'I Curse the River of Time' by Per Petterson - Book Review

Bleak. Glacial. Cold. Pitiful. Not the words you’re looking for in a novel? Then pass on I Curse the River of Time by Per Petterson. I heard great things about this Norwegian writer’s first novel, Out Stealing Horses. But there’s no way Curse is a worthy successor. Petterson constructs some emotionally authentic moments. But a page worth of authenticity does not make 224 pages worth your time.

It’s official. Books with the word “River” in the title have been a bad omen for me in 2010. I fell asleep three times before getting to page 80 in I Curse the River of Time. Why? Let me explain.

Thirty-seven-year-old Arvid Jansen lives in Oslo. He’s about to get a divorce. His mother is about to die. His mother leaves his father to go die at the beach house where the family spent summers. Arvid follows her to get away from his own problems with his wife and wallow in despair. When he gets there, she slaps him. This is about page 80. (Arvid also rambles to the reader about his time in college, his dedication to the Communist Party – the title I Curse the River of Time is taken from a poem by Mao Tse-tung – and how he met his wife, etc. but all of these details are also boring and add no weight to the proceedings.)

In the end, mother and son share a few words, but there is no deathbed declaration of love. Is this heartbreaking? Not if the characters barely register as ghosts to begin with. I curse the time I put into this novel. And yet, I’m still intrigued enough to read Out Stealing Horses. Curses!