Seventeen

by Per Nilsson

Seventeen-year-old Jonatan ends up in the emergency room, where many secrets are revealed. His dad, sitting with him, starts relating all the things he should have told Jonatan a long time about his own time as a seventeen-year-old hippie in the early 1970s, about how he met the rebellious girl who would become Jonatan's mother, and about the catastrophe that prevented Jonatan from seeing his dad for eleven years. Several other people also have their say, with completely different stories. It all seems to be about Jonatan, about who he is and how he became the person he is. But has he heared anything that has been said, and why is he lying here?

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Sweden, Read For School, Childrens

264 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

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

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

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

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

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

Reviews

[Janica Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

lets you contemplate your whole life, of how you want it to be, the realization of your dreams, and how you stand for the things you believe in..
what were you like when you were seventeen? how about now? did you change, can you honestly say that you've grown up?
an absolute must-read for everyone especially teens.. :))

[Kristine Kellens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ik las dit boek omdat de leerlingen het binnenkort kunnen kiezen voor een literatuuropdracht, maar na de lectuur ga ik het zeker niet als warme aanbeveling geven.

Het eerste deel, waarin de vader zijn verhaal doet, is op zich wel leuk, met een beschrijving van de jaren 70 door de ogen van een 17-jarige hippie. Het is echter te langdradig.

Daarna komt de versie van de moeder, die een interessant perspectief biedt op de gebeurtenissen die de vader (anders) beschreven heeft.

Het einde is echter waardeloos en doet niets met de grotere vragen die je je tijdens de lectuur stelt. Wat is er gebeurd met Jonatan? Waarom had hij het nummer van zijn vader in zijn broekzak? Hoe zal het verder verlopen met Karin, Claes en Göran? Heeft Göran enig schuldinzicht over de manier waarop hij Karin geterroriseerd heeft?

Dit boek heeft heel weinig met me gedaan.

[Sunanda van Dam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wanneer wordt iets een recht of wanneer verzamel je tegoeden van de ander?

Göran wordt als eerste gebeld als zijn zoon Jonatan van 17 in coma op de spoedeisende hulp terecht komt. Hij heeft zijn zoon lang niet gezien en vertelt zijn levensverhaal.

Een mooi boek over 17 jaar zijn, keuzes maken, ambities en liefde.

[Yseult · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chouette histoire avec de grandes longueurs. Et surtout, il y a ce truc que je hais : une fin ouverte ! NON, mais oh !

[Embla Jernstig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Per Nilsson kommer alltid vara en av Sveriges skickligaste berättare.

[Hanna Serdynski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Thought it was unique.

[Nat · Rating 2 out of 5]

musiałam na niderlandzki przeczytać, szkoda że na końcu nadal nie wiadomo co się stało dzień przed

[Els]

Schoolopdracht Jakob

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't understand why/how this book is meant for teens. Teens feature so little in it.

Seventeen-year-old Jonaton ends up in a coma after drinking too much. His absentee father shows up and decides to tell him the story of his life. His life consists of smoking dope and wasting time with his friends, until he meets Karin, Jonaton's mother. Ten years pass and the relationship breaks up.

Somewhere in the middle of this storytelling, the girlfriend shows up. She has something to do with the the drinking of too much alcohol and why there's blood on the kids shirt that isn't his. By the way, reader's never do get to find out what happened with the kid.

Then, towards the end, mom shows up and decides to tell her side of the story. Surprise, surprise, it's radically different than dad's telling.

This just really isn't a book for teens.

[Yasmine Dero · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the book very much. First of all, i'm a fan of different persons that tell one story and this book has that part. I also enjoyed the fact that the story surprised me. F.i. , first Goran tells his story and then Karin. And when Karin tells about Goran you get a completely different image of him. I also liked the story itself because it tells about the youth of Goran and Karin , parents of Jonatan, in which Goran whas a hippie and Karin was a communist. I just like to read about that time and the things they did. The only thing that bothered me is a little bit of an open end. In the middle of the book you get to know that Jonatan did something to Josefine, his girlfriend and that there's a reason why he lies on intensive care. I hoped to know those things, but it stays un-answered. And i just don't like open ends :)

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

For high schools only, due to language (liberal use of the f-word and others) and situations (casual smoking of hash and other drug use – in descriptions of life in the ‘70’s – as well as non-explicit sexual situations). The story is told alternately from the points of view of Jonatan’s father, girlfriend and mother as the 17-year-old lies in a hospital bed apparently recovering from an alcohol poisoning incident. The reader never finds out what directly brought Jonatan to this circumstance, but learns a lot about the people who shaped him as he grew up.

[Ems · Rating 1 out of 5]

(I had to read this book for school)
In my opinion this was written in a very bad/difficult way. Words kept repeating each sentence for example 'He said ... He said...' and so on and so on.
The book wasn't even close to what I expected, I thought it would be a cute story of a dad who tells his son how his life was, with cute relationships and friendships. While in reality it was mostly about drugs and sex.
Not what I expected at all, quite disappointed about the book if I say so myself.
Wish I could take back the time I spend reading this book to do more useful things

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Half "blah," half "pretty good."

[Sanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is tragically beautiful, it is magnificent. It demonstrates the writer's knowledge and understanding of love.

[Li · Rating 1 out of 5]

Un livre qui m'a déçue...
http://www.au-bout-des-pages.com/2015...

[Elin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Minns typ ett hus på omslaget.

[Inge · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had to read the book for an assignment. Didn't like it at all. It was all about the drugs actually and the story wasn't helping either.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a little while to get in to this book but I really enjoyed the thoughts about relationships and life. The end left me hanging just a bit but I think I can let it go this time. :)

[KGJ Ganters · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a Per Nilsson book it was not that good. But it got better towards the end.