De korte sætningers land

by Stine Pilgaard, Katrine Muff

Kad vas život najednom baci iz velegrada u zabitan gradić na zapadu Danske, s malim djetetom koje ne spava i dečkom previše zgodnim za rad na lokalnom kampusu, što vam preostaje? Junakinja romana utočište nalazi u ulozi kolumnistice seoskih novina, gdje odgovara na pisma čitatelja. To je ujedno i jedino mjesto gdje može biti rječita; stanovnici Skjerna nisu baš razgovorljivi. Predvidljiv život zajednice, čije se teme vrte oko prognoze, krava i uroda, njezinu temperamentu i luckastoj prirodi nikako ne odgovara, premda se svim silama trudi uklopiti i postati „čestita“ građanka…

Opisujući muke mlade žene u maloj sredini, Stine Pilgaard pod povećalo natopljeno zajedljivim humorom stavlja hygge, popularnu dansku filozofiju sretnoga života. Topla šalica čaja, okrilje obitelji i udoban naslonjač nisu baš za svakoga. Ili, ipak, jesu? Zemlja kratkih rečenica vrckavo je, zabavno i inteligentno štivo o pokušajima da se prilagodimo zajednici, kakva god bila – i spasimo od usamljenosti.

Genres: Fiction, Danish, Contemporary, Denmark, Humor, Audiobook, Novels

95 pages

First published May 15, 2020

About the author

Stine Pilgaard, f. 1984, er opvokset i Århus, har gået på Forfatterskolen og er cand.mag. i Nordisk sprog og litteratur. Hun debuterede med romanen "Min mor siger" (2012), som blev solgt til udgivelse i Norge og Island og nomineret til DR Romanprisen.

Reviews

[Annegrethe Skov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man kunne læse Knud Sørensen for at komme dybere ind i det vestjyske...
Man kunne læse Hanne Vibeke Holsts bøger om Therese, hvis man skal dybere ind i det med at være nybagt mor.
Man kunne læse Dorte Nors om det med at tage kørekort.
Man kunne læse Birgitte Sallys fagbog om det at føre en smalltalk-samtale.
Man kunne læse Lise Knutzon / Camille Cloud om morsomme og uortodokse brevkasser.
Man kunne læse Maise Njor og Camilla Stockmanns bog "Michael Laudrups tænder" om fascinationen af en man kender godt fra fjernsynet.

Jeg lo højt flere gange under læsningen, men jeg kedede mig måske også lidt. Sorry. Bogen indeholder ganske vist fine betragtninger om livet som nybagt forælder/mor, som bruger af køreskoler og kommunal dagpleje - om at begå sig i provinsen og højskolelivet, men ofte havde jeg fornemmelsen af at vide, hvad der ville ske - eller at det ikke var så vigtigt, hvad der ville ske på næste side.

Det er dog stadig en sympatisk bog af en sympatisk forfatter, og den kan anbefales til mange typer læsere, måske især dem, der ikke skal have noget, der er for tungt at gå igang med. Bogen er let at læse pga. korte afsnit, afsluttede tekster, der afbrydes af lejlighedssange eller brevkassekorrespondancerne - og der står ikke altid så meget på siderne.

Mange vil kunne spejle sig i den hyggelige bog, om den unge mor, en slags Bridget Jones i Velling. Læs den hvis du elsker børn, forældreskab, kender en vestjyde, en højskolelærer, en kørerlærer eller Anders Agger - eller en ung person, der er igang med at blive voksen. Der er fine ord om at være i parforhold og i foreningslivet - noget universelt og noget meget dansk eller nordisk. Måske bogen også vil kunne være god for nye danskere, som ikke er vokset op iblandt os?

Et par steder var jeg i tvivl om det er med vanilje eller manglende redigering, når der skrives: "Krisser og mig går ved siden af hinanden..." og udtrykket "vandtætte skodder" bliver brugt i stedet for "vandtætte skotter". Anyway, ligemeget... der er så mange andre fine ord, som f.eks. "Den skrøbelige alvor i vores forsøg, alle de ting vi gør for første gang" s. 258 - og så er sangen "De korte sætningers land" virkelig fin og rørende. Den er da lige til Højskolesangbogen.

