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Horyzont zdarzeń
Milde to mieszkanka Skrajów – miejsca, gdzie pozbawione praw matki i córki żyją w trudnych warunkach poza społeczeństwem. Niemile widziane w mieście, zostają deportowane w rejon przygraniczny. W Milde narasta jednak bunt wobec tej sytuacji. Ma siedemnaście lat, kiedy wraz z przyjaciółkami rozpoczyna zamieszki w nadmorskim kurorcie i zostaje aresztowana. Dostaje wybór: egzekucja bądź zgoda na udział w locie badawczym prosto w czarną dziurę.
Milde wybiera kosmiczną wieczność…
Horyzont zdarzeń to poruszająca powieść o ucisku, emigracji, solidarności, traumie i stracie. Balsam Karam tworzy własny język, żeby opisać niezachwianą wiarę młodej kobiety w lepszy świat i jej opór przed koniecznością podporządkowania się.
Milde wybiera kosmiczną wieczność…
Horyzont zdarzeń to poruszająca powieść o ucisku, emigracji, solidarności, traumie i stracie. Balsam Karam tworzy własny język, żeby opisać niezachwianą wiarę młodej kobiety w lepszy świat i jej opór przed koniecznością podporządkowania się.
232 pages, Paperback
First published March 8, 2018
34 people are currently reading
1119 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
November 20, 2025
Swedish Kurdish author Balsam Karam’s debut’s an excellent example of the kind of book Isabella Hammad once characterised as providing “a route into thinking about the great brutality of the period through which we are living.” It’s the first in a loose trilogy, rather than concrete references Karam’s sequel The Singularity carries traces and echoes harking back to this one. Karam’s disciplined narrative has a mythic, hypnotic quality, shortlisted for Sweden’s prestigious Katapult Prize it also won the Smålits Migrantpris - the migrant or refugee experience is at the heart of Karam’s arresting piece. Poetic, non-linear, fiercely political, deliberately disorientating, Karam’s prose is reminiscent of Etel Adnan’s – unsurprisingly Adnan and Marguerite Duras are favourite authors.
The novel’s centred on a group of women and children living in an unnamed country which partly, but not fully, corresponds to reality. These people are the displaced of a nearby prosperous city, inhabitants who were never granted citizenship they’ve been relocated somewhere so obscure it’s hard to refer to with any precision. This place is separated from the city’s environs by a giant rubbish dump where the women and children scavenge – like Rio’s famous trash pickers - for materials to aid their survival. At first this place was an officially-designated camp, fenced-off and patrolled by armed guards on the understanding that the women and children would soon be deported across the nearby border. But this has never come to pass so the women and children remain in this liminal space where they were eventually left to fend for themselves.
The women and children slowly work out ways to live, the women craft objects to sell from things gleaned from the dump. the children clean the beaches frequented by rich, white tourists, collecting leftovers or discarded food to share with their makeshift community now known as the Outskirts. Karam refuses to pin down aspects of her story. We’re told, for example, that the people in authority in this country are white and it’s their interactions with the women and children that suggests these dispossessed, stateless people are not. A juxtaposition that underlines the fact that Karam’s exploring the devastating consequences of racist, colonialist policies and policing. Her searing portrayal of wealth inequality also forms an ongoing indictment of capitalism and consumerism. For the women and children, the city is a terrifying, dangerous place where even local hotel managers mix daily mounds of edible waste with glass to ensure it can’t be safely foraged.
But, although the women and children are routinely victimised, they aren’t solely victims. Karam’s story is as much about resilience and resistance as it is about oppression. The women build a shanty town including a school where they use discarded books to educate their children. Some of these children grow up to imagine a world in which they have power, eventually a small band form a group intent on fighting back. It’s Milde, a teenage girl who’s part of their planned uprising, whose possible fate propels Karam’s unorthodox plot. Karam doesn’t condemn political violence rather she demonstrates how in situations where those ‘othered’ are subjected to relentless literal and symbolic violence, actual violence can become their only means of being heard. Mid-uprising Milde is captured and offered the choice of execution or becoming the subject of a grisly experiment in which she’ll be shot into space. A one-way mission to report on the effects of a black hole or ‘the mass’ on Milde’s body. This ‘mass’ seems to operate as a metaphor which highlights the impact of a lived experience of trauma and invisibility on the body particularly the bodies of those considered less than human. But it’s not clear if the choice presented to Milde really happened or if it’s a fairy tale fuelling a fantasy or folk memory in which Milde becomes a potent reminder of revolutionary possibilities, a martyred figure at the core of a wider, evolving narrative of refusal.
As with The Singularity Karam draws too on personal history, the conditions in the prison where Milde’s held, the torture she undergoes closely resemble the treatment of Karam’s dissident father. But Karam’s decision not to make her setting recognisable enables chains of association to form: for me the prison made me think of the increasingly-notorious Israeli facilities in which Palestinians continue to be horrifically mistreated; the removal of the women and children from the city ICE’s ongoing activities in America. But this isn’t an unremittingly gruelling piece, there are moments of exquisite tenderness: expressions of the mothers’ deep love for their children, cats nestling under the children’s sweaters as the children gently stroke them. I was impressed by The Singularity but I wasn’t totally convinced by its dual narrative, Event Horizon’s more focused and as a result, I think, far more powerful and memorable. Translated by Saskia Vogel.
