The Morning Star (2020) by Karl Ove Knausgaard

Book Review

The Morning Star (2020)

by Karl Ove Knausgaard

   There are two major camps when it comes to Norwegian author and international auto-fiction sensation Karl Ove Knausgaard:  Those who have read one or more of his books, probably from the My Struggle cycle of six books, and love him and those who have HEARD of him and read ABOUT him and find him totally insufferable.  The number of people who have actually read one of his books AND find him totally insufferable seems to be pretty small.  Draw from that observation what you will, but I am with the the first group.  I LOVED My Struggle- all of it- even the last book with the 200 page essay about Hitler.  

    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.