Datingfolket kan i øvrigt læse brevkassesvaret til den kræsne singlekvinde (s. 208-209): "...det er ikke muligt at tænke sig frem til, hvem der passer til os... (...). Slip kontrollen, og forestil dig, at du er en åben dør ud mod haven, en drømmeseng der foldes ud i solen, en god bog der ligger opslået i græsset. At møde en kæreste er at stille sig til rådighed for et andet menneske. Spørg ikke, hvad din date kan gøre for dig, spørg, hvad du kan gøre for din date. (...) ...det er ret simpelt. Hvis du er sjov, skal du ikke lede efter en, der også er sjov, men en, der gerne vil grine. Er du god til at lave mad, så jag ikke en kok, men find en, der er sulten. Kære kræsne. Alle mennesker har et ensomt, mørkt rum inden i sig (...) Vi leder efter en, der passer lige der, og som kan jage mørket på flugt. Det er meget sødt, men det er forkert. Mørket er vores eget, og det kan ikke deles med nogen. Den eneste ene er ikke en anden, det er dig selv, og du er alene. Kærlig hilsen Brevkassen."

Som Anders Agger siger (på side 196): "Så længe der er ord, er der håb."

[Cule.Jule · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zu diesem Buch habe ich im Vorfeld bereits viele unterschiedliche Meinungen gehört: von Lesehighlight bis abgebrochen, war gefühlt alles dabei.

Ich persönlich konnte mich ab der ersten Seite voll und ganz auf das Buch einlassen und ich habe letztendlich jede Seite genossen.

Eine junge Frau ist mit Mann und Baby nach Westjütland gezogen und lädt den Leser ein Teil ihrer Gedankengänge zu werden. Als Orakel der Lokalzeitung beantwortet sie zahlreiche Fragen von Leser*innen, deren Antworten mich einerseits schmunzeln ließen aber auch berührt haben. Im Alltag ist sie Mutter, Fahrschülerin und Protagonistin eines normalen Alltags.

Die Sprache des Romans sticht dabei besonders heraus. Es ist der Mix aus Humor, Empathie, Detailliebe und Realität, der das Buch zu etwas besonderen macht. Die ruhige und entschleunigende Art hat mir sehr gut gefallen. Hinzu kommt der dänische Flair, der für mich auf jeder Seite spürbar war.

252 Seiten, die ich gern gelesen und noch lange in Erinnerung haben werde.

[Alwynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The land of short sentences is the latest novel by Danish writer Stine Pilgaard. An award-winning, bestseller in Denmark, it’s a gentle, wry, slice-of-life narrative. It’s presented from the perspective of a woman in her thirties with a small child whose boyfriend’s accepted a job tutoring at a hojskole in a remote part of West Jutland. As the translator’s notes explain, a hojskole is a kind of residential school for post-18s that provides a liberal, creative learning environment that deals with everything from writing to ceramics to nutrition. Her partner’s school has its own tightknit, satellite community made up of staff and their families but the narrator struggles to find her place within it. The book follows her experiences over a year, her attempts to make friends, juggle her personal desires with the demands of motherhood and work out how to exist in such an isolated, rural place. The main character takes a job as an advice columnist, what she jokingly calls an oracle, and exchanges from her writing surface throughout, a way of allowing her to muse on her ideas about parenting, relationships, and retaining a sense of self. She’s surrounded by a small recurring cast of eccentric local characters, all of them desperate to tell her how to act, how to fit into their society. It’s a well-crafted, nicely-observed piece, I liked the portrayal of Danish culture, and I often enjoyed Pilgaard’s subtle humour but I’m also not convinced I was the right reader for this. So much is centred on mothering and motherhood, not something I can really relate to or find particularly absorbing. Translated from Danish by Hunter Simpson.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher World Editions for an arc

[Meike · Rating 3 out of 5]

German: Meter pro Sekunde
Okay, so this was a bestseller in Denmark, and while it is certainly hygge und heart-warming, it's also certainly entertainment literature: No one has any real problems and all characters are mainly quirky. Set in the little town of Velling near the North Sea, our protagonist is a young mother who moves to the rural area with her partner who has taken a job at a local educational institution. Adaptation issues to country life ensue.

Pilgaard plays with three text forms: A traditional narration with a - who saw that one coming? - quirky voice, a newspaper advice column written by the protagonist plus re-written Danish folks songs that now refer to the story. The German translation (done by the wonderful Hinrich Schmidt-Henkel) is excellent, and the book is fun, but high literature this is not - and when you know that, you can enjoy Pilgaard's story for what it is.

[Elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Das Leben ist kein Ereignis, sondern eine flüchtige, gleichmütige Bewegung durch einen dunklen Raum. Dennoch kann es hier und da vorkommen, an einzelnen Orten, dass man etwas Schönem begegnet. Einem schönen Gedicht, einem besonderen Bild, einer Aussicht, die uns sprachlos macht. Deine Aufgabe besteht darin, deine Lebenszeit bestmöglich zu verbringen, während du auf den Tod wartest." - Stine Pilgaard, "Meter pro Sekunde"

Eine Frau zieht mit ihrem Freund samt Kleinkind nach Westjütland, wo der Freund als Lehrer an einer Heimvolkshochschule - einer Internat-ähnlichen Einrichtung für junge Erwachsene - als Lehrer tätig werden soll. Für die namenlose Ich-Erzählerin ist der Start in der neuen Heimat nicht leicht. Zwischen Kühen und Windrädern fallen die Dorfbewohner*innen vor allem durch ihre Wortkargheit auf. Doch mit viel Humor und Unangepasstheit schleicht sie sich langsam in das Herz der Ortsansässigen.