Thanks to Edelweiss and Feminist Press at CUNY for an ARC
Note: The UK edition’s due to be published by Fitzcarraldo.
The novel’s centred on a group of women and children living in an unnamed country which partly, but not fully, corresponds to reality. These people are the displaced of a nearby prosperous city, inhabitants who were never granted citizenship they’ve been relocated somewhere so obscure it’s hard to refer to with any precision. This place is separated from the city’s environs by a giant rubbish dump where the women and children scavenge – like Rio’s famous trash pickers - for materials to aid their survival. At first this place was an officially-designated camp, fenced-off and patrolled by armed guards on the understanding that the women and children would soon be deported across the nearby border. But this has never come to pass so the women and children remain in this liminal space where they were eventually left to fend for themselves.
The women and children slowly work out ways to live, the women craft objects to sell from things gleaned from the dump. the children clean the beaches frequented by rich, white tourists, collecting leftovers or discarded food to share with their makeshift community now known as the Outskirts. Karam refuses to pin down aspects of her story. We’re told, for example, that the people in authority in this country are white and it’s their interactions with the women and children that suggests these dispossessed, stateless people are not. A juxtaposition that underlines the fact that Karam’s exploring the devastating consequences of racist, colonialist policies and policing. Her searing portrayal of wealth inequality also forms an ongoing indictment of capitalism and consumerism. For the women and children, the city is a terrifying, dangerous place where even local hotel managers mix daily mounds of edible waste with glass to ensure it can’t be safely foraged.
But, although the women and children are routinely victimised, they aren’t solely victims. Karam’s story is as much about resilience and resistance as it is about oppression. The women build a shanty town including a school where they use discarded books to educate their children. Some of these children grow up to imagine a world in which they have power, eventually a small band form a group intent on fighting back. It’s Milde, a teenage girl who’s part of their planned uprising, whose possible fate propels Karam’s unorthodox plot. Karam doesn’t condemn political violence rather she demonstrates how in situations where those ‘othered’ are subjected to relentless literal and symbolic violence, actual violence can become their only means of being heard. Mid-uprising Milde is captured and offered the choice of execution or becoming the subject of a grisly experiment in which she’ll be shot into space. A one-way mission to report on the effects of a black hole or ‘the mass’ on Milde’s body. This ‘mass’ seems to operate as a metaphor which highlights the impact of a lived experience of trauma and invisibility on the body particularly the bodies of those considered less than human. But it’s not clear if the choice presented to Milde really happened or if it’s a fairy tale fuelling a fantasy or folk memory in which Milde becomes a potent reminder of revolutionary possibilities, a martyred figure at the core of a wider, evolving narrative of refusal.
As with The Singularity Karam draws too on personal history, the conditions in the prison where Milde’s held, the torture she undergoes closely resemble the treatment of Karam’s dissident father. But Karam’s decision not to make her setting recognisable enables chains of association to form: for me the prison made me think of the increasingly-notorious Israeli facilities in which Palestinians continue to be horrifically mistreated; the removal of the women and children from the city ICE’s ongoing activities in America. But this isn’t an unremittingly gruelling piece, there are moments of exquisite tenderness: expressions of the mothers’ deep love for their children, cats nestling under the children’s sweaters as the children gently stroke them. I was impressed by The Singularity but I wasn’t totally convinced by its dual narrative, Event Horizon’s more focused and as a result, I think, far more powerful and memorable. Translated by Saskia Vogel.
Thanks to Edelweiss and Feminist Press at CUNY for an ARC
Note: The UK edition’s due to be published by Fitzcarraldo.
March 26, 2025
Extremadamente aburrido y pretencioso.
February 13, 2026
A story about sacrifice and found family, but ultimately about resistance and the refusal to accept injustice.
Displaced to the mountainous terrain on the edge of a tourist filled city, the women and children of the Outskirts are given tents and told by the soldiers to wait there until they can be moved across the border from which point they will be on their own and the country will wipe their hands of them.
On the surface, it appears as if they comply. They don’t try to return to the city, to their former homes, they don’t put up a huge fight. But their initial act of resistance is turning this land of banishment, this place clearly meant to dehumanize and other them, into their home. Into a place lovingly and carefully built with their own hands, into a place centered around community and afternoons on the slope filled with tea and reading aloud to one another, into a place they cherish, where the mist hangs heavy and the stars are as bright as can be.
When the resistance turns violent and one of their own is caught in the uprising, the young woman is offered the choice of public execution or being blast off into a black hole as part of an experiment about what happens to a body when it reaches the event horizon. Though I’ve described these events in the order in which they happened, this is not a linear story and the book opens with the woman’s preparation for space and the second half is where we see the creation and evolution of the Outskirts. While reading the first part didn’t feel odd at the time, I admit the space/black hole storyline feels a bit strange and out of place upon completion.
This novel shares a lot with The Singularity (the second novel in this loose trilogy but published in translation first) both thematically and in the way Karam plays with form throughout the books. The second half of this novel is told exclusively through short vignettes, hardly ever filling a full page, but I found these the most affecting pages.
Filled with both anger and tenderness, Event Horizon is a deeply political book and serves as a reminder that resistance is never just one thing
Displaced to the mountainous terrain on the edge of a tourist filled city, the women and children of the Outskirts are given tents and told by the soldiers to wait there until they can be moved across the border from which point they will be on their own and the country will wipe their hands of them.
