You and You and You

by Per Nilsson, Tara Chace (Translator)

Twelve-year-old Anon is so lost in his dual fantasies of befriending Sara, the owner of the library card he's found, and of his absentee father's god-like qualities that he doesn't mind that everyone at school is making fun of him. Seventeen-year-old Zarah has her mind on the alarming behavior of her jealous boyfriend as well as her relationship with a woman at work, which suddenly becomes complicated. Nils, who is going through an existential crisis, engages in some risky behavior while exploring how it might feel to be dead. He is also obsessed with Zarah, although he doesn't really know her. Then Nils's friend Hannes makes a misstep that might have deadly consequences. When Anon meets Sara, and Nils meets Zarah, and Anon and Zarah and Nils all come together unexpectedly, their lives take surprising new turns.

Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Sweden, Scandinavian Literature, Childrens, Swedish Literature

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

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

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

New job at a school library means that I'm trying to get hip to YA material. I lucked out with this one, checked it out on a whim from BPL. Translated from the Swedish, it's sweet and charming and sharp, and if this is the kind of thing teenagers are reading... well, maybe they'll be okay after all.

[Hallie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this author's writing style (and/or the translator's style - so hard to tell), and it was interesting how easy it was to relate to a much younger character. The three-way first person narration was well-done.

[Anouk Vanelderen · Rating 2 out of 5]

in het begin een beetje raar maar hoe meer naar het einde toe hoe liever ik wilde weten wat er gebeurde. De delen over Anon vond ik vaak wel saaier

[Artem Sokolov · Rating 3 out of 5]

En rätt så charmig ungdomsbok som bör dömas utifrån vad den är. Här kan skulle jag kunna klaga på språket, karaktärerna som ibland är inte är särskilt trovärdiga men kontentan är att jag tror att många ungdomar skulle kunna uppskatta den här boken.

[Gift Kwangisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is this really about. When I first read the first chapter I thought it would be a fantasy story but alas😑
I rate it high because as a writer it showed me a good way to show the passage of time in present tense and that holds dear to me. I actually learned something from this.

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nää.. jag fattade nog inte riktigt. Platta karaktärer, och konstig var den, men liksom aldrig med någon höjd. Tyvärr, för det fanns ändå något någonstans.

[Norya Figueiredo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. For real. Its so different from other books. Its so weird and it makes you think.

[sonya · Rating 2 out of 5]

confusing ending but enjoyed the read. its something u read and forget. a quick read for a road trip or something. enjoyable but nothing special.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s good but a little too slow.

[Ivette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Often times , many people go through terrible things in life such as abuse , bullying , and death and they tend to keep it inside themselves because they feel that if they speak up the problem will get more worse . But once meeting someone that can brighten up your life it can change your life forever . Zarah , Nills , and Anon the protagonists in the book all go through conflicts . Zarah’s boyfriend abuses her , Anon goes through bullying with people in his school , he lives in his world . Nills thinks about death and life . I honestly really liked the book because I can relate to it in a way .
The main protagonists in my book are Zarah , Aznon and Nills . Zarah believed that children are disgusting and she doesn’t like them . Anon daydreams a lot and he gets bullied a lot in school and people look at him weirdly . Nills , is a kid who thinks about death and about life a lot throughout his life , . Zarah is they type of girl that doesn’t let someone bring her down , Zarah takes revenge from people, she does the same thing what people do to her . For example Zarah saw that her boyfriend was surrounded by girls , so Zarah did the same thing until her boyfriend Victor noticed her . Anon is kid who doesn’t care what other people think of him , he acts like himself without a care in the world . Like for example Anon daydreams while walking and sometimes when he’s in a deep daydream he bumps into lampposts . Nills thinks about life and death . Nills isn’t even the slightest bit scared of dying .
"But there is me.
And you. Somewhere out there, there's you.
And I'm glad there's you. And I'm glad that I know that
there's you.
And somewhere, in a remote corner somewhere,
there's a little we. A little we that will still be there no matter
what happens now."
The theme relates to the book because in the book Zarah , Anon and Nills both go through problems in their life , but they end up meeting each other ! Their lives changed and meeting each other becomes a big impact in their life because it made them more open-minded to themselves . Nills , Zarah , and Anon have both learned from their lives , they learned that keeping everything bottled up inside you isn’t a safe idea in life , it can lead to having negative thoughts and the least part that can happen is death .

I feel that the book itself wasn’t very organized . The way the book was written is that each chapter started off with a different story from a character and that got me very confusing because I had to go back and remember what happened to the protagonist . I would recommend this book to other people because it can change on how you see the world . After reading this book , it changed view on the world and I became more careful on walking on this planet because there are some people who can backstab you without even knowing it . I feel that other readers will sort of feel the way I feel because I mean c’mon everyone has different interpretations on the way they see things depending from experience .

[Julise · Rating 2 out of 5]

what 12 year old girl wears matching bra and panties, and why would an adult man write about underage girls in their underwear? liked the relationship of the moms though.