Stine Pilgaards Buch "Meter pro Sekunde", aus dem Dänischen übersetzt von Hinrich Schmidt-Henkel, war für mich vor allem eines: Ein absoluter Wohlfühlroman! Von Beginn an habe ich eine tiefe Verbundenheit mit der Protagonistin verspürt, ich konnte ihre Gedanken und Handlungen so sehr nachfühlen und habe mich immer wieder total von der Ich-Erzählerin "verstanden" gefühlt. Diese ist nämlich nicht nur Rekordhalterin im Fahrstunden-Nehmen, sondern auch in der Orakel-Industrie tätig. Für die örtliche Tageszeitung betreibt sie den Kummerkasten und beantwortet auf humorvolle und originelle Weise die Zuschriften von Menschen verschiedensten Alters und in den unterschiedlichsten Lebenssituationen. Außerdem versucht sie sich gemeinsam mit ihrem Nachbarn auch als Songwriterin - was bei mir für so einige Lacher gesorgt hat.

Durch die Geschichte selbst, in der wir die Protagonistin ein Jahr lang begleiten, den Kummerkasten und die Lieder, die an das Højskolesangbogen, ein traditionsreiches Liederbuch in Dänemark, angelehnt sind, gelingt der Autorin eine ausgesprochen abwechslungsreiche Lektüre, die sich sowohl inhaltlich, als auch stilistisch vielfältig präsentiert.

Die Ich-Erzählerin schwankt im Buch zwischen Mutterschaft, neuer Umgebung, der Suche nach Freund*innenschaften und der Herausforderung, einen Lehrer als Partner zu haben. Dieses Schwanken ist so sympathisch, ihre Gedanken zu den entsprechenden Situationen so menschlich und nachvollziehbar, dass ich mich ganz doll in sie und das Buch an sich verliebt habe. Die Autorin macht damit Mut, sich Neuem nicht immer kritisch entgegen zu stellen - sie räumt aber auch Zweifeln und dem Scheitern viel Raum ein.

Für mich kam "Meter pro Sekunde" genau zur richtigen Zeit. Ein Roman zum genießen und zum sich in den schönen Worten verlieren - einfach toll!

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a huge hit when published in Denmark, sort of a Danish Eleanor Oliphant. Such acclaim leads to mixed reactions from readers, and I supposed the same will be when this translated version is published in 2022. The cultural references are surprisingly universal, including some surprises such as references to a variety of material, not all trendy, such as Pink Floyd. The experiences of a young mother whose partner is teaching at a hojskole in West Jutland include her taking a job as an "oracle," answering letters to a help column in the local paper. While there was a lot to admire, quite a bit of humor arising from her answers to such letters in which she reveals more of herself rather than providing advice to problems, I didn't really connect with the characters. What I did enjoy was the inclusion of "songs" and insights into the culture.

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally written in Danish by Stine Pilgaard and published in 2020, with the English translation from Hunter Simpson due in early 2022 (I read an ARC).

It’s not like I’m some kind of sick stalker, I say. What are you then, Anders Agger asks. The gravel crunches beneath my feet, and I shrug my shoulders. Do you want to tell me an idea for a documentary, Anders Agger asks. He is often sought out by people eager to shed light on a particular topic.

I shake my head and say that I’m just a transplant, and I’m having a hard time talking to the Velling locals. Anders Agger concedes that the flow of conversation may be a bit different, and he says that, in contrast to everyone else, he has the opportunity to edit the pauses out of his programs. That’s a cheap trick, I say, and I criticize him for giving a distorted picture of reality. To be honest, I think the people of West Jutland have a negligent relationship with communication, I say.

A different one than you in any case, says Anders Agger. Even the names of the towns are terse, I say, Tim, Hee, Noe, Bur, Lem, Spjald, Tarm. Vemb, Asp, Tvis, Skjern, says Anders Agger, and he drums his fingers against the roof of the car. In Velling most people work with the wind, the earth, or animals, he says. Nature doesn’t talk back, and that can be contagious when you live here.

