Before You Sleep

by Linn Ullmann

Book Overview

The acclaimed debut novel of passion and subtlety that links three generations of eccentric, formidable women. Through the sublimely unreliable voice of its narrator, Karin, Before You Sleep reaches... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067088698X
• ISBN13: 9780670886982
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Viking Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.9" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Eloquent style and poignant writing

This book is a brilliant and touching first work, its form mimicking that of the much-referred to time capsule where the story finds its ultimate center. The narrator Karin brings segments of her life together in a non-narrative jumble, but in doing so she seeks to reclaim the pieces of her life that, regardless of the false stories she spins around them, in the end exist, and the fact that they happened, not what exactly happened, is what is most important to her. Unlike the buried time capsule that holds objects that those in the future will have to interpret for themselves, with the help of the descriptions left by people decades ago, Karin takes control of her own lifeline, and that is what she leaves the reader with in the end. Ullmann's style is provoking and effective.

A LUMINOUS FIRST NOVEL

From the daughter of film director Ingmar Bergman, who showcased emotionally fractured personalities, and actress Liv Ullmann one might anticipate a rather Bergmanesque first novel. Before You Sleep is that with spare scenes, bleak humor, and dysfunctional family relationships. However, there is more, much more - the pages resonate with a uniquely original contemporary voice. Were Linn Ullmann not the offspring of two such gifted parents odds are that her debut would still be an international bestseller for she may have learned, she may have inherited, but she has synthesized her legacy into a thought provoking vision that is solely her own .Blessed with rich imagination and discerning eye she has fashioned an intriguing fictional memoir. With the sometimes dark but always perceptive ruminations of a young woman as its matrix Before You Sleep is rich with incandescent prose and revelatory observations. Ms. Ullmann's choice of prefatory quotations is apt for this tale that reveals the duplicity of the human heart, the machinations of the mind. The first quote is from German poet Rilke who, in this particular verse, utters a wish to be alone and awake in the dark. The second is from heavyweight Joe Frazier: "I don't want to knock my opponent out. I want to hit him, step away, and watch him hurt. I want his heart." Translated from the Norwegian by award-winning translator Tiina Ninnally who brought us "Smilla's Sense of Snow," Before You Sleep is the story of an Oslo family, the Blom's, as seen through the reflections of their youngest daughter, Karin. She introduces them by saying, "Anni drank to forget. I drank to be happy. Father drank just to keep going. Grandma drank to sleep better at night. Aunt Selma drank to be even meaner than she already was." Her mother, the irresistibly attractive Anni, "Oslo's best hairdresser......who didn't really want to be Anni at all, but somebody else entirely" and her father, a man known only as "Father" are separated. Older sister, beautiful Julie, married Aleksander in the summer of 1990. It is a doomed match for Julie as she becomes convinced of her husband's faithlessness. Karin recalls that some of her happiest times as a child were spent going to the movies with her father. It was during these moments that he may have molded her with such instructive dictums as "A human heart isn't any bigger than this, said Father, taking his hand out of his pocket and showing me his clenched right fist. The knuckles were white. You shouldn't ask for too much..." As she reflects, Karin's thoughts travel from Oslo today to Brooklyn in the 1930's where Anni lived as a child, the daughter of a successful costume maker. Karin also recalls her own sexual adventures, the seduction of a man to whom she was not particularly attracted. Lying, she has concluded is of import. The trick is to know how to do it, to learn which lies will be believed and which will not. Before You Sleep closes as it began - Karin is caring f

A wonderful first book

Linn Ullmann's debut shows us her talent in describing a disfunctional family (that you will later familiarize, I bet), with such updated originality, but without being vulgar.Meet Karin Bloom and her family. And discover your own family. No family is perfect. This one isn't ,neither is yours.

A LUMINOUS FIRST NOVEL

From the daughter of film director Ingmar Bergman, who showcased emotionally fractured personalities, and actress Liv Ullmann one might anticipate a rather Bergmanesque first novel. Before You Sleep is that with spare scenes, bleak humor, and dysfunctional family relationships. However, there is more, much more - the pages resonate with a uniquely original contemporary voice. Were Linn Ullmann not the offspring of two such gifted parents odds are that her debut would still be an international bestseller for she may have learned, she may have inherited, but she has synthesized her legacy into a thought provoking vision that is solely her own .Blessed with rich imagination and discerning eye she has fashioned an intriguing fictional memoir. With the sometimes dark but always perceptive ruminations of a young woman as its matrix Before You Sleep is rich with incandescent prose and revelatory observations. Ms. Ullmann's choice of prefatory quotations is apt for this tale that reveals the duplicity of the human heart, the machinations of the mind. The first quote is from German poet Rilke who, in this particular verse, utters a wish to be alone and awake in the dark. The second is from heavyweight Joe Frazier: "I don't want to knock my opponent out. I want to hit him, step away, and watch him hurt. I want his heart." Translated from the Norwegian by award-winning translator Tiina Ninnally who brought us "Smilla's Sense of Snow," Before You Sleep is the story of an Oslo family, the Blom's, as seen through the reflections of their youngest daughter, Karin. She introduces them by saying, "Anni drank to forget. I drank to be happy. Father drank just to keep going. Grandma drank to sleep better at night. Aunt Selma drank to be even meaner than she already was." Her mother, the irresistibly attractive Anni, "Oslo's best hairdresser......who didn't really want to be Anni at all, but somebody else entirely" and her father, a man known only as "Father" are separated. Older sister, beautiful Julie, married Aleksander in the summer of 1990. It is a doomed match for Julie as she becomes convinced of her husband's faithlessness. Karin recalls that some of her happiest times as a child were spent going to the movies with her father. It was during these moments that he may have molded her with such instructive dictums as "A human heart isn't any bigger than this, said Father, taking his hand out of his pocket and showing me his clenched right fist. The knuckles were white. You shouldn't ask for too much..." As she reflects, Karin's thoughts travel from Oslo today to Brooklyn in the 1930's where Anni lived as a child, the daughter of a successful costume maker. Karin also recalls her own sexual adventures, the seduction of a man to whom she was not particularly attracted. Lying, she has concluded is of import. The trick is to know how to do it, to learn which lies will be believed and which will not. Before You Sleep closes as it b

Portrait of a family

This book took me several pages to get involved, but the story kept pulling me along to discover what was going to happen next. A typical dysfunctional family, most people will be able to relate to this wacky group. Through a sort of stream of consciousness writing style, Ullmann does a beautiful job describing a variety of intricate, intimate family scenes, from a wedding to their drinking habits. This is a good absorbing book.