On the surface, it appears as if they comply. They don’t try to return to the city, to their former homes, they don’t put up a huge fight. But their initial act of resistance is turning this land of banishment, this place clearly meant to dehumanize and other them, into their home. Into a place lovingly and carefully built with their own hands, into a place centered around community and afternoons on the slope filled with tea and reading aloud to one another, into a place they cherish, where the mist hangs heavy and the stars are as bright as can be.
When the resistance turns violent and one of their own is caught in the uprising, the young woman is offered the choice of public execution or being blast off into a black hole as part of an experiment about what happens to a body when it reaches the event horizon. Though I’ve described these events in the order in which they happened, this is not a linear story and the book opens with the woman’s preparation for space and the second half is where we see the creation and evolution of the Outskirts. While reading the first part didn’t feel odd at the time, I admit the space/black hole storyline feels a bit strange and out of place upon completion.
This novel shares a lot with The Singularity (the second novel in this loose trilogy but published in translation first) both thematically and in the way Karam plays with form throughout the books. The second half of this novel is told exclusively through short vignettes, hardly ever filling a full page, but I found these the most affecting pages.
Filled with both anger and tenderness, Event Horizon is a deeply political book and serves as a reminder that resistance is never just one thing
May 4, 2026
¶ What is a home? The Outskirts became Milde's home.
It was here one day that the mothers bad been driven in lorries here by the border one day, before the Outskirts had even begun to 1 take shape as an idea and all the mothers and children knew was that the city was no longer theirs to return to.
Event Horizon (2026) is Saskia Vogel's translation of Händelsehorisonten (2019) by Balsam Karam.
This was the first (in the original) of a loose trilogy of novels, the second (but first to appear in English translation) Singulariteten (2021) translated by Vogel as The Singularity (2024) - my review - and the final part Mörk materia (2025) (Dark Matter, but as yet untranslated).
The novel is told in a fablistic style and in a non-linear fashion, the opening Prologue suggesting this may be a story told by the main character, Milde's mother.
Milde and her mother Essa lived in a city as undocumented immigrants (albeit from more than one generation ago), a city that caters to tourists and run by white policemen. Ten years ago, when Milde was 7, her family and her community - one exclusively of women and girls - were deported from the city to a temporary camp the other side of some mountains, pending further deportation to the neighbouring country.
But in practice they are left there, and, led by Essa, and with only very occassional help from aid organisation, and largely ignored and forgottem by the city they once lived in, the women build a community, the Outskirts, and a new home out of materials they scavenge:
They're talking about deportation, we told them, Do you understand what that means? They're talking about taking us across the border and leaving us there, they're saying we have to go home, but what home do we have other than this one, I told them. I was born here and my child was born here, I told them - It's true that we've beenliving without papers for all these years, but now were being deported -is that acceptable? These are our lives I told them, but no one wanted to listen and so we ended up here. Milde listens to her mother and sits down beside her, watching the buildings rise one by one, wishing she already knew how to build a home.
In the novel's present day, 17 year old Milde, together with two friends (aged 16 and 21) are chosen to lead an uprising against the city authorities, petrol-bombing some municipal buildings. Sought by the police, having been seen leading the uprising, Milde hides in a cave but when, despite Essa's admonitions, she tries to return to the Outskirts she is arrested and sentenced to hang.
However, at least in Essa's story, she is offered an alternative sentence - to take part in a scientific mission to travel in space towards a black hole and record her observations as she crosses the event horizon, one she accepts, adding some preconditions for aid to those that remain in the Outskirts:
Sure, I can go to space and die, why not? I'd rather die in the depths of a black hole than wait around to be executed here, if you see what I mean. I'm doing this so that I can sit back and rest for once, no knife or metal lid hidden under my pillow, and so that, if only for a day, I won't have to look at those same white faces that wish me harm.
Sure, I can go to space and die, why not? I'd rather die here than continue to be of service here, if you see what I mean. I'm doing this for the sake of my sisters and for the Outskirts - for the children and the slope and the cats yowling as soon as it's bedtime and the mist is pressing against the roofs; I'm doing this for the sake of the washing lines and the washbuckets, and for every tap in every place where taps are rusting away but dammit if they aren't still in working order, do you see what I mean?
A powerful fable, although not quite as successful as The Singularity, which felt a more developed work. Like that work, an odd omission from the International Booker - perhaps one to be rectified when Dark Matter is (hopefully) translated by Vogel and published.
It was here one day that the mothers bad been driven in lorries here by the border one day, before the Outskirts had even begun to 1 take shape as an idea and all the mothers and children knew was that the city was no longer theirs to return to.
Event Horizon (2026) is Saskia Vogel's translation of Händelsehorisonten (2019) by Balsam Karam.
This was the first (in the original) of a loose trilogy of novels, the second (but first to appear in English translation) Singulariteten (2021) translated by Vogel as The Singularity (2024) - my review - and the final part Mörk materia (2025) (Dark Matter, but as yet untranslated).
The novel is told in a fablistic style and in a non-linear fashion, the opening Prologue suggesting this may be a story told by the main character, Milde's mother.
Milde and her mother Essa lived in a city as undocumented immigrants (albeit from more than one generation ago), a city that caters to tourists and run by white policemen. Ten years ago, when Milde was 7, her family and her community - one exclusively of women and girls - were deported from the city to a temporary camp the other side of some mountains, pending further deportation to the neighbouring country.