A charming and humorous story with a slight edge, the narrator pitched somewhere between the eponymous Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and the wonderfully memorable Helen in Sorry to Disrupt the Peace, although closer to the former, as she attempts to learn how to speak to folks in West Jutland, her oversharing nature rather at odds with the tactiturn locals, wrestles with sleep deprevation due to her young son, drives a succession of driving instructors to despair, stalks the (real-life) documentary maker Anders Agger, writes an idiosnycratic advice column in the local newspaper that usually comes back to her own issues rather than her correspondents', and fights off one of the students who is trying to seduce her boyfriend, a teacher at the Højskolewhere he works and they both live (indeed some of the letters she receives seem rather too on point).

A few choice highlights:

Early on as our narrator demonstrates that she is no Eleanor Oliphant when it comes to quality tea, and as she gets used to the lack of privacy in the area:

THE PRINCIPAL KNOCKS three times in quick succession and lets herself in. That’s how we do it out here, she says when I look up at her in surprise. Doesn’t anyone in Velling have sex, I ask, isn’t there anyone who watches porn or masturbates, you can’t get your clothes on after just three knocks.

People manage, says the principal, and she takes two cups from the cabinet. She has bought a bag of black tea and a little sieve for herself, because she doesn’t care for my Pickwick. That’s a coffee drinker’s tea, she says, only one step above Medova, and no one wants to go there.

The text also includes various songs, apparently typical (per the helpful translator's note) of those sung at Danish Højskole, which can also be listened to online, and although I didn't follow up on those, I suspect they would add another element to the novel.

Trying to learn the conversational etiquette in the area:

AT HOME IN my living room I have a cry over my conversational woes. I’m going to end up like a cat lady without any cats, I sob. My boyfriend tells me I’ve got to understand that the grocer isn’t rejecting me, he’s just adhering to the rules of a genre. You think in prose, he says, but people here are more concise. Like haiku, says my boyfriend, who compares everything to literature. Seven syllables, nature plus the present tense. He frequently employs his intellect as a shield against my big feelings, and if I’m lucky then I get a lecture thrown into the bargain. It’s not as complicated as you think, says my boyfriend, who is from a small town. Conversations in public spaces reinforce the imposed community that is a rural village. But the grocer asked me himself if we had settled in, I say. My boyfriend wags his finger and shakes his head. Wrong, he says, the grocer acknowledged that you happened to be in his store, and that you both live in the same place.

The start of a typical answer from her 'Dear Letterbox' column:

This isn’t supposed to be all about me, but let’s take the example of my son’s pediatric nurse, a very considerate person, who, for the record, I like.

Dealng with sleep deprevation:

The lullabies took on an aggressive intonation that night, tensions rose, and we passed our son back and forth between us like a trophy no one wanted to claim. Our googling grew desperate, developing from: How do you get a baby to sleep, to, long after midnight: How early can you identify a personality disorder. We spoke openly of our revenge fantasies. How, in sixteen years, we would wake our son with giant gongs whenever he had a hangover. We would go around the house playing the trumpet after he’d stayed up all night gaming and eating cheese puffs.

In an instant of undiluted evil, we wished that he would one day have a healthy, happy baby who never slept a wink. When he one day came to understand what he had done, and called us to apologize, we would take a deep breath and say: Ah, those nights, but that was so many years ago. We would display our benevolence, affirm that we bore no grudge, but we would also make it clear that we expect an exceedingly comfortable old age. Frequent visits to the nursing home and souvenirs from all of his trips. A soft bed when the end is near, gentle songs, and unconditional love until we ourselves close our eyes.

Thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for the ARC. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 as I found this an entertaining, if light, read.

[Julie Lapp (bogfeber) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vi er nået op på sjette læsning/lytning, og det er få bøger, der kan få mig til at grine så meget som Meyer i sekundet 🤩

Det er anden gang, jeg læser den i år. Fjerde gang i alt. Og det er så genialt, så godt. Det føles som at vende hjem 🥹

Jeg bliver ved med at opdage nye ting. Elsker stadig tredje gang!

Den fortjener sine fem stjerner mindst lige så meget ved genlæsning. Stadig én af mine all-time favoritter 💜

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This unusually titled book is the tale of a 30ish young woman, her boyfriend and their infant son as they travel to the “hinterland” of Denmark, West Jutland, where they will reside at a hojskole, a residential school somewhat akin to a high school. She will be what the school calls “the trailing partner” while her boyfriend teaches.

This novel is structured in an unusual way, with short sections, occasional songs apparently adapted from real tunes and fitted to events, and letters to with responses from Letterbox, the advice column that our narrator undertakes in her new town, Velling.

