The Wolves of Eternity (2023) by Karl Over Knausgaard

 Book Review

The Wolves of Eternity (2023)

by Karl Ove Knausgaard

    I'm a fan of Karl Ove Knausgaard- I listened to most of his six volume series My Struggle, on Audiobook- which was a great experience and something I highly recommend given the sheer volume of the reading experience AND the fact that all six books are narrated by the same person recounting their life and experiences- an ideal format for the Audiobook.   In many ways, I think My Struggle, with its combination of the excruciating banality of everyday life and lenghty philosophical diatribes, makes a better Audiobook than book. 

  Back in 2020 I bought the hardback (not sure if it made it to paperback!) of the first volume in this projected three volume series, The Morning Star.  I read it almost two years ago this month and after reading it I wrote:

So I am very excited about The Morning Star, the first volume in what seems to be a multi-volume series modeled after, and I know this sounds strange, the works of Stephen King.  There's no reason that Knausgaard would be naive about the potential international sales appeal of his books and The Morning Star, which combines Knausgaard's characteristic grousing about the minutiae of day-to-day existence in contemporary Norway and Sweden with the possibility of the imminent arrival of some kind of supernatural demon, does indeed accomplish its goal:  Expand the international audience for Karl Ove Knausgaard.   Ironically, it seems like more of a critical success than a popular one. 

  Maybe the second volume, which seems to promise the kind of well described literary bloody mayhem you might associate with American Psycho, will generate the sparks necessary to elevate the popular profile of both books, but I, like other readers, was struck by just how little actually happened in The Morning Star.  I mean I did love every page, but still.

    Reader, I am here to tell you that The Wolves of Eternity does not deliver on the bloody mayhem I had hoped for.  I can advise you that after The Wolves of Eternity, which tracks back in time before moving forward to the "present" of the first book (1980's I think- right before Chernobyl), it appears that the plot involves the dead coming back to life as a result of the appearance of the Morning Star from the first book.   Another exciting development in The Wolves of Eternity is a female narrator- which I want to say is a first for Knausgaard.  

   At the same time I would be at an absolute loss to recommend this book to a non-Knausgaard devotee- unless you have the time to read the 800 page hardback or 23 hour Audiobook.  It took me a couple months and multiple check-outs of the Audiobook to complete it.  Lengthy portions of the book describing the Russian obsession with bringing the dead back to life seem to situate Knausgaard's authorial intent- it's hard to ignore the appearance of Tolstoy in the pages of The Wolves of Eternity.  At the same time, once again, in an 800 page book, not much happens.   The most action packed portions of the book are a train ride by one character and a plane flight by another.