But in practice they are left there, and, led by Essa, and with only very occassional help from aid organisation, and largely ignored and forgottem by the city they once lived in, the women build a community, the Outskirts, and a new home out of materials they scavenge:
They're talking about deportation, we told them, Do you understand what that means? They're talking about taking us across the border and leaving us there, they're saying we have to go home, but what home do we have other than this one, I told them. I was born here and my child was born here, I told them - It's true that we've beenliving without papers for all these years, but now were being deported -is that acceptable? These are our lives I told them, but no one wanted to listen and so we ended up here. Milde listens to her mother and sits down beside her, watching the buildings rise one by one, wishing she already knew how to build a home.
In the novel's present day, 17 year old Milde, together with two friends (aged 16 and 21) are chosen to lead an uprising against the city authorities, petrol-bombing some municipal buildings. Sought by the police, having been seen leading the uprising, Milde hides in a cave but when, despite Essa's admonitions, she tries to return to the Outskirts she is arrested and sentenced to hang.
However, at least in Essa's story, she is offered an alternative sentence - to take part in a scientific mission to travel in space towards a black hole and record her observations as she crosses the event horizon, one she accepts, adding some preconditions for aid to those that remain in the Outskirts:
Sure, I can go to space and die, why not? I'd rather die in the depths of a black hole than wait around to be executed here, if you see what I mean. I'm doing this so that I can sit back and rest for once, no knife or metal lid hidden under my pillow, and so that, if only for a day, I won't have to look at those same white faces that wish me harm.
Sure, I can go to space and die, why not? I'd rather die here than continue to be of service here, if you see what I mean. I'm doing this for the sake of my sisters and for the Outskirts - for the children and the slope and the cats yowling as soon as it's bedtime and the mist is pressing against the roofs; I'm doing this for the sake of the washing lines and the washbuckets, and for every tap in every place where taps are rusting away but dammit if they aren't still in working order, do you see what I mean?
A powerful fable, although not quite as successful as The Singularity, which felt a more developed work. Like that work, an odd omission from the International Booker - perhaps one to be rectified when Dark Matter is (hopefully) translated by Vogel and published.
Review of advance copy
Milde was eight years old when the tropical country she lived in declared a large number of women and their children to no longer be citizens. They were deporting to a borderless zone between the mountains and the sea. The women with little hope or chance of survival, banded together and formed a resilient community, in the Outskirts, and started with a school and pooled resources.
As she becomes an adult, at seventeen, having been deprived of her childhood, Milde and two friends of a similar age, led an uprising, set fire to government buildings in protest. Milde spent the next eleven years in jail, and was subject to torture. Ten years later she was given a choice, to be executed, or sent into a black hole as a pioneer. After she bargained for community improvements for those in the Outskirts, she was sent into space.
Milde’s destiny ahead of being launched into space is described to her in detail early in the book, and one would be forgiven for thinking this was horror or science fiction. But it is not, rather the focus is on how the people of various countries treat those on the margins of society and refugees. Milde’s mother, Essa, and the community she grew up in, has instilled in her strong moral sensibilities and they are dedicated to caring for and protecting one another.
As well as being a good story, this is an angry and timely piece of writing about activism in the face of dictatorship. With bleak and unyielding overtones the prose is challenging and disturbing throughout; the only ray of light coming from the beautifully described, yet stark landscape. As to the degree to which this is speculative, as many reviewers refer to it, I wouldn’t refer to it as such.. rather, a fable with a clear warning attached to it.
As she becomes an adult, at seventeen, having been deprived of her childhood, Milde and two friends of a similar age, led an uprising, set fire to government buildings in protest. Milde spent the next eleven years in jail, and was subject to torture. Ten years later she was given a choice, to be executed, or sent into a black hole as a pioneer. After she bargained for community improvements for those in the Outskirts, she was sent into space.
Milde’s destiny ahead of being launched into space is described to her in detail early in the book, and one would be forgiven for thinking this was horror or science fiction. But it is not, rather the focus is on how the people of various countries treat those on the margins of society and refugees. Milde’s mother, Essa, and the community she grew up in, has instilled in her strong moral sensibilities and they are dedicated to caring for and protecting one another.
As well as being a good story, this is an angry and timely piece of writing about activism in the face of dictatorship. With bleak and unyielding overtones the prose is challenging and disturbing throughout; the only ray of light coming from the beautifully described, yet stark landscape. As to the degree to which this is speculative, as many reviewers refer to it, I wouldn’t refer to it as such.. rather, a fable with a clear warning attached to it.
July 28, 2019
3,5! så himla fin och bra men ändå inte så bra som den hade kunnat vara.
January 21, 2024
Jestem w opinii o tej książce rozdarta. Z jednej strony mamy bardzo dobry pomysł na fabułę. Dystopia, w której w świecie przedstawionym kobiety wykluczone i pozbawione praw, matki i córki wypędzone z miasta zamieszkują tereny przygraniczne tzw. Skraje. Grupa zuchwałych młodych dziewcząt decyduje się na zryw w walce o swoją wolność i godność. Jedną z prowodyrek i przewodniczek tego buntu jest główna bohaterka Milde, córka drugiej głównej postaci Essy. Niestety rebeliancki zostają aresztowane, a Milde skazana na stryczek. Ale dostaje od rządzących propozycję - może się uchronić od egzekucji w zamian za udział w bezpowrotnym locie w śodek czarnej dziury, misji, która ma skończyć się rozerwaniem ciała i śmiercią w imię nauki. Brzmi intrygująco i oryginalnie prawda? Szczególnie, że widzimy w tej wymyślonej przez Balsam Karam rzeczywistości wiele schematów i zachowań dobrze nam znanych z naszego dziś. Sporo tu więc przestrzeni na dyskusje i rozważania, jak o tytułowym horyzoncie zdarzeń, kryzysie uchodźczym czy feminizmie.
