December 30th, 2009
Bodil Malmsten, “De från norr kommande leoparderna“
I hereby issue a spoiler alert; despite this being a diary of sorts, I shall run through some of the central themes. I know I’d like to read them without this review, so there you go. Read on at your own risk.
This is the last book that Malmsten has written from Finistère, from where she moved while writing it, a collection of “logs”, as she calls them, i.e. snippets selected by herself as posted on her blog. She writes of her neighbours, of the Evil Internet Operator Orange, of the sea while obsessing – in the best possible way. She is not simple, while taking great care in writing by using simple words. Much like dear Morrissey through his lyrics.
I’ve often compared Bodil Malmsten with Arthur Rimbaud, and I still believe this comparison to be singularly valid.
- Image by Niklas via Flickr
She has a very special way of interpreting and exhaling the world around herself, whether it is a seemingly small thing (e.g. the Tape Family, expanding thoughts on words) or seemingly big (e.g. depression, moving, Nicolas Sarkozy’s influence on Europe).
Getting involved in her world means being immersed by it completely, or rather, as far as she takes the reader; it’s almost as though her work is the sieve rather than being one herself, if you know what I mean. I’ve seldom come across a log-book – or a blog, even – where the reader is cast between laughter and sadness, the trivial and the life-changing in much the same way. And the profound way of writing of her coming move, her old Rover car, how the sea lurches and of the neighbours, always there in the book. It’s very gripping.
I don’t tire of reading her highly accessible notes.
The outtakes from her play makes me immediately want to read it.
All in all, a lovely collection of thoughts that does not play into the regular breadth of what being a 60-ish female means. These thoughts alarm and provoke by just being uttered. I really enjoy reading this book, and will most definitely re-read it.
January 9th, 2010 at 11:07
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