The Land of Short Sentences is about adaptation and communication: learning how to fit in in a new community, trying to adapt as new parents, being a partner in a town of husbands and wives. Or perhaps teaching the new place about adapting to yourself. At times laugh out loud funny while at other times very poignant and deeply thoughtful.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot and recommend for those interested in the craziness of language and how we humans interact. There are interesting notes on the use of songs and translation also in an afterword.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

[melodram · Rating 4 out of 5]

„Die Kindheit unseres Sohnes kommt uns vor wie ein Ausnahmezustand, eine Art Karneval, bei dem wir unter bizarren Masken zu fremdartigen Rhythmen tanzen.“ (S. 169)
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Dieser Vergleich! Als hätte Stine Pilgaard in meinen Kopf geblickt und meine wohl gehegten Gedanken zur „Aufzucht“ meines kleinen Wunders niedergeschrieben und veröffentlicht.
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Aber, ich fange von vorne an:
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Pampa. Einöde. Das Nirgendwo oder anders: Velling in Westjütland. Dort wohnt seit Kurzem eine junge Frau zusammen mit ihrem Partner und dem kleinen Baby.
Sie braucht etwa einen Wimpernschlag um festzustellen, dass die Uhren hier anders ticken und die Bewohner*innen dieses seeligen Fleckchens Erde ebenfalls. Während ihr Mann an einer Heimvolkshochschule unterrichtet und von einer Schülerin angehimmelt wird, kämpft sich die junge Frau durch die Eigenheiten des Unbekannten.
Zwischen Mutterschaft, trauter Dreisamkeit und einem ausufernden Prozess zur Erlangung der Fahrerlaubnis, trägt ein Jobangebot als lokaler Zeitungskummerkasten frischen Wind in ihre Zeit.
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Urkomisch, tröstlich, menschlich ist Stine Pilgaards Roman „Meter pro Sekunde“ und reiht sich völlig zurecht in die Gewinnerliste des dänischen Literaturpreises „Goldener Lorbeer“ ein, den u.a. auch schon Tove Ditlevsen gewonnen hat. Wie eingangs schon kurz angerissen, gibt sie ihrer Protagonistin einen ganz ehrlich humorvollen Ton, der einen locker und leicht durch ihre Geschichte trägt. Ihr Annähren an die eigensinnige Bevölkerung ist ein Versuchen und Probieren, das unglaublich nachvollziehbar und menschlich-komisch rüberkommt. Keinesfalls lässt Stine Pilgaard die junge Frau dabei verzweifeln, vielmehr schafft sie einen liebenswerten Charakter, der sich mit lakonischem Frohsinn durch die Gegebenheiten des Lebens schlägt. Die Botschaft dahinter, nicht allem Neuen mit bleiernem Ernst entgegenzutreten, Fehler zuzulassen und die Gabe, Freude an kleinen Glückseeligkeiten zu finden, machen den Roman zu einem hyggelig-dänischen Wohlfühlbuch, dem ich mich, nicht zuletzt wegen der grundsympathischen Protagonistin sehr verbunden fühle.❤️
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👉🏻aus dem Dänischen von Hinrich Schmidt-Henkel

[Sarah Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leider nicht mein Humor….nur die Kummerkastenbriefe fand ich geistreich und fein beobachtet. Der Rest der Geschichte hat mich gar nicht erreicht.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Land Of Short Sentences is the third novel by best-selling Danish author, Stine Pilgaard. It is translated from Danish by Hunter Simpson. A young woman has moved with her boyfriend to the town of Velling in West Jutland, where he is teaching at the local hojskole.

By the time they have been there a year, she has given birth to a son, and been encouraged by the school’s principal to participate in school activities, but finds that conversations with the locals are stilted and stall easily.

Her boyfriend, who is from a small town, tells her “You think in prose, he says, but people here are more concise… Think of your interactions as a nursery rhyme, says my boyfriend, a short ritual. How’s it going, it’s going fine. What a windy day, it sure is. Looks like it’s Monday again, there’s no escaping it. I repeat the phrases slowly, like magic spells I don’t really believe in. My boyfriend advises me to repress my need for intimacy, or at least hide it a little better.”

The principal gets her a job writing an advice column for the local paper: she becomes Letterbox, and replies to pleas for advice from a range of correspondents: The Scheduling Sorceress, The Youthful Elder, The Stubborn Camel, The Nitpicker’s Wife and many more . Her advice is mostly sound and insightful, if a little unusual or flippant at times, and her replies reveal little snippets about herself and her family.

Her only friend seems to be Krisser, a hotel owner whom she met in her mothers’ group. Maj-Britte, the woman who runs the local daycare, seems to be more of a mother figure than a friend, and the principal tells her they are neighbours who might potentially be friends one day. With Sebastian, the husband of the ceramics teacher, she has a certain rapport: they describe themselves as “trailing spouses”. Together they compose a lejlighedssang (community song), Battle Hymn of the Trailing Spouses Protest Song.