Więc dlaczego jestem rozdarta? A no dlatego, że konstrukcyjnie było to dla mnie niebywale chaotyczne. Oczywiście zakładam, że to celowy zabieg, tak jak zaburzona chronologia i brak linearności w historii, ale ostatecznie dało mi to wrażenie szkicu, a nie skończonego dzieła. Dodatkowo językowo było to toporne i choć pisze o tym tłumaczka w posłowiu próbując wytłumaczyć dlaczego przekład zagubił poetyckość oryginału, to nie zmienia to faktu, że było to dla mnie uwierające podczas czytania. I chyba nic więcej nie dodam.
Więc dlaczego jestem rozdarta? A no dlatego, że konstrukcyjnie było to dla mnie niebywale chaotyczne. Oczywiście zakładam, że to celowy zabieg, tak jak zaburzona chronologia i brak linearności w historii, ale ostatecznie dało mi to wrażenie szkicu, a nie skończonego dzieła. Dodatkowo językowo było to toporne i choć pisze o tym tłumaczka w posłowiu próbując wytłumaczyć dlaczego przekład zagubił poetyckość oryginału, to nie zmienia to faktu, że było to dla mnie uwierające podczas czytania. I chyba nic więcej nie dodam.
Want to Read
April 23, 2026Thank you to Book*Hug Press for the early copy... too bad I messed up, pre-ordered a duplicate, and now it's headed to my old address LOL xx
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May 8, 2026
Ką tik pabaigiau knygą, dar nelabai turiu žodžių, bet paskutinį kartą taip amo netekus jaučiausi perskaičius Small Boat (Vincent Delacroix). Nereali, neapsakoma knyga, kuri patiks tikrai ne visiems, bet man Event Horizon šauna į visų laikų geriausių knygų penketuką.
April 24, 2018
"Milde skulle säga: I fängelset fann jag ett andra hem med andra systrar och andra mödrar, och när de ropade mig till isoleringscellen ställde sig alltid någon annan upp och sa: "här är jag" och följde med vakten ut. Och de slängde Sabina i isoleringscellen och de slängde Marisol i isoleringscellen och de slängde Silvia i isoleringscellen gång på gång. Och när de en dag ropade Sabina till isoleringscellen reste jag mig upp och sa att hon var jag och följde glatt med vakten som inte märkte att mitt vänsteröga och båda pekfingrarna var borta. Vet du hur sådant känns?"
Den här boken är fantastisk. Ett flödande poetiskt språk där även tiden och berättelsen flödar fram och tillbaka från då och nu. Vi får följa Milde som befinner sig i Utkanterna, där mödrar och barn blivit deporterade. Ett mellanting utan regler. De lär sig att akta sig för vita, utsatta för våld och utan rättigheter. De skapar sig ett hem, karvar fram det ur den otäcka verklighet de befinner sig i. Vi får inga svar på varför det blivit såhär. Den här boken är en berättelse om skeenden som händer nu och kan hända i denna vidriga tid vi lever i idag . All feghet och rädsla som tar sig uttryck i mer och mer destruktiva förtryckarmekanismer. Samtidigt är detta en lovsång till mödrar, barn och kvinnor. De som tar hand om, mjuka händer och allvarliga samtal. Vilken debut alltså!
Den här boken är fantastisk. Ett flödande poetiskt språk där även tiden och berättelsen flödar fram och tillbaka från då och nu. Vi får följa Milde som befinner sig i Utkanterna, där mödrar och barn blivit deporterade. Ett mellanting utan regler. De lär sig att akta sig för vita, utsatta för våld och utan rättigheter. De skapar sig ett hem, karvar fram det ur den otäcka verklighet de befinner sig i. Vi får inga svar på varför det blivit såhär. Den här boken är en berättelse om skeenden som händer nu och kan hända i denna vidriga tid vi lever i idag . All feghet och rädsla som tar sig uttryck i mer och mer destruktiva förtryckarmekanismer. Samtidigt är detta en lovsång till mödrar, barn och kvinnor. De som tar hand om, mjuka händer och allvarliga samtal. Vilken debut alltså!
April 24, 2018
"Essa skrev: För vem? och sa att det var den viktigaste frågan att ställa. Ställ den till alla som påstår att någonting är gott, bra och riktigt, och till de som stämplar någonting som dåligt, farligt eller förbjudet. Ställ den till era syskon och era mödrar och era vänner när era syskon och era mödrar och era vänner är oklara över för vem. Ställ den till mig de gånger jag påstår någonting utan att förklara mig, och ställ den till er själva varje gång ni önskar någonting men inte vet om er önskan är den rätta. Ställ den, och låt sedan svaret leda er hem."
