CBR17 Book 13: "Animal Farm" by George Orwell

Page count: 95 pages

Audio book length: 3 hrs 3 mins

Rating: 4 stars

Nowhere Books Bingo 25: Banned Book

Buzzword Cover Challenge 25: Cover featuring an animal

On Manor Farm, somewhere in England, an old boar gathers all the animals in the barn and makes a powerful speech about how animals suffer at the hands of humans and should rise up and take power for themselves. Shortly after his death, the animals of Manor Farm do just that - they violently fight back when Farmer Jones and his farmhands try to control them and chase the farmer, his wife and all the other humans on the farm away. All animals will be equal, everyone will contribute to the farm to the best of their abilities, walking on two legs and using collars or human attire is forbidden, and no one will use the farmhouse anymore. The pigs manage to teach themselves to read and write and seven lofty commandments for the governing of Animal Farm are painted on the barn walls. Things seem very idyllic for the animals at first, but it doesn't take long before some of the animals take a more prominent role in the rule and governing of the farm, and as a result, decide that they deserve more than their allotted share of the resources. 

This is where I have to confess to never having read Animal Farm until this year when we're teaching it to the tenth-graders. Unlike Et dukkehjem, which I have read and taught a bunch of times, we never used this book on the curriculum before, and because I like to read for escapism and to avoid traumatic and depressing reading experiences, I've tried to stay away from George Orwell's novels. While it's not a long book, only a novella really, an allegory stuffed full of political satire isn't the easiest thing for rather sheltered Norwegian tenth-graders to process, and quite a few of our pupils are having a tough time with it. Of course, when we planned the curriculum for this year in August, none of us English teachers had any idea how much more relevant it was going to become (thanks for that, America), although the machinations of the pigs seem almost quaint compared to the geo-political nightmare taking place in the United States right now. 

I had to read up on Soviet/Russian history in the 20th Century after reading this, so as better to understand all the things the book alludes to, to then teach it to the kids. The ones who are generally interested in history and current events, seem to be getting a lot more out of the book than the others. Some of them are questioning why they have to read a book about a bunch of animals - hence the need to try to tell them the real-world events that inspired the book. It's going to be interesting to see what they think once we finish the book, it's not exactly a fun or heartwarming tale - rather than a depressing dystopian fable. 

I'm glad I read it, but it's deeply tragic that not only have we not learned anything from history and books such as this, but power-hungry despots with seemingly no grasp of actual decency are being allowed to do much worse as we speak. Poor Orwell is probably rolling in his grave. 

Judging a book by its cover: Red and black, very Communist colour scheme and the entire layout of the cover looks like a propaganda poster of some kind. The fateful windmill is front and centre, along with a slightly sinister-looking pig. There are countless editions of this book, and just as many different cover designs. I kind of like this one. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR17 Book 11: "Et dukkehjem (A Doll's House)" by Henrik Ibsen

Page count: 100 pages

Rating: 5 stars

I don't know if a spoiler warning for a nearly 150-year-old play is necessary - but I will be revealing significant plot points when writing about this historical drama, so if you want to remain unspoiled, go read the play (it's only three acts, it's a relatively quick read) or watch a dramatisation, and come back when you're done. 

Nora and Torvald Helmer are a middle-class couple living in Christiania (what Oslo was named for a few centuries in the before times) in the late 1800s. They have three children, and some servants (a nanny and a parlour maid). The play takes place around Christmas and in the days following. This was a time when women didn't have any legal rights and the central conflict of this play comes about because Nora, in the past, took out a loan (forging her father's name on the contract to do so). She did it to save her husband's health but has always had to keep her illegal act a secret. Now her past is coming back to haunt her, with the man she borrowed money from, Krogstad, blackmailing her to keep his job. Nora needs to ensure Krogstad isn't fired, or he will tell her husband the truth, and the ensuing scandal could mean Torvald loses his new advantageous job as a bank manager. 

I honestly don't remember how many times I've read this play by now. I first read it in high school, with a Norwegian teacher who showed absolutely zero enthusiasm about the work, and as a result, I wasn't exactly impressed by it and remembered it as boring and pointless. Et dukkehjem/A Doll's House is now part of the curriculum in Norwegian for our tenth-graders at the school where I work and I myself have taught the play at least four times now. Unlike my high school teacher, who really just assigned us all the play to read with some accompanying work tasks (if I recall correctly), my colleagues and I read through the play act by act with the students, who take turns reading out the various parts, and we watch different dramatisations for the kids to compare and contrast. The last time I taught tenth grade, and again this time, we also showed them the first season of the Norwegian web series Skam as another comparison point, which they seemed to really like. I have no illusions that I'm instilling a great love of 19th Century realist literature in my pupils, but I'm hoping that some of them find their introduction and work with this play less off-putting than I did in school.

