My Struggle: Book 2: A Man in Love

Knausgaard's writes about everyday life. But for him, daily routines and duties are endured rather than enjoyed. "So the life I led was not my own," he says. "I tried to make it mine. This was my struggle."His book is personal, profound and quotidian; it is also a journal rather than a true novel. The author shares his disrespect for fictional writing and documentary narrative, both of which, he contends, have no value. Instead, he argues that diaries and essays confer meaning because they consist of "the voice of your own personality, a life, a face, a gaze you could meet."The author's gaze in My Struggle looks upon the details of daily life and uses them to illuminate the larger themes of love, friendship, marriage, parenthood, Swedish versus Norwegian lifestyle, art and the act of creation, mortality and how to prepare meals for toddlers. The strongest part of the book is in the opening 200 pages in which Karl Ove acts as husband and father; loving both roles but struggling greatly in the daily acts that make those roles a reality. He experiences feelings of helplessness and anger in a painful visit to Fairy Tale Land. His loss of masculine self-image is felt when he cannot get his wife out of a locked bathroom at a party. A pitiful effort to maintain space from other people as he reads in a coffee shop displays his feelings of alienation. The inability to resolve conflict in a civilized Swedish environment is obvious in a conflict with a neighbor over loud music. The pressure to spend time with people whose only relationship to him is that their children know each other is developed in a scene at a child's birthday party. In sum, these feelings that there is a more authentic life from which Knausgaard has been outcast culminate in his attendance with his child at Rhythm Time class. As he is forced to sing with other parents, Karl Ove thinks, "I had forfeited everything that was me."There are brilliant passages in My Struggle as well as long sections when the reader must bear with the author's gaze at the details of non-events. The latter inform the former, however, and most often reward the patient reader.Knausgaard is sincere in his struggle and realizes that indifference is the greatest of the seven deadly sins "because it is the only one that sins against life." His journal recognizes the need to somehow both surmount and enjoy the quotidian, while maintaining touch with the ideal. The reader who joins the author in his struggle is rewarded by a journal elevated to the level of art. For, asks the author, "What is a work of art if not the gaze of another person?..You meet it's gaze alone."

Knausgaard's My Struggle is being touted as a literary breakthrough, opening important new possibilities for the novel as a literary form. I don't know about that. Frankly it seems much more a memoir than a piece of fiction. But whatever the form, it's a very enjoyable and not particularly demanding read.When I first heard about Knausgaards epic five volume "novel", it sounded like the kind of intimidating experimental fiction that can be a challenge to read. It's not. I'll leave it to critics to judge the scope and meaning of the author's accomplishment. From the perspective of an ordinary reader, Book 2 of My Struggle is an entertaining and perceptive window into the life experiences of a thirty something Norwegian writer. Although it skips around chronologically, the narrative begins as the author abruptly leaves both his marriage and his homeland and emigrates to Stockholm. There he rekindles a previous relationship, falls in love and by the book's conclusion has three children and begins work on his magnum opus.Much has been made of Knausgaard's focus on the banalities of everyday life and particularly the tedium of childcare. Had a woman written this book, would it be such a literary sensation???? I have my doubts, but that's not the author's fault. There is something very engaging about his way of drifting from a catalogue of the everyday to reflections on philosophy, popular culture, etc. His takes on Norway versus Sweden, specifically his deep dislike of Stockholm, are very funny. He can spend many pages on a tedious dinner party and it's just as rivetting as the story of his (first) child's very difficult birth.But what's most intriguing are Knausgaard's ambivalent reflections on his own masculinity. He's constantly second-guessing himself and even the simplest assertion of masculine authority--sending bad food back to a restaurant kitchen--sends him into paroxysms of self-doubt. He doesn't focus at all on "typical" masculine concerns like sex, money and jockeying for power with other men. There is only one brief sexual fantasy and no explanation of how as a young writer he earns a living. We see his marriage deteriorating, yet money is never a point of conflict with these overburdened young parents? Hard to credit.There are unanswered questions about the author's own intentions re his literary format. He dismisses both fiction and documentary storytelling as outworn, irrelevant modes of literary expression and seems to be proposing the diary as something much more relevant. But to what extent can we trust him? Much of the book is extended dialogues, particularly between himself and a childhood friend. Recorded? Invented? And if invented, might the entire saga be a fiction?

It brings a fascinating insight into how the Swedes look at Norway and Norwegians, reminding me that they speak a different language and the Swedes don’t understand (or make a deliberate point of not understanding) Norwegian. It’s a warts and all description of a real life which is worth reading - ups and downs, health and lack of health. Also interesting description of Sweden and Stockholm and Swedish culture including how they will want to live in cities - really they all want to live in Stockholm. I was amazed at the amount of times they go out, spending all night drinking, going to theatres or cinemas and they are always going out for meals - it was four years since he wrote his last book so where did they get the money from to support this lifestyle? He is critical of the liberal democrat mantras. Also the ways in which men can feel feminised often features in the book. Ready this book reminds me of Virginia Woolf’s books (and of course gender role assignments is a key theme for her).

The second in the magisterial fiction series, that is closely autobiographical to Karl Ove Knausgaard’s own life. The substantial volume follows the first in the series – forensic accounts of episodes from the narrator’s past, in conjunction with philosophical and literary thoughts. The narrative begins with the Norwegian narrator, Karl Ove himself, living in Sweden with his three children and wife, Linda and then works it way slowly, in a decidedly non-linear way, to establish how he got to this situation, with all its daily frustrations and rewards. At times it’s a bit like a Russian doll of a book, in that he will wander off to discuss another strand of the story, leaving previous other elements unconcluded, and then returns to them, to confuse the inattentive reader.The core of the story is about Karl Ove’s new relationship with Linda, with whom by 2009 he had three children. He was already married, to Tonje, but feels stifled in Norway, and bolts, moving to Stockholm, where he meets and becomes enraptured by his new love. The challenging romance and relationship is described in, at times, painful detail.At times, Knausgaard seems rather like Philip Larkin in his need for solitude and quiet, while still balancing a fairly complicated social existence, as well as disliking the publicity that comes with being a well-known and talented writer.

This novel will not be to everyone's taste. It is intensely thoughtful, heavily reliant on reactions to people, actions, the protaganist's vulnerabilities and so on. It requires the reader to quickly and fully sympathise with a male perspective on life, casting aside notions of masculinity. Once you commit, you witness a series of ordinary chores and encounters that each have a resonance with our own experiences. Of course, it would be advantageous to read the first in the series. Knausgaard's subtle and precise language choices infuse the book with its own vitality. I have enjoyed both the first and second and look forward to the remainder.

I know there are at least six books in this series but only 3 have been translated into English so far and having now read all three I personally found this one by far the most gripping. Knausgaard is a literary genius with a very unusual approach. Not everyone's cup of tea, I'm sure, but like many others I have found his biographical musings addictive. A hard-won achievement for a writer who has already become a sort of legend .

Another wonderful book from Karl Ove. This time about love and having young children,again, as with the first book, he not only lets us into his life but also his mind. I have one more to read before his excellent translator finishes Book 4 and I am leaving it so I can savour it, how sad is that? He truly is a brilliant writer.