[Danielle Cha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the book You & You & you by Per Nillson. The book is set is sweden, and it follows the story of three different people. Anon, a ten year old boy, doesnt seem to fit in with his peers and spends most of his time daydreaming about a girl named Zarah who he has never actually met. Zarah is a 19 year old girl who finds herself stuck in a relationship verging on the edge of abusive. But she becomes close to a female coworker, and realizes she might be wrong about what she really wants. The last character is Nils, another 19 year old who meets Zarah and makes her his main focus in life even though she doesn't love him back. I would rate this book a 2 because it was as i read it i felt like there wasn't much of a purpose overall to the book. I liked that it was written from the perspective of three different people, and the authors style of writing was definitely satisfying. The feel of the book was sort of grim though, and it always seemed like there was something happening that the reader wasn't in on. The theme of the book was fate. It follows the stories of three different people that all end up being connected in some way by the end of the book. i think that the authors purpose for their craft choices was to show how important people can come into your life at such an unexpected time and make life changing impacts on you. In one scene from this book, Nils sees a pretty girl walk down the street and he cant get her off his mind for the whole beginning of the book. She turns out to be the other main character, Zarah, and she doesn't even know he exists the whole time. She becomes the center of his world while she goes off and falls in love with her co worker. Their paths eventually meet, and i think that the way the author portrays this is very smart because it emphasizes her theme by giving an example of it while also creating a sort of mystery for the reader because they never really know when these three characters will cross paths.

[Zayd Nubani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personally I thought this was interesting, there were a lot of different side stories but all involving the characters. There were a few hardships, but lots of happy ups to the book as well. The book revolved around three characters destined to meet; Nils who was around 18-20 years of age who is fascinated by death, Zarah who is 17 years old and has no real family background and is dating a criminal, and Anon who is socially awkward and is always lost in thought. It all begins with Anon who finds Zarah's wallet at the bus-stop, and ever since then he imagines meeting her and telling him about all the things that intrigue him. Nils on the other hand meet Zarah at a bar were a quick introduction kiss was presented, after that event Nils followed her every where but she never noticed. Though the exciting part isn't until they all come together, and all the past experiences twine together. If you are to read this book I would consider that some of the content is for young-adults.

[Elena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read this for a school assignment.
At first I compleatly hated this book but I beat through the first few chapters and I actually quite enjoyed it. Sometimes I wanted to rip the protagonists to shreds but then again I realised that this book is something you don't have to take to literally. They al have some sort of a "god complex". Anon thinks his dad is one, Nils tries to figure out if there is a god and if so; what is a god made of and Zarah sometimes believes she is Aphrodite and that her abusive bf is more of an Ares than an asshole. You have to take time to read this book and at first there's a big chance you'll hate but if you take time to peel of layer by layer there could be a pearl hidden in this book.

[Nusrath · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is in the perspective of three different characters, Anon, Nils, and Zarah. They talk about their lives and how it falls apart. Towards the end they all three meet up together not knowing each other and they change each others lives. One literary element that is present in the book is imagery. The author does an excellent job on describing the actions that occur. It helped me as a reader to imagine what was happening. I wouldn't recommend this book because it is in the third-person omniscient point of view, which is when the narrator is a character in the story, but the narrator also knows the thoughts of all the characters.

[Sunny M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fell In love Accidentally....

A few years a ago I got a gift card for Barns and Noble and I was at the register when I realized I could get one more book ams not wanting to keep everyone waiting in line I was just gonna come back but this book caught me from the corner of eyes and omg ive never been so glad in my whole life


I've spent literally 2yrs trying to find out the name of the author since I remembered it outta nowhere. This book so refreshing and is written in such a different way its a book I would recommend any avaid reader and one I can read over and over again

[Marjolijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lazen mijn leerlingen maar dit soort bijna-grote-mensenliteratuur (i.p.v. die eindeloze loser ...).
Prachtig boek waarin een geraffineerd spel wordt gespeeld met de vorm van het boek en grote christelijke thema's.
Nils brengt drie (delen) van nachtem door in (of bij) het graf. En Magdalena smeert de voeten van de jongen die denkt dat zijn vader god is in met bodylotion.

Absurd (maar daar hou ik van), prachtig geschreven en mooie literaire thema's.

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would say between 2 and 3 stars. It was better than "ok", but, in some weird way, I don't think it deserves 3. Anyways, I read it in the original language: Swedish (for school). And it was a little bit special. One of the few things that I actually liked alot was how the three main characters were bound to each other.

[Kayla Tornello · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't even know what to really say about this book. I didn't care about a single character. Also, I hated that it seemed to exonerate an abusive boyfriend by having his girlfriend just keep making excuses for him and going back to him. There were a few interesting bits in the story, but not enough to keep me hooked. This book was just strange, and not in a good way.

[Debra Hewitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost gave up on it early on because I didn't find the characters very compelling at first and disliked the change of viewpoint chapter by chapter. But it really grew on me, and I ended up feeling a little fond of the characters and the author. I particularly liked the ending. Very satisfying.

[Kaela Horowitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

you do not quite understand life until this book is read. i recommend this book to anyone who's a bit confused about where they are in life.

[P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is almost a 3 star book for me. It was sweet and had great little moments. I was really disappointed in one of the characters, though. Her actions, not the way she was written.

[Jacque · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book, and I liked how everyone was connected.

[Lo:) · Rating 4 out of 5]

strange...but i liked it ..it was differnt and caught me off gaurd
its something out of the ordinary and i liked that..not like other typical books :)

[Natalie (CuriousReader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love his way of thinking and writing, it's very different from other swedish authors I've read.

[Shirelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit odd, but interesting to read.

[Chantal Lenting · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this when I was in Denmark last week.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book just made me laugh..... kinda

[Klara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would rather read The Maze Runner #2.

[Nanna Elisabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually kinda liked this one.