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List Price: $25.95Amazon.com's Price: $20.76 You Save: $5.19 (20%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 839.82374
EAN: 9781597227742
Format: Large Print
ISBN: 1597227749
Label: Wheeler Publishing
Manufacturer: Wheeler Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 337
Publication Date: July 18, 2008
Publisher: Wheeler Publishing
Studio: Wheeler Publishing
Alternate Versions: Click to Display
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
In 1948, when he is fifteen, Trond spends a summer in the country with his father. The events — the accidental death of a child, his best friend’s feelings of guilt and eventual disappearance, his father’s decision to leave the family for another woman — will change his life forever. An early morning adventure out stealing horses leaves Trond bruised and puzzled by his friend Jon’s sudden breakdown. The tragedy that lies behind this scene becomes the catalyst for the two boys’ families to gradually fall apart.
As a 67-year-old man, and following the death of his wife, Trond has moved to an isolated part of Norway to live in solitude. But a chance encounter with a character from the fateful summer of 1948 brings the painful memories of that year flooding back, and will leave Trond even more convinced of his decision to end his days alone.
Per Petterson, defeated eight finalists, including Julian Barnes, J.M. Coetzee, Salman Rushdie and Cormac McCarthy to win the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for Out Stealing Horses.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
I read this book because of the reviews it received here on amazon.com. I finished the book and have to say I enjoyed the writing, which is why I'm rating it three stars. But it left me scratching my head wondering why I finished. It was mostly boring. Perhaps I saw small glimpses where I thought I would get something more. But ultimately I didn't. If it was a longer book I'm pretty sure I would have put it down before completion.
Rating:  -
Have you ever been lonely for a book the minute you finish it? That's the ultimate testament to a well-written, soul-touching work, and Per Petterson has one here with OUT STEALING HORSES. A coming-of-age novel wrapped up as a 67-year-old Norwegian man's reminiscence, the novel explores a father-son theme that doesn't reveal itself fully until the end. True, it's not a plot book. And true, it will appeal most to readers who love characterization and rich description. Nevertheless, if you love it when you stumble upon a writer's writer and don't mind the lens of a translator's (in this case, Ann Born's) words, you should read this book.
Here's a sampling of Petterson's style: "That night we slept under an overhanging cliff, where fires had been made before. We found the remains of two heaps of spruce twigs made into beds to lie on, but all the needles had turned brown and dropped off a long time ago, so we cleared the old one away and cut new branches from nearby trees ... Read More
Rating: -
Per Petterson's quiet little novel about childhood's end and the retrospection of old age is masterful and profoundly moving. Other reviewers have suggested it is a story that has been told over and over, but, then, what deeply resonant story has not? In fact, it is in the retelling of our commonalities in new language, from a nuanced perspective, that we learn from each other and deepen our own self knowledge.
Out Stealing Horses is one of those books that seems to either open new rooms in one's heart or reopen forgotten chests and closets. The simplicity of the setting in post-war rural Norway and the initial apparent simplicity of the protagonists' lives provide a canvas for Petterson's exquisite emotional portraiture. This one is not to be missed.
Rating:  -
Out Stealing Horses
This compelling Norweigan novel describes the decisive events in the life of young Trond, and the ripples that those events have on his entire life. The book centers on a summer Trond spends in a cabin in remote Norway with his confident, practical, action-minded, secretive and ultimately, elusive, father. Trond later re-explores those events as an old man, moving to a cabin in another remote part of Norway, in an apparent attempt to recreate that magical summer. In a stunning coincidence, Trond discovers his neighbor in the new community to be the brother of one of the central actors during that pivotal summer.
The chronology is very cleverly but complexly presented, with several narratives, taking place at very different points in the main character's life, presented in alternating chapters. This allows the plot to be revealed slowly, but requires the reader to place each of the pieces in the proper order. Half way through the book, I found ... Read More
Rating:  -
For some reason I'm drawn to books about Scandinavia. Perhaps it's because I'm half Finnish, and I lived in Finland for a couple of years. So I opened this book with excitement, ready to be transported to Norway.
It started out quite interesting and had a nice, easy feel. I liked the point of view of the story being told by an "old" man--looking back on a significant time in his childhood.
But, for me, the book went nowhere. Yes, there is a melancholy and yes, it's an interesting relationship study between a father and his son. But it you're going to read this book get ready for many significant unanswered questions and a story that meanders and meanders and meanders some more.
I have a theory that those who liked the book read so many books--that they're just happy to read something different--even if that means sacrificing their time for an ultimately non-compelling story.
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