The Final Handling

For discussion of John Ajvide Lindqvist's short story collection Pappersväggar
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genie47
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Re: The Final Handling

Post by genie47 » Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:37 am

Recalling Kalle, I thought that he would be what Oskar be like when he grows up. Distanced from his father. He was also overweight just like Oskar is described in LTROI.
Låt den rätte komma in in both its printed and celluloid form is a slow acting poison. You will be poisoned white. White from arsenic and innocence.

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StefL
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Re: The Final Handling

Post by StefL » Fri Oct 02, 2009 11:42 am

genie47 wrote:Recalling Kalle, I thought that he would be what Oskar be like when he grows up. Distanced from his father. He was also overweight just like Oskar is described in LTROI.
I'm not sure I'd say he's overweight. We're told he's 163 cm weighing 70 kg at 14, and ten years later when the story takes place he's "twenty two centimetres taller and thirty kilos heavier". That is, he's 185 cm and weighs 100 kg.
The conclusion about him is "he was, in short, pretty large". The Swedish sentence goes "han var, kort sagt, en stor kille" which literally also could be translated as "he was, in short, a big guy". This could of course mean he's overweight, but that he's pretty big and strong - which is how I've pictured him. Not that he couldn't be both of course :lol:

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genie47
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Re: The Final Handling

Post by genie47 » Fri Oct 02, 2009 1:00 pm

Medically speaking at 185cm and 100kg, he is overweight. :D

I think ideally he should be around 80kg?

Well to carry the 20kg around, one needs to be strong too even though he is of that height.
Låt den rätte komma in in both its printed and celluloid form is a slow acting poison. You will be poisoned white. White from arsenic and innocence.

To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage. - Lao Tzu

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StefL
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Re: The Final Handling

Post by StefL » Fri Oct 02, 2009 1:38 pm

genie47 wrote:Medically speaking at 185cm and 100kg, he is overweight. :D

I think ideally he should be around 80kg?

Well to carry the 20kg around, one needs to be strong too even though he is of that height.
True, his BMI is 29.2 which is overweight by normal standards.
At 80 kg it would be 23,4 - I believe the general recommendation is to stay below 25.

But in any case I think he's pretty strong as well:
"Kalle estimated that he would be able to throw the man about four meters. He felt like doing it." :lol:

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Re: The Final Handling

Post by Raven Eyes » Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:53 am

I don't know about myths in Sweden, but having read a hell of a lot of books the character who swallows birds and everything else reminded me of a character in Neil Gaiman's Sandman story, "A Game Of You". The character served a being known as the Cuckoo and would devour birds as well as opening his chest to send messages through creatures from his rib cage. It could also be what could be described as the personification of the opposite of normal death for the soul/spirit in the JAL universe. If death is seen as someone relieving their pain and sending them on to the next plane, the opposite could be a vortex - a vacuum of nothingness and no hope. Despair. A form of personal "hell" for wont of a better term.
Now I just have to wait for my copy of Harbour to come into the bookshop and then the LOOOONNNG wait until both Little Star and Paper Walls sometime in or after September (Damn publishing company tardiness!!! AAARRRGGHH!!!)

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Re: The Final Handling/American release

Post by Nightrider » Tue Jul 12, 2011 4:30 pm

I just got off the phone with Macmillan Publishing, the owners of St.Martin's Press. I was told that "Paper Walls" by John Ajvide Lindqvist is in their system on the list of books to be released. The actual date of the release was not available.....Soooo...At this point onlly time will tell when this book will see the light of day in US, even though I keep hearing persistent rumors that official release will take place at the end of the year. :think:
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drakkar
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Re: The Final Handling

Post by drakkar » Tue Jul 12, 2011 10:04 pm

And included in that book, you will have the epilogue Let the Old Dreams DIe.
For the heart life is simple. It beats as long as it can.
- Karl Ove Knausgård

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Re: The Final Handling

Post by Nightrider » Wed Jul 13, 2011 1:18 am

drakkar wrote:And included in that book, you will have the epilogue Let the Old Dreams DIe.
Absolutely....When and if the book is released.
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Re: The Final Handling

Post by drakkar » Wed Jul 13, 2011 6:48 am

John said it would be published in English after Little Star, so it should be a matter of when.
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Re: The Final Handling

Post by Nightrider » Wed Jul 13, 2011 6:53 am

drakkar wrote:John said it would be published in English after Little Star, so it should be a matter of when.
I have my fingers crossed!!! Might have to get Little Star when it comes out in UK. I started reading "Harbour" and it's very good.
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