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Out Stealing Horses: A Novel
by Per Petterson

Out Stealing Horses: A Novel Cover

Awards

Winner of the 2007 Impac Dublin Award
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Powells.com Staff Pick

As a 67-year-old, Trond moves to an isolated part of Norway to live out the rest of his life quietly. After meeting his closest neighbor, he is forced to confront things from his youth that he'd spent years avoiding. Petterson writes beautifully of inner and outer struggles, of confusion, pain, and paths we can choose to go down or not. While Trond's voice is very matter-of-fact and Petterson is straightforward in his telling, there are layers that continue to be pulled back until the last page. This story is specific to time and place, but it is also an everyman's tale of love, death, loss, and time continuing on.
Recommended by Brodie, Powells.com

How we translate our past actions and experiences is at least as important as those actions and experiences themselves. Out Stealing Horses, itself superbly translated from the Norwegian, follows the arc of Trond Sander's life as he reflects during a quiet retirement on the violent summer that marked his coming of age. Forced to confront a long-avoided past, he finally deliberates on the adolescent loss, aching beauty, and harrowing grief that underpinned his adulthood. With finely drawn characters, a stark natural setting, and haunting minimalist prose, this quiet, powerful, and spare novel of acceptance is a meditative tale for all.
Recommended by Jason W., Powells.com

Review-a-Day   (What is Review-a-Day?)

"It's a masculine and spare story, and Petterson tells it in sentences stripped of emotion and literary pretense....The style befits not only the stark Norwegian landscape, but it's perfectly befitting a man as emotionally distant as Trond." Peter Martin, Esquire (read the entire Esquire review)

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

We were going out stealing horses. That was what he said, standing at the door to the cabin where I was spending the summer with my father. I was fifteen. It was 1948 and one of the first days of July.

Trond's friend Jon often appeared at his doorstep with an adventure in mind for the two of them. But this morning was different. What began as a joy ride on "borrowed" horses ends with Jon falling into a strange trance of grief. Trond soon learns what befell Jon earlier that day — an incident that marks the beginning of a series of vital losses for both boys.

Set in the easternmost region of Norway, Out Stealing Horses begins with an ending. Sixty-seven-year-old Trond has settled into a rustic cabin in an isolated area to live the rest of his life with a quiet deliberation. A meeting with his only neighbor, however, forces him to reflect on that fateful summer.

Review:

"Award-winning Norwegian novelist Petterson renders the meditations of Trond Sander, a man nearing 70, dwelling in self-imposed exile at the eastern edge of Norway in a primitive cabin. Trond's peaceful existence is interrupted by a meeting with his only neighbor, who seems familiar. The meeting pries loose a memory from a summer day in 1948 when Trond's friend Jon suggests they go out and steal horses. That distant summer is transformative for Trond as he reflects on the fragility of life while discovering secrets about his father's wartime activities. The past also looms in the present: Trond realizes that his neighbor, Lars, is Jon's younger brother, who 'pulls aside the fifty years with a lightness that seems almost indecent.' Trond becomes immersed in his memory, recalling that summer that shaped the course of his life while, in the present, Trond and Lars prepare for the winter, allowing Petterson to dabble in parallels both bold and subtle. Petterson coaxes out of Trond's reticent, deliberate narration a story as vast as the Norwegian tundra. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"[R]emarkable....Now and then a book comes along that deserves the label 'classic.' Out Stealing Horses is in that class, a rough woodcut that portrays the very mystery of life itself." Dallas Morning News

Review:

"Petterson captures perfectly the flavor of adolescence." Cleveland Plain Dealer

Review:

"This short yet spacious and powerful book...reminds us of the careful and apropos writing of J. M. Coetzee, W. G. Sebald and Uwe Timm." Thomas McGuane, New York Times

Review:

"The novel's incidents and lush but precise descriptions...are on a par with those of Cather, Steinbeck, Berry, and Hemingway, and its emotional force and flavor are equivalent to what those authors can deliver, too." Booklist

Review:

"Petterson has established his reputation abroad, winning several international prizes...but he deserves critical acclaim here as well. Highly recommended for all fiction collections." Library Journal

Review:

"American readers should feel fortunate to have this beautiful translation of Petterson's work; finally, we are given the opportunity to step inside his graceful, deeply felt universe." Minneapolis Star Tribune

Review:

"Haunting, minimalist prose and expert pacing give this quiet story from Norway native Petterson an undeniably authoritative presence." Kirkus Reviews

Synopsis:

An early morning adventure out stealing horses leads to the tragic death of one boy and a resulting lifetime of guilt and isolation for his friend, in this moving tale about the painful loss of innocence and of traditional ways of life gone forever.
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About the Author

Per Petterson has written five novels, which have established his reputation as one of Norway's best fiction writers. Out Stealing Horses won the Norwegian Booksellers Prize, the Critics Award for best novel, and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 4 comments:
mgreiner, April 14, 2008 (view all comments by mgreiner)
Although I had a negative reaction to the title, the review I read was intriguing. How glad I am that I didn't judge this book "by the cover." Petterson tells an engaging story, from the point of view of an older Trond and his young self. Most of the action occurs in a rural Norway, and is a mix of tragic, heroic, amusing, and romantic moments. Well worth the time to read this short and engaging novel.
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reader 1950, January 19, 2008 (view all comments by reader 1950)
I found this book satisfying, pleasurable, and memorable. Its style, story, atmosphere, and authenticity are strong.
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(2 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)
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moon, October 5, 2007 (view all comments by moon)
This is a wonderful book....will take you to a place you have never been!
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(7 of 14 readers found this comment helpful)
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Product Details

ISBN:
9781555974701
Subtitle:
A Novel
Author:
Petterson, Per
Author:
Petterson, Per
Translator:
Born, Anne
Publisher:
Graywolf Press
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Social isolation
Subject:
Norway
Subject:
General Fiction
Copyright:
2007
Edition Number:
1st U.S. ed.
Publication Date:
April 17, 2007
Binding:
HC
Language:
English
Pages:
250
Dimensions:
8.68x5.50x.97 in. .94 lbs.
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