Suffice it to say, my opinion on this play has changed massively from my first reading of it (probably because I didn't really pay attention to it when it was one of many assigned texts). Ibsen himself claimed not to have set out to write a feminist rallying cry, but the drama remains relevant and extremely popular to this day (Ibsen remains one of the most dramatized playwrights worldwide, after Shakespeare). Nora's change from a sheltered, rather naive housewife to a woman determined to put herself first, sacrificing everything to discover who she really is, even knowing how difficult it will be is really impressive, especially given the time it was written. Torvald really is an absolutely insufferable misogynist (he's utterly odious and I had forgotten that not only does he speak to Nora appallingly, but he also mansplains why knitting is unfeminine to her friend Mrs Linde, as well), who is given several chances to redeem himself, and consistently fails at it. He sees Nora as a decorative object, a sweet plaything and constantly belittles and rebukes her if she tries to talk about anything non-frivolous. The only one who sees at least some parts of the true Nora is Doctor Rank, her husband's best friend, who would probably have made her a much better husband, had she met him first. Part of the tragedy of this play is that it's quite clear that Nora loves her idiot of a husband until his true character is finally revealed and it becomes impossible for her to lie to herself any longer. 

By the end of the play, having had it proven without a shadow of a doubt that her husband will never see her as anything but an air-headed object, Nora makes the choice to leave her family behind (it's not like she'd ever be granted custody of her children, anyway), because she cannot live the lie that she has discovered her marriage is. This was a hugely shocking finale at the time of the play's release, so much so that in Germany, Ibsen was forced to write an alternate ending, where Nora changes her mind and stays with Torvald, after all. It is rumoured that he originally considered this for the play in the first place until his wife exclaimed "Either Nora leaves, or I do." 

I cannot in good conscience rate this play any lower than 5 stars. It's a classic for a reason. I used to prefer Hedda Gabler, but the protagonist of that play is just so mean. Re-reading it yet again, I was also struck by what a massive undertaking it must be for any actress portraying Nora. In the three-act play, there is literally one short scene in the third act where Nora isn't present on stage and has most of the lines. No wonder it must be a gift of a part for an actress to play. 

Judging a book by its cover: My thin paperback copy of the play is a pleasing shade of purple, with a grumpy-looking cartoon Ibsen glowering from one side.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR17 Book 5: "Stargate - en julefortelling" (Brightly Shining) by Ingvild H. Rishøi

Page count: 144 pages

Audiobook length: 2 hrs 38 mins

Rating: 3 stars

Nowhere Book Bingo 25: Local author (the story takes place about 15 minutes from where I work)

It is impossible for me to review this book without spoiling parts of it, so if you don't want to know how it ends, and why I can't rate this book higher, skip the paragraphs I've highlighted. 

Ten-year-old Ronja and her sixteen-year-old sister Melissa are used to disappointments, living alone with a father who only occasionally sobers up long enough to hold down a job for a month or two. They're used to pretending they've forgotten their food at home and taking care of themselves. Close to Christmas, it looks like this year, their luck may change when their dad gets a job selling Christmas trees. Sadly, it doesn't take long before he returns to the local pubs and Melissa takes the job instead (at much less pay, of course). Since Ronja ends up spending her afternoons near her sister, she's soon recruited to look pitiful and round up customers for Christmas wreaths and decorative pine branches, for an added share of the profits. While the owner of the stand seems ok with turning a blind eye to Melissa's being barely old enough to work, he's not going to risk his business by outright using child labour, so every time he comes around for an inspection, Ronja has to make herself scarce.

SPOILERS START HERE:

Ingvild H. Rishøi wrote this Christmas novella back in 2021, and while it sold well, it didn't become an instant sell-out until it was translated into English. After singer Dua Lipa raved about it in her Instagram stories and said she'd be buying it as a Christmas present for several loved ones, and then Oprah Winfrey included it among her best books of 2024. Since the Norwegian press wrote enthusiastically about this (as they do about any Norwegian thing that becomes popular internationally), suddenly bookshops all over Norway kept selling out their copies, and the book needed to be reprinted more than once. Having now listened to the audiobook, narrated by the author herself, I can see why it's become very popular. I was mentally bracing myself for the book because I have a hard time reading about alcoholic parents (my own father having been one until I was ten - now he hasn't drunk a drop for 35 years), and if I'd been paying attention more closely, the multiple mentions of H.C. Andersen's The Little Match Girl throughout should have given me an idea of what to expect. I read for escapism, and to feel good, and am in no way a fan of books with sad and tear-jerking endings. I keep seeing the plot of this book described as poignant and heart-warming, and I don't see what's heart-warming about dead kids. 

