the worst examples of the abuse and the reader is led to an awareness of it through how it manifests in her character, rather than the events that happen.
Johanne’s mind doesn’t seem to have compartments in place that stop her fantasies, fears, memories and current lived reality from bleeding into each other. This is can be disconcerting, especially when violent daydreams and thoughts intrude on her reflections and briefly seem to be part of the real world. She daydreams about pederastic priests, sex-traffickers and all sorts of masochistic and non-consensual sex, often at random moments, often in very explicit language, and often imbedded in a paragraph of description of something neutral. The effect is especially jarring because her usual thinking is very innocent.
It’s clear that her mother has been warning her against strangers, especially strange men and telling her horror-stories for much of her life. There’s also a few hints that the younger Johanne may have seen her mother taking part in some sort of S&M at an impressionable age. Johanne’s mother also uses a studied helplessness to control her, often calling her selfish or greedy and always being disappointed in Johanne’s efforts to please her. Johanne frequently believes that she’s sponging off her mother by living with her, an idea her mother both denies and encourages. There’s also a startling physical intimacy between the women, they pee in front of each other, change tampons and Johanne even waxes her mother’s leg hair.
Johanne’s abuse also comes out in her hyper-sexuality once she meets her first lover, her constant feelings of inadequacy, her tendency to cry frequently and a tension and stiffness in her back. She doesn’t even make an effort to escape the locked room, not even deciding to open the window until near the end of the book. This is especially marked because her plans for the day include ‘travelling and things’, essentially her escape from the life she’s trapped in - and something she hardly fights for.
It’s also interesting that Johanne is studying psychology, and wishes to become a psychotherapist in the future, yet doesn’t recognise the psychological difficulties in her own life. Nor does her religion help, it mainly masks her pain from herself, making her feel like a bad Christian. It doesn’t help that her best friend, a trainee minister, mostly sides with her mother.
I feel the people siding with the mother, or complaining that Johanne is weird have missed the point. Those ‘unlikeable’ aspects of Johanne are the windows into the years of abuse from her mother.
This is a subtle but devastating little book and I couldn’t help but feel that the ending is not a happy one at all.
June 28, 2025
Hanne Ørstavik’s bracingly odd novel, The Blue Room, tells the unsettling story of Johanne, a young woman in her early 20s, a college student, who, to save money, lives with her mother in her mother’s Oslo apartment. (There is no talk of Johanne’s father. A brother, Edward, who is attending school in the US, is mentioned in passing.) Johanne’s life revolves around her classes, her mother (“Mum”), and her devotion to God. Academically, Ørstavik suggests that Johanne is a middling student who sometimes struggles. Socially, she comes across as underdeveloped; she is timid and naïve, lacks confidence, and is almost tragically isolated. She is about to lose her closest friend, Karin, who has trained to be a pastor and will soon be leaving the city to take up a post. Johanne craves her mother’s approval, and the two spend much of their free time in each other’s company. But Johanne also dreams of being independent, of gaining her psychologist qualification and opening a practice. Being financially dependent on her mother, it seems that Johanne lives her life in deference to her mother’s needs more so than her own. Her mother is involved with a man, Svenn—who has a family, so their opportunities for intimacy are few—and on occasions when Johanne sees that her mother has left money out, it’s a signal that she is to take the money, remove herself from the apartment and keep herself occupied for the length of Svenn’s visit. Everything changes though, when Johanne meets Ivar, who works in the university cafeteria. Ivar, a bit older and much more worldly than Johanne, is a musician with an active social and sexual life, and Johanne suddenly finds herself attracted to another person in a way that starts her rethinking her approach to living in the world. After they have sex, Johanne obsesses over Ivar’s body and can think of little besides pleasing him. Wisely or not, Johanne invites Ivar over for dinner and afterward must deal with her mother’s passive-aggressive comments: “This Ivar, Johanne, are you sure he’s right for you?” The novel opens at a crucial juncture in Johanne and Ivar’s liaison. The two have been involved for several weeks and Ivar wants Johanne to come with him on a trip to the US. But the end of term is near, and Johanne faces increasing pressure to complete her schoolwork. After much internal debate, she decides to go. But on the morning of their scheduled departure, Johanne gets out of bed and finds the door to her bedroom locked. She can’t get out, her mother has left for work, she has no phone, and she’s naked—her clothes from the previous day are in the wash and her wardrobe is in the hallway. She could smash the window, but she can’t leave that way because the apartment is on the 4th floor. Everything we subsequently learn about Johanne, her mother, and Ivar comes to us via Johanne’s anxious perspective while she’s trapped in her bedroom. We can’t help but wonder if her mother has deliberately locked her in. Will she escape? Will Ivar wait for her? For the remainder of the book Johanne’s thoughts roam freely and sometimes veer in surprising directions, even descending into violent and twisted sexual fantasy. Narratively and psychologically, The Blue Room fascinates while providing a quick, sometimes disturbing read. In this novel we take a deep dive into the mind of a young woman learning a life lesson the hard way. Will she let her mother win and remain docile and compliant, or is this the wake-up call she needs?
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