On every page this writer creates hope and believe in my heart. And because of this I could never be sure, even though I knew from the first page. I loved it!

I began this book on May 10, 2018, and finished it May 31, 2018. It was a long novel, but well worth every page.

One of my favorite books of all time!!

Just so fuckin good but i'll never see discus the same for the rest of my life

Just about the time when Scandinavian mystery novels were starting to set the world on fire, a regular old non-mystery and therefore under the radar Norwegian novel, The Half Brother was published here in the U.S. This wonderfully chubby (really it's uber chubby at almost 800 pages) novel, winner of the 2001 Nordic Prize, is the story of 4 generations of an extended Norwegian family. The Oslo's are a family of drunks, con-artists, mutes and charmers all able to stumble through life seemingly onl...

This is an astonishing and generally underrated novel set up in post World War II Oslo. Before the discovering of oil in the North Sea. Before Statoil came. Before Norway became a rich and wealthy country.The Half Brother may be considered the Norwegian answer to "The Tin Drum".Lars Saabye Christensen is masterful in narrating the growth of the two brothers Barnum and Fred (the last one meaning "peace" in Norwegian). The dislessical, pugnacious Fred is a marvellous negative character who takes h...

That's why I don't read "ambitious" books - because I am left then wondering what the hell was that and - more importantly - how to rate it. There was a moment, after reading about 10% od it, that I was considering setting it on fire, that's how much the writing style and composition irked me. Despite that it managed to really grip me and I just kept reading, almost despite myself, engrossed in the family drama. Then I hit a crisis and had to grab a different, lighter book to rest.After I resume...

I really enjoyed this one. To me it was an intelligent The World According to Garp.A book of mysteries, men missing, strong women, brutal men, boxing, alcoholism, coincidences, bullying, black humour, film, books and people who have physical challenges (fat, short, disfigurement). It's a long book, with long paragraphs and with immense imagery. I'll miss the world that the author produced.Barnum the narrator, his con man father, his brooding brother, his loving mother, grandmother and the Old On...

Considered by some a masterpiece, this book is tough-sledding to read. Huge in pages, it chronicles the disjointed activities of one very eccentric Norwegian family over several decades, beginning with a rape in 1945. The epicenter of the Nilsen family hurricane is the passive, yet taut relationship between the two half-brothers, Fred and Barnum (who is also the narrator). The book is often chronologically incoherent, and frequently borders on the surreal. However, there is a tension that compel...

I was most impressed with the writer's ability to conjure the characters' thoughts and feelings by putting together disparate images. The English translation is really good, but I wonder how much better the original is.

Major themes here are fraternal love and friendship; the story takes place in Oslo (Norway) between 1945 and late 70s, within a family which goes through a series of dramas that statistically are not likely to happen in a single household.Overall, I liked the characters, but I found the story too unrealistic. But the thing that annoyed me was the writing style, that I found too wordy and prolix. Even minor details are depicted with a depth that I found sometime irritating.If the author had kept

(view spoiler)[ Bettie's Books (hide spoiler)]

Half-Brother by Lars Saabye ChristensenOne afternoon in January in the new year of 1946, the Old One’s sitting up on Blåsen, the highest part of Sten Park, looking out over the silent city It makes her feel at peace to sit there. This is her place. She can see the fjord lying gray and heavy beneath the cold fog piling over Ekeberg. The Christmas trees are on the balconies with the remains of decorations hanging from their dry, brown branches. The Old One is sorrowful and afraid. Vera has still n...

I liked this book at the very beginning, with the minute telling of the women's story, then on to Arnold's story, but then it went on to Barnum's story, and on and on and on and on. Barnum had the longest childhood of any character I can remember, and, as his story progressed, I liked him less and was interested in him less. I was disappointed in the ending because it left so many things hanging. (view spoiler)[ I assume Fred was the father of Vivian's child, though that was never confirmed. And...

Terrific novel about failure. Some of the scenes will stay with you for ever... I promise you will not be able to look at a discus again in the same way. I don't really know Norwegian, but I persevered and got through it in the original. He has a wonderful style.

[This review originally appeared in Issue #12 of "The Cambridge Book Review."]Winner of the 2002 Nordic Prize for Literature, Lars Saabye Christensen's epic about a Norwegian family living in Oslo in the wake of Nazi occupation, has achieved major critical acclaim and commercial success wherever it has been published. Having conquered more than twenty countries to date, Christensen's The Half Brother (translated from the Norwegian by Kenneth Steven) is now poised to take North America in true Vi...

Upping this to 5 stars as still lives in my memory 15 years later

I have a distinct penchant for long novels (in the last six months, I have read The Luminaries and The Goldfinch and reread Middlemarch), but I’m not sure I ever remember reading a novel that felt quite as long as The Half-Brother. By the end I felt as if I had lived through the childhood and adolescence of the protagonist, Barnum Nilsen, in real time. That’s not at all to suggest that I didn’t enjoy this novel. It’s an easy and pleasant read for the most part, and often very striking, though it...

A well-written story, interesting, amusing and easy to read. But analyzing it deeper - the characters struggle through their whole life, sincethe beginning. There is no happy solution for them, especially for the women, who cannot achieve anything without a man. Only a man can make them move on with their lives, without him they can only think about the past, according to the story. Also I don't understand why alcohol was so promoted in this book. It's not like people can drink and have a succes...

I loved the spareness of Norwegian writer Christensen's novel The Model. The Half Brother is very different and was an enormous bestseller and award-winner. I was absolutely compelled by the first 200 pages - that introduces the half brothers Barnum and Fred when they are younger, then Barnum currently as a hard-drinking scriptwriter at a film festival, then again back in time to Norway--to Barnum and Fred's great-grandmother, grandmother, and not-yet then mother, Vera, and what happens to Vera