Welcome to America – by Linda Bostrom Knausgard

The story of Ellen, the 11-year old girl who stopped talking after her father died (because she felt guilty she had prayed for his death) was extremely well written in this novella by Linda Bostrom Knausgard (the ex-wife of Karl Ove Knausgard).

Even though I read this book in September last year, I still remember the light in the novella “We’re a family of light. A light to ourselves.” Or

“We were a family of light. Mum’s light shone out to us all. Her light poured on us.”

I was also moved by the beautiful mother – daughter relationship portrayed in this novella.

“It was such a blessing, the way she always knew how I felt, and together we would thrash things out, bring them into the open, until the badness was little and all on its own, and vanished in the light, her light. She took all the badness and made it go away. She was a magician, playing with the light on the walls, stealing into the nooks and crannies of my mind, slipping into my tummy, where the badness first set in. She soothed me from the inside and made me free.”

Even though the writing is beautiful, this 124-page long novella is too short for me. I did not feel satisfied when I had finished the book.

Translated from the Swedish by Martin Aitken.

T. Hoang Sept 2019.