Yes, it's lovely when for a brief while, the girls appear to be making enough money to possibly have a proper Christmas (even though Melissa has to work something like 10 hours a day, pretty much every second she's not in school). It's nice that their elderly neighbour comes to support Ronja during her school's Christmas concert and pretends to be her grandfather so the mean girls can't snipe at her. But just before Christmas, everything starts going horribly wrong. Their almost constantly drunk dad has dragged his drinking buddies home with him, Ronja is badly sick with a fever, the supportive neighbour is away, and the owner of the Christmas tree stand has discovered that Melissa and the other employee have been making money on the side, so fires them without paying them a dime. The writer doesn't straight-out say that the girls die while curled up under a Christmas tree in a massive winter storm, but them waking up in a magical forest just a short, idyllic walk from the cabin they've kept dreaming about throughout the story certainly seems like some "reunited with grandmother" bullshit while the little Match Girl freezes to death on a Danish street corner.

SPOILERS END HERE

I'm very glad that something from Norway that isn't dark and grisly crime fiction is becoming a publishing success and wish the author nothing but good luck, but this story was not for me. They've apparently turned it into a movie, being released at the end of October this year (just in time for people to be depressed while going to the cinema too), so I have no doubt the book will keep selling. 

Judging a book by its cover: The cover of the edition my co-worker lent me was just a plain red book with title and author name in gold, accompanied by a Christmas tree topped by a star. The English version seems to feature a snow-covered tree in a winter landscape, which doesn't exactly convey the tone of the story. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

CBR17 Book 4: "Kvit Norsk Mann" (White Norwegian Man) by Brynjulf Jung Tjønn

Page count: 93 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Nowhere Bingo 2025: A poetry collection

The author of this poetry collection was adopted from South Korea by a childless Norwegian couple when he was three years old. Throughout this rather short, but very impactful poetry collection, he writes about his constant feeling of exclusion and lack of belonging. As a child of Asian descent in a small western Norwegian village surrounded by white people, he obviously stood out among the other children. Adopted by farmers to take over their farm when they grew old, he turned out to be entirely unfit for the task, with his grass allergy, lactose intolerance and breaking out into a rash every time he touched the wool of the sheep on the farm. Many of the poems deal with his feelings of inadequacy because he was brought to Norway from the other side of the world, named for his grandfather and unable to continue the long family tradition of farming. 

Even as an adult, he never really feels like he fits in, as despite him growing up in Norway, people keep asking him "Where are you really from?", confusing his identity with other Asian people, side-eyeing his relationship with his white girlfriend (then wife). He writes absolutely heart-breaking poems referencing three young Norwegians with a non-white background (two of them adopted like him) who died in racially motivated killings. He doesn't feel like he properly fits in in Norway, but has no actual connection to Korea either. 

Back in 2021, I read a short essay collection by a woman whose mother is Norwegian and whose father is Gambian. While reading these poems, I kept being reminded of the short and brutally honest ways in which Lundestad Joof shared the difficulties she keeps facing as a biracial woman in Norway. Both authors explore the difficulties of being non-white in an almost overwhelmingly white country, which for all its progressive views, excellent social benefits and efforts towards inclusivity, still has a long way to go before the majority of the population gets over its often very unintentional racism. 

Since I'm currently teaching 10th graders, I am absolutely going to have them compare and contrast some of these texts, hopefully giving them more perspectives on contemporary life for a lot of minorities in Norway. If I'm lucky, some of them might even come up with some clever stuff to impress whomever is grading their final exams in a few months. 

Judging a book by its cover: The cover is very stark and simple, with a black background and only the title of the book and the name of the author featured. In class, the students had to discuss the colour choices here: the title "Kvit Norsk Mann" is in yellow - the colour the author describes himself as in several of the poems, while the name of the author is in white - the colour the author claims he always aspired to be growing up. I doubt these colour choices are coincidental. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

#CBR12 Book 84: "A Deadly Education" by Naomi Novik

Page count: 336 pages
Audio book length: 10 hrs 59 mins
Rating: 4.5 stars

Official book description:

A Deadly Education is set at Scholomance, a school for the magically gifted where failure means certain death (for real) — until one girl, El, begins to unlock its many secrets. There are no teachers, no holidays, and no friendships, save strategic ones. Survival is more important than any letter grade, for the school won’t allow its students to leave until they graduate… or die! 