April 22, 2026
This book was beautifully written, but ended up not being at all what I hoped it was. The issue is the synopsis makes it seem like it's a character's thoughts and experiences as she journeys to her death at the hands of a black hole. Well, there's no black hole in this story, nor any of her journey in space. The entire novel is just the backstory of the main character and the events and situations that lead up to her crime. That would have been fine if that's how the story was sold to me.
Just taking it at face value, the author does an excellent job pointing a finger at problems surrounding race, class, and poverty. However, despite the excellently interrogated theme and the masterful prose I somehow didn't end up caring much about the characters. Maybe because all of the story is just written as a series of events instead of characters' feelings and emotions. I felt quite disconnected from the characters like I was reading a police report instead of a novel. I felt for their situation at a conceptual level, but didn't feel emotionally invested at all. The result is a big nothing burger. If I had the chance to workshop this story I'd suggest she tell it all from the perspective of the main character in flashbacks while interspersing the story with her experiences in space, culminating with her death. It would have been more satisfying and also would connect me more with the main character. Alas. it just felt very arm's length.
Also, minor nitpick, but the scientists mention they would hear her voice recordings after she passes the event horizon, but that's simply not possible. Even light can't escape a black hole, but audio recordings could? It's odd to get this wrong when everything else about the experience was described in a scientifically accurate way. As a physics nerd, this book was such a tease and, ultimately, a disappointment. Fitzcarraldo's latest novels have been misses for me, which worries me about the future of my subscription.
Just taking it at face value, the author does an excellent job pointing a finger at problems surrounding race, class, and poverty. However, despite the excellently interrogated theme and the masterful prose I somehow didn't end up caring much about the characters. Maybe because all of the story is just written as a series of events instead of characters' feelings and emotions. I felt quite disconnected from the characters like I was reading a police report instead of a novel. I felt for their situation at a conceptual level, but didn't feel emotionally invested at all. The result is a big nothing burger. If I had the chance to workshop this story I'd suggest she tell it all from the perspective of the main character in flashbacks while interspersing the story with her experiences in space, culminating with her death. It would have been more satisfying and also would connect me more with the main character. Alas. it just felt very arm's length.
Also, minor nitpick, but the scientists mention they would hear her voice recordings after she passes the event horizon, but that's simply not possible. Even light can't escape a black hole, but audio recordings could? It's odd to get this wrong when everything else about the experience was described in a scientifically accurate way. As a physics nerd, this book was such a tease and, ultimately, a disappointment. Fitzcarraldo's latest novels have been misses for me, which worries me about the future of my subscription.
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February 8, 2019Den var poetisk och med budskap om solidaritet och om medborgarskap och svår att förstå men vacker. Författaren Balsam Karam är bibliotekarie i Rinkeby och har läst litterär gestaltning på Göteborgs universitet vilket är intressant för mig som är göteborgare.
June 11, 2024
W „Horyzoncie zdarzeń” Balsam Karam (tł. Agata Teperek) poznajemy historię siedemnastoletniej Milde, mieszkanki Skrajów - przedmieść, do których deportowano matki wraz z dziećmi. Dziewczyna postanawia się zbuntować i w ramach zrywu podłożyła ogień w mieście, na skutek czego zostaje aresztowana. Dostaje wybór: egzekucja albo udział w locie badawczym do czarnej dziury.
Ale to nie sci-fi o locie w kosmos, to książka oparta na doświadczeniach migracyjnych autorki, w których to nie fabuła jest najważniejsza. To przejmująca lektura o tęsknocie, deportacji, życiu w ubóstwie i nierównościach społecznych.
Z czasem dowiadujemy się coraz więcej na temat historii Milde i co doprowadziło do wydarzeń z początku książki. „Horyzont zdarzeń” jest bardzo ciekawy konstrukcyjnie. Fragmentaryczna forma usprawnia lekturę, ale jednocześnie mam wrażenie, że nie pozwoliła mi się wystarczająco zaangażować.
To bardzo ważna i aktualna lektura. I bardzo udany debiut. Chętnie przeczytałabym kolejną książkę autorki!
„Nie patrzcie tak na mnie, to prawda, że pozbawiono mnie wielu rzeczy, najlepszych lat mojego życia, jak to się mówi, i to prawda, że pozbawiliście mnie szczęśliwego życia na Skrajach, ale nie ogołociliście mnie z miłości i nie uczyniliście bezdomną. Nie, nikt nie może odrzeć mnie z miłości ani wyrwać z mojego otoczenia i myśleć, że przez to zapomnę, gdzie bije moje serce i co jest moim początkiem. Nigdy nie zapomnę, kim są moje matki i moje siostry i że moja dusza ma dom na Ziemi; nie zapomnę, gdzie narodziła się moja samotność i jak rosłam z bulgotem błotnistej wody pod stopami, żeby stać się aż tak wielka.”
Ale to nie sci-fi o locie w kosmos, to książka oparta na doświadczeniach migracyjnych autorki, w których to nie fabuła jest najważniejsza. To przejmująca lektura o tęsknocie, deportacji, życiu w ubóstwie i nierównościach społecznych.
Z czasem dowiadujemy się coraz więcej na temat historii Milde i co doprowadziło do wydarzeń z początku książki. „Horyzont zdarzeń” jest bardzo ciekawy konstrukcyjnie. Fragmentaryczna forma usprawnia lekturę, ale jednocześnie mam wrażenie, że nie pozwoliła mi się wystarczająco zaangażować.
