This is a great variation on the time-loop story. Tara, our narrator, wakes up on November 19 only to discover that it’s actually November 18 again. For the rest of the book she repeats November 18 every day, gradually realising what has happened and coming to terms with it. She even eventually manages to explain to her husband what has happened. Unfortunately, of course, she has to explain it to him again the next day, and the next, and the next, since he doesn’t remember the previous November 18ths that she has lived through.
The specifics of the time loop in this book are interesting – even though Tara wakes up on the same morning, some of the things she did on the previous day persist. For example, if she goes to sleep somewhere else, she will wake up there rather than at the place she originally woke up. And she notices that as the days go by, she’s running down the stock in her local shop as she buys food. Apart from little details like this, this book explains very little about what has happened.
Of course, all this makes me (and probably you) think of Groundhog Day. A great film for sure, although it did gloss over just how long Phil had to repeat Groundhog Day (decades, surely) and how that would most likely have driven him insane. I don’t like to nitpick though – it would detract from that film to try to explain every detail, let alone explain how the time loop happened in the first place. Here though, we know exactly how many days Tara is going through, since the book is presented as her diary, with each day numbered for easy reference. As it’s a diary, we get a lot of Tara’s thoughts and ideas about what is happening, and maybe why and how. I appreciate that this gives the book a contemplative feel, as opposed to a more propulsive, plot-driven narrative. Still, tension builds as she approaches day 365 – will everything be resolved when she gets to November 18 again? And what will happen the next day?
The book ends right at this point, as she’s about to go to sleep. The next morning, will she finally wake up to November 19?
I doubt it! After all, this is only volume 1 in a 7-volume series. (Septology, I suppose.) Looks as if there’s a lot more to this story. The seventh volume hasn’t even been published yet in the original Danish, and only the first three have been published in English. Hopefully the translator can keep up a 1-year cadence, so my family will have a steady supply of birthday present ideas for me.
Jon Fosse got a Nobel prize for his septology (even though he couldn’t think of a title for it) and J K Rowling got a billion dollars for hers. I don’t know what accolades Balle will get, but I am keen to see how her story develops.