The rules are deceptively simple: Don’t walk the halls alone. And beware of the monsters who lurk everywhere. El is uniquely prepared for the school’s dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out millions. It would be easy enough for El to defeat the monsters that prowl the school. 

The problem? Her powerful dark magic might also kill all the other students. Sold yet?

This book has been described as a super-dark, female-led Harry Potter. Harry Potter goes to a boarding school and has magical powers - that's really where the similarity ends. Every single character in A Deadly Education is more interesting and well-rounded than any of those in the many books about 'Larry Porter, boy wizard' (the value brand knock-off my husband made up), and there is a lot more diversity as well. The Scholomance is a boarding school like no other, and the blurb isn't lying - it really is utterly deadly, and a large amount of the students there are not expected to survive past graduation. 

Galadriel (who goes by El - her mother is VERY hippy-dippy) is half Indian, but was rejected by her father's wealthy family due to the very sinister prophecy her grandmother proclaimed about her when they first saw El as a baby. Instead, she was raised by her mother (her father died during graduation to save El's mother, who was pregnant at the time) in a yurt in rural Wales. El's mother is all that is good and kind and self-sacrificing, so the balance of the universe has seen fit to give El dark powers that could literally destroy continents if she gave into temptation and really let herself get down with her bad side.

In this world, when magically gifted children start coming into their powers, all manner of malevolent creatures want to kill and eat them. To protect themselves, most magically adept people unite in various powerful enclaves, where they can fight off said monsters and demon-spawn. Apparently, adolescents are the tastiest, and are in so much danger outside in the real world, that a magical school was built to house them and keep the magical attacks contained to one place. There are no teachers in the Scholomance, and deadly challenges face the students every day, either from external malevolent supernatural forces, poisons or just other students trying to kill them to strengthen themselves. The graduation ceremony is literally the surviving seniors being sent through the lowest levels of the school, where all the deadliest, fiercest and hungriest monsters all dwell. If they can make it out alive, they graduate and can probably expect to go on to make a difference in the world of magic. 

Before golden boy Orion Lake came to the school, a lot more of the student body tended to die. Now, Orion has saved the lives of so many of his fellow students that a lot of the monsters that normally get fed by the unlucky kids who aren't careful or vigilant enough are getting very hungry and vastly more aggressive. El, who has never learned how to make friends, and fights every day not just to survive, but to tamp down on the school's constant encouragement for her to really embrace her evil potential, starts the book having decided she probably wants to kill Orion, but she settles for being really mean to him every chance she gets instead. Orion, who comes from a powerful New York enclave and has been used to people looking up to him and fawning over him his entire life, is puzzled by El's behaviour, but also seems to like her complete disregard of him, and a friendship begins to blossom between them. 

Over the course of the book, El starts gradually opening up and trusting a few others, as well, and seems to be making not only potential allies but actual friends for the first time in her life. She doesn't dare reveal to anyone just how powerful she is, but she tries her best to use her powers to help, rather than selfishly take care of herself, which in the end leads her, Orion, and a few others into an absolutely nerve-racking plan to try to even the odds for the soon to be graduating senior class.

While I never got past the first book of her Temeraire series (my complete disinterest in military history and campaigns won over my fondness for dragons), I have very much enjoyed her more recent fairytale-inspired fantasy novels. In this, she seems to be taking on the YA boarding school fantasy trope, but while the protagonists are teenagers, I would be wary of classifying the book as young adult. It may be too dark and violent for a lot of readers.

I suspect whether you warm to this book or not comes down to whether you can stand El as a character. She's the narrator and she's a tough nut to crack, especially in the first half of the book. A lot of the book is spent with El's internal monologue, which isn't exactly very sympathetic, at least until she starts making some friends, and it might be a bit exhausting sharing her headspace if you're not in the right mood. 

I absolutely loved this book, from the world-building, the absolutely brutal high concept of the magical school, the various monsters and dangers facing the students, and obviously the characters. El and Orion are both great, as are several of the students who El eventually befriend. My main complaint is that I wanted more romance - but I'll have to cross my fingers for more of that later in the series. Highly recommended, way more fun, creative, and inclusive than Harry Potter ever was. 

Judging a book by its cover: I really like the font and the very simple colour scheme of the novel. I like the clean lines of the illustrations, and how non-specific, yet slightly sinister and occult the design on the cover is. Depending on the edition, the background is either navy blue or black. I much prefer the black and gold to the blue and gold one. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.