To bardzo ważna i aktualna lektura. I bardzo udany debiut. Chętnie przeczytałabym kolejną książkę autorki!
„Nie patrzcie tak na mnie, to prawda, że pozbawiono mnie wielu rzeczy, najlepszych lat mojego życia, jak to się mówi, i to prawda, że pozbawiliście mnie szczęśliwego życia na Skrajach, ale nie ogołociliście mnie z miłości i nie uczyniliście bezdomną. Nie, nikt nie może odrzeć mnie z miłości ani wyrwać z mojego otoczenia i myśleć, że przez to zapomnę, gdzie bije moje serce i co jest moim początkiem. Nigdy nie zapomnę, kim są moje matki i moje siostry i że moja dusza ma dom na Ziemi; nie zapomnę, gdzie narodziła się moja samotność i jak rosłam z bulgotem błotnistej wody pod stopami, żeby stać się aż tak wielka.”
April 1, 2018
Utkanterna ligger bortom; utanför staden, utanför landet, utanför lagen. Dit förvisas de som inte längre hör till, som inte ens ges en teoretisk chans att släppas in igen; kvinnor och barn. Där får de sköta sig själva. Försöker de ta sig närmare staden för att äta är de fredlösa.
Boken handlar om en astronaut, en kvinna som skickas in i ett svart hål där hon långsamt sträcks ut tills hon slits itu, allt för vetenskapens och umbärlighetens skull. Det behandlas i förbigående, i bokens första halva. Resten är hennes historia, fångad i ett ständigt nedsaktande, bortom The Point Of No Return. Upproret, fångenskapen, tortyren, straffet, friheten, allt det ligger bortanför händelsehorisonten. Allt det ligger latent inom livet i Utkanterna. Tiden exiseterar inte bortom händelsehorisonten; ska hända, har hänt, händer.
en utandning
Torteraren kan aldrig förlåta den torterade att hen torterades. Nyfikenheten på varför hen är så arg vet inga gränser (sic!). Förorättningen över det likaså. Boken är inte för dem.
det är till er jag skriver
genom er vilja jag fortsätter att finnas till
Boken handlar om en astronaut, en kvinna som skickas in i ett svart hål där hon långsamt sträcks ut tills hon slits itu, allt för vetenskapens och umbärlighetens skull. Det behandlas i förbigående, i bokens första halva. Resten är hennes historia, fångad i ett ständigt nedsaktande, bortom The Point Of No Return. Upproret, fångenskapen, tortyren, straffet, friheten, allt det ligger bortanför händelsehorisonten. Allt det ligger latent inom livet i Utkanterna. Tiden exiseterar inte bortom händelsehorisonten; ska hända, har hänt, händer.
en utandning
Torteraren kan aldrig förlåta den torterade att hen torterades. Nyfikenheten på varför hen är så arg vet inga gränser (sic!). Förorättningen över det likaså. Boken är inte för dem.
det är till er jag skriver
genom er vilja jag fortsätter att finnas till
June 16, 2019
Jag går in i läsningen med en diffus förväntan av dystopi och SF men efter några sidor ser jag att denna roman är så mycket mer.
Med ett suggestivt språk målar författaren upp en tillvaro alldeles för lik vår egen tid. Här ekar kurdernas statslöshet och mexikanska migranters skuggtillvaro. Den maktlösas credo "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose" sätts i kontrast till den styrka som finns i att äga sin situation och forma den efter eget huvud, hur begränsade omständigheterna än är.
De utstötta och förvisade får här en icke-dokumentär röst, får visa sin värdighet. Skildringen av en ung kvinna från Utkanterna som begår uppror för sina systrar och mödrars skull, och följderna av detta blir ett porträtt av djup medmänsklighet. Kärleken lyser mellan varje rad.
Jag vill läsa mer av Balsam Karam.
Med ett suggestivt språk målar författaren upp en tillvaro alldeles för lik vår egen tid. Här ekar kurdernas statslöshet och mexikanska migranters skuggtillvaro. Den maktlösas credo "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose" sätts i kontrast till den styrka som finns i att äga sin situation och forma den efter eget huvud, hur begränsade omständigheterna än är.
De utstötta och förvisade får här en icke-dokumentär röst, får visa sin värdighet. Skildringen av en ung kvinna från Utkanterna som begår uppror för sina systrar och mödrars skull, och följderna av detta blir ett porträtt av djup medmänsklighet. Kärleken lyser mellan varje rad.
Jag vill läsa mer av Balsam Karam.
February 4, 2026
Me parece una premisa muy interesante, la idea funciona genial para mostrar la realidad de la maldad de una sociedad patriarcal, de la experiencia de una mujer refugiada... Me ha gustado mucho las partes en que Milde escribe a las mujeres de Las Afueras, la autora ha descrito una sociedad matriarcal y la sororidad de una forma preciosa. Me ha gustado cómo los acontecimientos estaban mezclados en el tiempo en vez de ir en orden. Pero el ritmo es tan lento y monótono, siento que se repetía todo el rato, era el mismo concepto dado vuelta una y otra vez. Sabiendo ahora que es su novela debut y que es parte de una trilogía, no lo juzgo tan duramente, aunque viendo que tiene más que decir, espero que sea algo nuevo y no siga con lo mismo. Muchas gracias Ori por dejarme este libro, no tiene nada que ver con el que estaba leyendo y paré de leer porque me dijiste que sonaba igual, y no es nada cercano a ciencia ficción así que estábamos lejos en eso, pero me ha gustado igual. Todo siempre es mejor que Víctor, eso seguro.