Her driving lessons reveal a singular lack of this skill, and she is passed around the instructors as they tire of, or become disillusioned by, lack of progress, until finally Parking Peter gets her to the point of gaining a license conditional on not using reverse gear.

Impressed by how well he is able to communicate with all he meets, she virtually stalks documentary maker and TV celebrity, Anders Agger and convinces him to give her “conversation tempo training … Anders Agger says that if you want to get close to rural people, the focus should be on unremarkable details.”

Interspersed with the first-person narrative are the letters and their replies, and verses that make up various lejlighedssang the protagonist has composed. There is some quirky humour and several good doses of wisdom, but some readers may find the lack of names a little irritating: not only is the protagonist unnamed, but her boyfriend and her baby son (literally for eighteen months!!) are unnamed, while many of the characters are afforded only a descriptor (the grocer, the principal, the neighbour) rather than a name. An original novel that loses half a star of the potential 4.5 star rating for indulging in the annoying editorial affliction of omitting quote marks for speech.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and World Editions.

[Rocio Voncina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Titulo: Metros por segundo
Autor: Stine Pilgaard
Motivo de lectura: #PSM2024
Lectura / Relectura: Lectura
Fisico / Electronico: Electronico
Mi edicion: -
Puntuacion: 2/5


Para ser sincera no me gustó nada de este libro.

La protagonista es insoportable, tiene un ego enorme, se dedica a contestar un consultorio donde las personas envían preguntas sobre la vida, y la protagonista usa el autorreferencial para contestar el tema que sea.
Ningún personaje destaca, es como si cada uno de ellos perteneciera a un todo, donde se funden, donde ninguno tiene una verdadera identidad o un rasgo que los haga resaltar.

La historia está narrada en primera persona, y lamentablemente ese estilo no es de mi agrado.

Al inicio de la novela la venden como "sencilla y divertida"..bueno..yo no me reí ni una sola vez.
El único punto positivo que encontré en la historia es que no se romantiza la maternidad en absoluto, y eso aporta cierto realismo y coherencia.

Un libro olvidable, más del montón.

[Ellinor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Die Ich-Erzählerin, die namenlos bleibt, zieht mit ihrem Freund und ihrem kleinen Sohn in die dänische Provinz. Durch das Kind kommt sie bald in Kontakt mit den Einheimischen. Sie bekommt einen Job als „Kummerkasten“ in einer Lokalzeitung und macht nebenbei ihren Führerschein.
Meter pro Sekunde hat mich leider nicht wirklich angesprochen. Es gab hier viele euphorische Stimmen, denen ich mich allerdings nicht anschließen kann. Das Buch ist nicht schlecht, aber eben auch nichts besonderes. Hätte ich es nicht gelesen, hätte ich nichts verpasst. Die Antworten des Kummerkastens fand ich teils recht gelungen, da sie häufig unkonventionelle Ansätze hatten. Manche fand ich allerdings etwas merkwürdig.
Insgesamt war Meter pro Sekunde einfach nicht mein Buch.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

In big cities you try to distinguish yourself, to be noticed, but in small towns the goal is to blend in and become a part of the landscape. People cultivate their commonalities instead of their differences, subtly refer to their mutual interests, that’s the purpose and logic of these conversations.

A young woman has moved to the small town of Velling, in West Jutland, Denmark, with her boyfriend who has a new job teaching at the local Højskole (an adult education institution). City born and bred, she's having trouble getting to know people in her new community. Although she participates in school activities, gives birth to a son and takes driving lessons, she just can't seem to break down the barriers. Various people give her advice, which is ironic, as she has a job writing an advice column for the local newspaper. It's not until she practically stalks the local celebrity - a documentary presenter - into befriending her, that she finds someone who can coach her in the art of small town conversation, as per the above quote. Keep it short, keep it superficial, don't try too hard.

This was a quick, amusing read. I found the thread about the driving lessons quite charming, with instructors continually handing her off to the next one, in order to take a break from this almost hopeless case. I was equally frustrated by the seemingly indiscriminate lack of character names. Although the idea of teaming up with fellow trailing spouse Sebastian to write new songs for the Højskole Songbook didn't really interest me very much (lyrics are interspersed throughout the book), I did spend some time on YouTube listening to examples of Lejlighedssange, including one from the book.

Worth a read, particularly if you are interested in reading about rural Denmark.

With thanks to NetGalley and World Editions for a copy to read and review.

