Reviews
"...Knausgaard explores the various ways language can be leveraged for honest disclosure and tragic nationalism... and whether confessional style can be a force against propagandistic writing... [BOOK SIX] caps a remarkable achievement. For nearly 3,500 pages, Knausgaard has confessed, complained, reminisced, spouted off, made himself look ridiculous, and considered what it means to be candid, giving his life artistic shape while fighting against artifice. The book''s very existence has prompted eye-rolls; many of its pages do as well. But his all-in temperament richly rewards anybody who takes first-person writing seriously. A fittingly bulky end to a radical feat of oversharing." -- Kirkus Reviews , starred review "The final book of Knausgaard''s six-volume masterpiece goes maximalist and metatextual, examining the impact that the autobiographical series has had on the author''s life and the lives of those around him...the rationale for his project comes into brilliant focus. This volume is a thrilling conclusion to Knausgaard''s epic series." -- Publishers Weekly , starred review Previous reviews for the series: * "Perhaps the most significant literary enterprise of our time." - The Guardian * "Intense and vital... Knausgaard is utterly honest, unafraid to voice universal anxieties... Superb, lingering, celestial passages... [with] what Walter Benjamin called the ''epic side of truth, wisdom''." - James Wood, The New Yorker * " My Struggle is candid and compulsively readable, with moments of searing insight and bold shifts through narrative time. Its scope is both ambitious and modest; its range aggressive and tender." - VICE * "Why would you read a six-volume, 3,600-page Norwegian novel about a man writing a six-volume, 3,600-page Norwegian novel? The short answer is that it is breathtakingly good, and so you cannot stop yourself, and would not want to... Arrestingly beautiful." - Leland de la Durantaye, The New York Times Book Review * "With each subsequent book of his that is translated into English, Mr. Knausgaard continues to solidify his reputation as one of the most vital writers working today." - The Observer * " My Struggle is unexpectedly entrancing - the combination of detail and intimacy creates an illusion of being inside somebody else''s brain... My Struggle is worth the, uh, struggle." -GQ * "Karl Ove Knausgaard. My Struggle. It''s unbelievable. I just read 200 pages of it and I need the next volume like crack." -Zadie Smith * "Knausgaard pushed himself to do something that hadn''t quite been done before. He broke the sound barrier of the autobiographical novel." - Jeffrey Eugenides * "By exposing every last detail of his life, Karl Ove Knausgaard became your favorite author''s new favorite author." -Evan Hughes, The New Republic * "If the function of literature is to take you out of your own life and involve you in someone else''s then My Struggle is literature... gripping." -- The Sunday Times * "A masterpiece of staggering originality, the literary event of the century... Life here and now, examined at a fever pitch, daily recollections recounted in exhausting but exhilarating detail." -- The Wichita Eagle * "So what is it that has led fellow authors to rave about Knausgaard and hail him as literary pioneer? The answer lies in the intensity of focus he brings to the subject of his life. He seems to punch a hole in the wall between the writer and reader, breaking through to a form of micro-realism and emotional authenticity that makes other novels seem contrived, ''made up'', irrelevant... Whether he''s writing about his adult alienation at a toddler''s birthday party or the memory of trying to get hold of alcohol as a teenager on New Year''s Eve, Knausgaard is prepared to go into extraordinary sensuous detail... the overall effect is utterly hypnotic." -Andrew Anthony, The Observer, "...Knausgaard explores the various ways language can be leveraged for honest disclosure and tragic nationalism... and whether confessional style can be a force against propagandistic writing... [BOOK SIX] caps a remarkable achievement. For nearly 3,500 pages, Knausgaard has confessed, complained, reminisced, spouted off, made himself look ridiculous, and considered what it means to be candid, giving his life artistic shape while fighting against artifice. The book''s very existence has prompted eye-rolls; many of its pages do as well. But his all-in temperament richly rewards anybody who takes first-person writing seriously. A fittingly bulky end to a radical feat of oversharing." -- Kirkus Reviews , starred review Previous reviews for the series: * "Perhaps the most significant literary enterprise of our time." - The Guardian * "Intense and vital... Knausgaard is utterly honest, unafraid to voice universal anxieties... Superb, lingering, celestial passages... [with] what Walter Benjamin called the ''epic side of truth, wisdom''." - James Wood, The New Yorker * " My Struggle is candid and compulsively readable, with moments of searing insight and bold