March 31, 2025
Jako prosty chłop, za to z waginą, chciałam „Horyzont zdarzeń” czytać linearnie, poukładać sobie chronologicznie. Zły trop odczytywania. To, czego w „Horyzoncie zdarzeń” dokonuje Balsam Haram, wydaje się ciekawsze i o wiele bardziej frapujące. Za sprawą nieoczywistych zabiegów kompozycyjnych podejmuje ryzyko, które może zdystansować czytelnika. Jest ono jednak niezbędne – zastosowana rwana i jednocześnie powtarza(l)na konstrukcja pozwala lepiej oddać traumę wydarzeń. Odważne, choć oszczędne w środkach, pisanie, wierne sobie, historii oraz jej bohaterkom.
May 25, 2025
3.6
Muszę przyznać, że ta książka na pewno jest jakaś, nie jest z tych o których się szybko zapomni, bo wydaje się mocno osobista, porusza ciężki temat i po prostu widać, że autorka coś stworzyła. Nie trafiła może do końca w moje gusta, ale generalnie uważam że jest spoko. Tylko po co ten motyw z czarną dziurą jeżeli wgl nie jest poruszany.
Muszę przyznać, że ta książka na pewno jest jakaś, nie jest z tych o których się szybko zapomni, bo wydaje się mocno osobista, porusza ciężki temat i po prostu widać, że autorka coś stworzyła. Nie trafiła może do końca w moje gusta, ale generalnie uważam że jest spoko. Tylko po co ten motyw z czarną dziurą jeżeli wgl nie jest poruszany.
March 17, 2020
Bra story, vackert språk, starkt skildrat, ändå inte helt fast
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December 14, 2023glömde fylla i att jag var klar:/
gillade skarpt!
gillade skarpt!
April 21, 2025
"Co to jest Dom?
Skraje są moim Domem."
❤️🩹
Skraje są moim Domem."
❤️🩹
May 3, 2026
Straight in my top of the year list.
June 22, 2019
Är lite kluven. Bitvis väldigt bra. Ett fint, poetiskt språk. Men kom inte riktigt in i berättelsen, och kände aldrig någon sympati med karaktären(a).
November 2, 2024
4,5
trafiła do mojego serca
trafiła do mojego serca
May 29, 2025
4.5
to jest bardzo dobra ksiazka, mysle, ze przy rereadzie ma potencjal na mojego ulubienca, niestety znalazlam ja na legimi w zakladce sci-fi i mocno nastawilam sie na podroz do czarnej dziury, co nie jest glownym jej elementem (moglam uwazniej czytac opis haha), CHOCIAZ! widze metafore i bardzo ja doceniam!
tak czy siak polecam, przepiekna, a o czarnych dziurach poczytam gdzie indziej!
to jest bardzo dobra ksiazka, mysle, ze przy rereadzie ma potencjal na mojego ulubienca, niestety znalazlam ja na legimi w zakladce sci-fi i mocno nastawilam sie na podroz do czarnej dziury, co nie jest glownym jej elementem (moglam uwazniej czytac opis haha), CHOCIAZ! widze metafore i bardzo ja doceniam!
tak czy siak polecam, przepiekna, a o czarnych dziurach poczytam gdzie indziej!
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July 29, 2019Jag visste inte vad jag skulle få när jag började läsa den här, men trodde att det skulle vara mer av en samtidsroman, vilket jag inte vet varifrån jag fick det, men fick en dystopi med scifi-inslag. Om jag nu beskriver den rätt. Eller som ett sätt att se på utanförskap, så som flyktingar i vår tid som hamnar utför samhället och inte har samma rättigheter som de som är infödda, medborgare av en plats/land.
Språket i denna är väl vad som gör den unik. Det är upprepande, i korta stycken och förklarar utanförskap och ensamhet. Om styrka med andra bland annat. Och att nå händelsehorisonen med ett rymdskepp.
Det här med att ge böcker stjärnor har varit för svårt på sistone, då jag inte har en aning hur jag ska göra. Gillade denna, men vet samtidigt att den inte kommer vara kvar i mitt huvud så länge. Men är också väldigt glad att jag läste den, utan att tydligen veta något om den. Skulle gärna läsa mer av Karam i framtiden för hennes språkbruk gör det värt det.
Så inga stjärnor men rekommenderar om du vill ha något att spendera några få timmar med och få en berättelse som får en att tänka.
Språket i denna är väl vad som gör den unik. Det är upprepande, i korta stycken och förklarar utanförskap och ensamhet. Om styrka med andra bland annat. Och att nå händelsehorisonen med ett rymdskepp.
Det här med att ge böcker stjärnor har varit för svårt på sistone, då jag inte har en aning hur jag ska göra. Gillade denna, men vet samtidigt att den inte kommer vara kvar i mitt huvud så länge. Men är också väldigt glad att jag läste den, utan att tydligen veta något om den. Skulle gärna läsa mer av Karam i framtiden för hennes språkbruk gör det värt det.
Så inga stjärnor men rekommenderar om du vill ha något att spendera några få timmar med och få en berättelse som får en att tänka.
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