[Mads]

Jeg kunne godt lide Stine Pilgaards "Meter i sekundet", men desværre ikke ligeså meget som hendes forrige romaner. Ligesom "Min mor siger" og "Lejlighedssange", er denne roman fyldt med skønne scener, morsomme dialoger og herlige karakterer, men også en brevkasse, som, efter min mening, fylder for meget og endte med at blive lidt af en stopklods under min læsning.

[Mie Jonassen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lad mig starte med at sige: jeg forstår ikke helt hypen omkring denne bog. Men så igen: det havde jeg måske nok heller ikke helt regnet med. Når jeg læser, så kan jeg nemlig godt lide, at blive en anelse klogere og blive udfordret og så er det nok ikke denne type litteratur man skal læse.
Så lidt ligesom med Elianor Oliphant, så måtte jeg lige se, hvad det var alle var så vilde med. Og nogle gange, så skal man jo også udfordre sig selv, ved at læse noget, som man ellers normalt ikke læser😉
Men måtte altså konstatere, at det ikke var noget for mig.
Jeg kedede mig jævnt, karaktererne kom slet ikke ind under huden på mig og historien virkede bare lidt ja, ligegyldig og banal på mig. Synes heller ikke der var sammenhæng mellem selve historien, sangene og brevkassen.
Så tak, men ellers tak😅

[Ruben · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good fun. A couple with a young child move to a remote corner of Denmark. The woman is a bit special: she doesn't really understand the social conventions of polite conversation and always gives way 'too much information'. It is extremely difficult for her to pass her driver's test and when she has to organise a party she panics for weeks.

She quickly finds a job as a 'Letterbox' answering readers' questions in the local newspaper and she is excellent at this job, responding in hilarious but very smart and helpful ways. As rational as she is in helping the letter-writers to manage their emotions, so helpless is she herself in her own personal relations. Her answers of course given away far too much of her personal life, and they were for me the absolute highlight of the novel.

Happy to have read this: it is a light novel overall without much plot but on a sentence level there is a lot to enjoy with a great many interesting observations and thoughts about language, human interaction and relationships.

Many thanks to Netgalley and World Editions.

[Line Vesth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm.. den skulle være så sjov og så grinte jeg ikke. Som I slet ikke. Tvært imod kedede jeg mig. Ville så gerne have elsket den. Men er kommet til den konklusion, at den bare ikke var mig. Den er skrevet til nogle andre. Til alle dem der grinte undervejs og spejlede sig i historien.
Er jeg den eneste der slet ikke var med på den der Anders Agger ting? Igen. Den er skrevet til nogle andre.

[Jeanette Capion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dette er en bog, der kan læses på en dag. Jeg købte den selv i eftermiddags.

Lykken er at have en boghandler, der kender dig så godt, at hun ved bedre end dig, hvad du vil elske at læse. Så tak til Charlotte i Boghuset for at insistere på, at denne bog var for mig.

Jeg tænker, at man skal være ekskovsbarn af Tove Ditlevsen og Jens Rosendal for at kunne skrive en bog som Meter i Sekundet.
Jeg håber, at forfatter Stine Pilgaard en dag udgiver en salmebog.
Om bogen kan jeg ikke skrive meget andet end: læs den, elsk den!

[Ida Rud · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeg har skiftevis grædt af genkendelse over et venskab, og været rasende over den nærmest arrogante bedrevidenhed, som hovedpersonen udviser, der også kommer til udtryk i selve sproget, der holder på information og indsigt. Det er faktisk ret godt gået.
Jeg har fået at vide af mange, at bogen er vildt sjov. Det synes jeg kun, den er glimtvis, men det er nok fordi, jeg ikke er jyde, og at min indre stemme ikke taler jysk. Hvis den gjorde det, ville det nok være sjovere.

[Booklunatic · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 Sterne

Junge Mutter, frisch Zugezogene, seit neuestem Kummerkastentante - alles nicht so einfach für die Protagonistin. Mit intelligentem Sprachwitz wird den Absurditäten des Alltags Paroli geboten. Ganz großer Lesespaß und erstes Überraschungs-Highlight 2022 für mich!

[Dinne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Begriber vitterligt ikke folks begejstring over denne helt igennem indholdsløse og ligegyldige bog.

[Nastja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Довольно пресный роман о том, как женщина переехала с мужем в глуховатую Ютландию, потому что муж устроился работать преподом в хойскуле (местный вариант пионерлагеря для подрощенных подростков с уклоном в профориентацию). И вот пока муж работает, женщина сидит со свеженьким ребенком, пытается научиться водить машину и отвечает на письма читателей в газете. Местами это действительно смешно, местами вполне хорошо написано, но свою вполне благополучную жизнь, с нормальным мужем, обычным здоровым ребенком, классной подружкой, бесконечными учителями по вождению и странненькими, но вполне добрыми и человеческими людьми, которые ее окружают, она всеми силами старается выставить как вообще-то_тяжелую и не_совсем_простую, а ты, такая читаешь все это из 2023 года, и не находишь в себе никакого другого отклика, кроме, да что вы говорите.