shifts through narrative time. Its scope is both ambitious and modest; its range aggressive and tender." - VICE * "Why would you read a six-volume, 3,600-page Norwegian novel about a man writing a six-volume, 3,600-page Norwegian novel? The short answer is that it is breathtakingly good, and so you cannot stop yourself, and would not want to... Arrestingly beautiful." - Leland de la Durantaye, The New York Times Book Review * "With each subsequent book of his that is translated into English, Mr. Knausgaard continues to solidify his reputation as one of the most vital writers working today." - The Observer * " My Struggle is unexpectedly entrancing - the combination of detail and intimacy creates an illusion of being inside somebody else''s brain... My Struggle is worth the, uh, struggle." -GQ * "Karl Ove Knausgaard. My Struggle. It''s unbelievable. I just read 200 pages of it and I need the next volume like crack." -Zadie Smith * "Knausgaard pushed himself to do something that hadn''t quite been done before. He broke the sound barrier of the autobiographical novel." - Jeffrey Eugenides * "By exposing every last detail of his life, Karl Ove Knausgaard became your favorite author''s new favorite author." -Evan Hughes, The New Republic * "If the function of literature is to take you out of your own life and involve you in someone else''s then My Struggle is literature... gripping." -- The Sunday Times * "A masterpiece of staggering originality, the literary event of the century... Life here and now, examined at a fever pitch, daily recollections recounted in exhausting but exhilarating detail." -- The Wichita Eagle * "So what is it that has led fellow authors to rave about Knausgaard and hail him as literary pioneer? The answer lies in the intensity of focus he brings to the subject of his life. He seems to punch a hole in the wall between the writer and reader, breaking through to a form of micro-realism and emotional authenticity that makes other novels seem contrived, ''made up'', irrelevant... Whether he''s writing about his adult alienation at a toddler''s birthday party or the memory of trying to get hold of alcohol as a teenager on New Year''s Eve, Knausgaard is prepared to go into extraordinary sensuous detail... the overall effect is utterly hypnotic." -Andrew Anthony, The Observer, * "Perhaps the most significant literary enterprise of our time." - The Guardian * "Intense and vital... Knausgaard is utterly honest, unafraid to voice universal anxieties... Superb, lingering, celestial passages... [with] what Walter Benjamin called the 'epic side of truth, wisdom'." - James Wood, The New Yorker * " My Struggle is candid and compulsively readable, with moments of searing insight and bold shifts through narrative time. Its scope is both ambitious and modest; its range aggressive and tender." - VICE * "Why would you read a six-volume, 3,600-page Norwegian novel about a man writing a six-volume, 3,600-page Norwegian novel? The short answer is that it is breathtakingly good, and so you cannot stop yourself, and would not want to... Arrestingly beautiful." - Leland de la Durantaye, The New York Times Book Review * "With each subsequent book of his that is translated into English, Mr. Knausgaard continues to solidify his reputation as one of the most vital writers working today." - The Observer * " My Struggle is unexpectedly entrancing - the combination of detail and intimacy creates an illusion of being inside somebody else's brain... My Struggle is worth the, uh, struggle." -GQ * "Karl Ove Knausgaard. My Struggle. It's unbelievable. I just read 200 pages of it and I need the next volume like crack." -Zadie Smith * "Knausgaard pushed himself to do something that hadn't quite been done before. He broke the sound barrier of the autobiographical novel." - Jeffrey Eugenides * "By exposing every last detail of his life, Karl Ove Knausgaard became your favorite author's new favorite author." -Evan Hughes, The New Republic * "If the function of literature is to take you out of your own life and involve you in someone else's then My Struggle is literature... gripping." -- The Sunday Times * "A masterpiece of staggering originality, the literary event of the century... Life here and now, examined at a fever pitch, daily recollections recounted in exhausting but exhilarating detail." -- The Wichita Eagle * "So what is it that has led fellow authors to rave about Knausgaard and hail him as literary pioneer? The answer lies in the intensity of focus he brings to the subject of his life. He seems to punch a hole in the wall between the writer and reader, breaking through to a form of micro-realism and emotional authenticity that makes other novels seem contrived, 'made up', irrelevant... Whether he's writing about his adult alienation at a toddler's birthday party or the memory of trying to get hold of alcohol as a teenager on New Year's Eve, Knausgaard is prepared to go into extraordinary sensuous detail... the overall effect is utterly hypnotic." -Andrew Anthony, The Observer
