Norway's Award Winning Author Author Per Petterson's "I Refuse" A Masterful & Powerful Novel

Per Petterson (b Norway 1952) is a highly acclaimed literary novelist.  His previous novels "Out Stealing Horses" ('06) won the Int'l IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize & "I Curse the River of Time" ('08) earned the Nordic Council Literary Prize.  "I Refuse" is another stunning novel written in Petterson's sparse style, set in the frozen & steely Norwegian landscape.  Petterson's evocative storytelling in "I Refuse" differs from his previous novels.  Here, Petterson chooses to utilize multiple characters voices and an outside narrator.   The novel implements varying voices as well and uses a non-linear timeline.  There's an overriding sense of gloom & missed opportunities.  Regardless, the novel garners its strength from the lifelong friendship between Tommy & Jim.  Tommy has a slightly younger sister Siri & much younger twin sisters.  Tommy is the main recipient of their abusive father's beatings.  He becomes the patriarchal saint at age 14 protecting his sisters after his mother vanishes one morning, never to return.  Jim moved with his mother to Tommy's town as a young boy.  Jim is as an only child & with a single mother.  Both boys share a kinship that is indivisible.  Tommy contends with his father's violence until he reaches his breaking point.  He strikes back seriously injuring his father.  The father abandons his 4 children as Tommy intended.  He & Siri serenely care for their younger sisters for short period until social services disbands the girls into appropriate parental households.  Tommy is questioned by the local police regarding his father but remains steadfast as to his innocence.  Jonsen, a bachelor known to the family steps up to assume responsibility for Tommy.  Jonsen is a kind & mentoring figure for Tommy.  Jonsen's history is slowly revealed and the intertwining of his life with Tommy is both surprising & bittersweet.  The skillful writing, crystal descriptions and intriguing characters create a layered novel with icy depth & hardened reflection.  "I Refuse" has a shadowy ambience blurring dusk & sunset.  Insomnia, solitude, restlessness & immense voids in life are harkened throughout this profound work.   The characters combat a pervasive perdition, some with more vigor than others.  No one remains unscathed.  Still, there is an undeterred wanderlust for travel & a fortitude sustained through friendship.  Petterson gracefully pays homage to Robert Louis Stevenson in his novel.  "I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.  I travel for travels sake."  "No man is useless while he has a friend."  (RLS)