(Зато в аудиоверсии рассказчица еще и поет условно смешные песни под гитару на мотив популярных песен, которые поют в хойскуле. Это большая часть культуры обучения, есть целый официальный песенник с этими песнями, Højskolesangbogen, и эти ежедневные песнопения по факту есть светская замена утренней молитве, и т.д, но песни все равно так себе.)

[Sarah Reffstrup · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeg lo ofte og jeg lo højt 😂

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this a reasonably amusing tale about a young woman who follows her teacher husband when he gets appointed to a Danish Hojskole, a residential school, popular in Denmark for over 18s which offers a liberal and creative education. The school is in a small town and our poor beleaguered protagonist, who is clearly ill at ease in social situations, has to navigate her way through her new small community. She gets a job as an agony art on a local newspaper and her columns are reproduced in the book, as are some of the songs popular for community singing. We hear about her largely unsuccessful attempts to learn to drive, we hear about her problems dealing with her baby son, and above all we hear about her social ineptitude. I enjoyed it up to about the half way point but then it began to pall, and it all seemed just more of the same. There’s no real narrative arc, no real character development, just a series of anecdotes which became less and less funny as time went on. It certainly wasn’t, for me, the “hilarious” read that it is reputed to be, and which has made it such a bestseller in Denmark. Just a bit of light-hearted froth.

[Henny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ganz nett. Mir war es zu „whimsical“ geschrieben. Bisschen wie ne schlechte Version von „was man von hier aus sehen kann“ - Die Figuren wirkten alle fad und konstruiert. Fand’s daher auch leider bisschen langweilig und etwas konservativ. Die Kummerkasten-Passagen dagegen waren witzig und ganz nett.

[Marimirl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Laut Beschreibung handelt es sich um eines der erfolgreichsten dänischen Bücher. Nun ja, ich weiß nicht, wie die restlichen dänischen Bücher so sind, aber ich konnte mit diesem Exemplar leider nichts anfangen.

Es fällt mir schon schwer, den Inhalt zusammenzufassen. Erzählt wird aus der Sicht einer Frau in der Ich-Perspektive. Ihr Name fällt mir nicht ein, vielleicht wurde er auch nie erwähnt. Sie schildert Szenen aus ihrem Leben, Anekdoten aus ihren Fahrstunden, Begegnungen mit der Tagesmutter ihres Kindes, Unterhaltungen mit der Schulleiterin. Ihr Mann arbeitet als Lehrer in einer Volkshochschule, und die gesamte Lehrerschaft lebt mit Familie am Gelände der Schule.

Der Schreibstil hat mir leider gar nicht gefallen, deshalb bin ich auch überhaupt nicht in die Geschichte, oder nennen wir es besser Erzählung, reingekommen bzw. konnte ich mich nicht darauf einlassen. Abwechselnd wird in der Ich-Perspektive erzählt, ein dänisches Lied mit neu erfundenem Text niedergeschrieben und ein Brief aus dem Kummerkasten inkl. Antwort abgedruckt. Die Lieder sind....grenzwertig schlecht gedichtet. Also die habe ich im Endeffekt gar nicht mehr gelesen. Die Briefe aus dem Kummerkasten sind besser, aber die Antworten teilweise wirklich mühsam egozentrisch. Die Erzählungen sind wirr und es wird einfach so dahin erzählt à la Peter sagte,.... und dann sagte Maria...

Im Endeffekt habe ich das Buch nur noch überflogen und war ehrlich gesagt froh, wie es vorbei war. Vielleicht hätte mir das Buchcover schon einen Hinweis geben sollen, denn auch dieses finde ich wenig hübsch. Die Buchbeschreibung hingegen hat mich angesprochen.

[Ulla Walter · Rating 5 out of 5]

En fantastisk sprogperle. Jeg har grinet mig igennem; elsket hovedpersonens manglende forståelse for “rigtig opførsel” og de orakelsvar fra brevkassen nød jeg helt igennem. Efterlades med følelsen af at det er fedt ikke at være ordentlig men også udfordrende og konfliktfyldt men så hjælper det altid at være sjov på egen bekostning

[Line · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jeg vil gøre det kort. Jeg forstår måske ikke helt hypen for denne bog. Altså… den var da skrevet i et nemt og letlæseligt tempo/sprog. Men… jeg kedede mig altså undervejs ad flere omgange.