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Out Stealing Horses | 
 enlarge | Author: Per Petterson
Publisher: Harvill Secker
Category: Book
Buy New: $22.15
New (3) from $22.15
Avg. Customer Rating:  101 reviews
Sales Rank: 1318872
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 4.3 x 1.1
ISBN: 1843432293
EAN: 9781843432296
ASIN: 1843432293
Publication Date: January 24, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. Delivery is usually 5 - 8 working days from order, International is by Royal Mail Airmail
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Product Description
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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| Customer Reviews: Read 96 more reviews...
 A Book I Read Slowly November 12, 2008
I don't read as much as I would like and that is usually my fault. Sometimes it is the book's fault for not pulling me in. This one had no trouble and the sparse prose is perfectly descriptive of the state of mind of both the man and boy in this novel. I felt I could almost smell the air in the book with barely a word to describe it, but somehow it comes across. The writing is simple yet leaves you touched by this character's experience. It is like wandering into a room you used to inhabit as a child. You can pinpoint the exact smell but something pulls a flood of emotion back into your consciousness that has been lost somewhere. This book feels like that throughout and is one of the best books I have read since "East of Eden". Like life, it is neither happy nor sad, but simply is what we make of it.
 Gave up on page 52 November 11, 2008
My expectations were high, but I couldn't talk myself into reading past page 52. It wasn't awful, just very flat for my taste. I wasn't particularily taken by the writing, as many have raved about, nor was I at all interested in the characters. Nothing here for me...
A beautifully crafted novel November 10, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is one of the best novels I've read in years, and (in my opinion) one of the finest works of the past few decades. A story that begins (unpromisingly in my initial assessment) with a teenage boy spending his summer in the Norwegian countryside, twists and turns most unexpectedly. Like all great novels, it is ultimately about life and the challenge of living it well. The characters are complex, the story absorbing, the lesson - no man is an island - timeless. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys great literature.
 Norwegian Hemingway November 6, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I don't know if it was the translator or Per Petterson, but one of them captured Hemingway's rhythm almost perfectly. This is the main character, Trond Sander describing how his father, some neighbors and he cut trees to be floated downstream to a Swedish lumber mill: "...when you are in the swing, and all of you have fallen into a good rhythm, the beginning and the end have no meaning at all, not there, not then, and the only vital thing is that you keep going until everything merges into a single pulse that beats and works under its own steam, and you take a break at the right time and you work again, and you eat enough but not too much, and you drink enough but not too much, and sleep well when the times comes; eight hours at night, and at least one hour during the day."
Nothing much happens in the story. Trond, a sixty-seven-year old man moves to a cabin north of Oslo. His wife has recently died and he wants to be alone, but he meets a man named Lars who turns out to be somebody he knows from his youth. The story flashes back to the last time Trond had seen his father, who eventually left his family. The story flashes further back to the time Trond's father fought for the Norwegian resistance during World War II. And that's how he met Lars' mother, whom he would leave his family for. Then there's the curious statement "Out stealing horses," which was a code for a messenger carrying papers between Germany and Sweden. It was the same expression Lars' brother Jon used when he and Trond would go to a neighbor's corral and ride the horses there, pretending to be stealing them. Jon was so consumed by the horses and other mischief that he forgot he was supposed to watch his little brothers and there was a terrible accident.
The adult Trond Sanders is a moody, moody man who is more consumed by his father's abandonment than he is by his family. When his daughter comes to see him, he's not even sure he wants to see her. He relates better to his dog, Lyra, than he does to human beings. We know Trond was married and has two daughters but we learn nothing about his wife and the other daughter is invisible.
Readers will be frustrated by the lack of resolution. We assume Trond's father raised Lars, but we never find out for sure. Trond seems afraid to ask. Perhaps Trond is hesitant because he doesn't want to establish a human relationship with Lars. Although Lars recognizes Trond and vice versa, they spend an entire afternoon sawing a tree that has fallen in Trond's yard, but their conversation is never more significant than a discussion of the weather. Petterson seemed to be aiming for emotional impact rather than story resolution. I did feel sorry for Trond, but I also wanted to kick him in the butt.
Disappointing after the very strong reviews.... November 1, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Agree with several of the other reviewers - this is a slow read. I bought based on the very positive comments and reviews, both on the book cover and from other Amazon readers. My wife and I both read it, and stuck with it to the end expecting the story to develop but it failed to keep our interest, although I would describe it as a thoughtfully written. On a positive note, it evokes the claustrophobic, isolated Swedish winter rural landscape effectively as the backdrop.
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