So what about the other stories?

For discussion of John Ajvide Lindqvist's short story collection Låt de gamla drömmarna dö
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metoo
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Re: So what about the other stories?

Post by metoo » Wed Sep 19, 2012 4:03 am

Literally by på höjden means village on the hill, however the expression på höjden means height-wise or vertically. I agree with StefL that the translation is not optimal.
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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drakkar
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Re: So what about the other stories?

Post by drakkar » Wed Sep 19, 2012 4:32 am

I alwas thougth of the title as a different way of saying high-rise building, a densely populated area...
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metoo
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Re: So what about the other stories?

Post by metoo » Wed Sep 19, 2012 5:04 am

I agree, the title is a metaphor. A high-rise building is a vertical village.
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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StefL
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Re: So what about the other stories?

Post by StefL » Wed Sep 19, 2012 8:33 am

Nightrider wrote:Correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't the name of the story in the original Swedish release of Paper Walls is By på höjden,
which is translated in English as Village on the Hill? Great story regardless of the title! :)
It's actually a play on words with an ambiguous meaning. Yes, "By på höjden" literally means "Village on the hill". But the construction "på höjden" also means "by height", or in more correct English "vertically". And interestingly I've always read the Swedish title with this meaning - that the high flat block is a "village" of houses stacked on top of one another.

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drakkar
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Re: So what about the other stories?

Post by drakkar » Wed Sep 19, 2012 8:38 am

That was exact my image as well. :)
For the heart life is simple. It beats as long as it can.
- Karl Ove Knausgård

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Nightrider
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Re: So what about the other stories?

Post by Nightrider » Wed Sep 19, 2012 10:28 pm

"Eternal/Love"
Needlessly prolonged melodrama frequently overwhelmed by waves of elementary sentimentality. Final product could have used some aggressive editing.
Sometimes narrative reads like a lost chapter from "Harbour". The plot goes around in circles and for a while it looks like not all is lost, but by the time all the action and fireworks unfold at the story's end, it's already too late.
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danielma
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Re: So what about the other stories?

Post by danielma » Thu Sep 20, 2012 1:00 am

To be honest, I haven't picked up the book since BORDER...Is it sad that I'm hesitant to keep reading any more from it, well not hesitant but wanting to take my time with it - simply because I know it's going to be the last JAL book we're going to get for quite some time? (at least untill he finishes X)
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Re: So what about the other stories?

Post by Nightrider » Thu Sep 20, 2012 1:11 am

danielma wrote:I know it's going to be the last JAL book we're going to get for quite some time? (at least untill he finishes X)
Hey, I've been saying that for years....
Seriously though, X or no X you really owe it to yourself to read the book. Some good stuff there.
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Re: So what about the other stories?

Post by danielma » Thu Sep 20, 2012 2:32 am

Nightrider wrote:
danielma wrote:I know it's going to be the last JAL book we're going to get for quite some time? (at least untill he finishes X)
Hey, I've been saying that for years....
Seriously though, X or no X you really owe it to yourself to read the book. Some good stuff there.
:lol:

To be fair, Work has also had a lot to do with it...been quite busy at work lately and everytime I get home I just want to collapse on the bed and do nothing...
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Re: So what about the other stories?

Post by Nightrider » Sat Sep 22, 2012 5:58 am

"Majken"
"Majken" is a voluminous story that revisits JAL's familiar territory of family life as a trap.
The narrator is the main character and for a while there's a certain pleasure from the linear flow of the tale. Soon however other players
are introduced, but in the style that suggests foreshadowing of grim things to come. Once again less is more should have been a good idea
since there's lots of walkabout exposition that might have been edited to a better effect. Copius amounts of information
still leave the readers in the dark as all the protagonists continue on as ciphers with only a hint of clarification
of their moves. Punctuated by sparse splashes of action (one of which is straight out of "Jackie Brown") "Majken"
trying hard to say something profound, but in the end comes of as
a sort of vague geriatric variation of "LIttle Star"....or a practice reel for that novel.
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