Finding a Swedish novel again...
June 28, 2021 11:34 PM Subscribe
There's a million to one chance this will work, but I am trying to figure out which Swedish novel I read around 2007. I think the book was older (not recently published) and was set sometime between the 1950s and 1980s. I read it in the original Swedish, and I have no idea if it was ever translated into English or another language.
I remember just a few things:
-It was about a boy (I think it was a boy and not a girl) who is kind of abandoned for the summer in the city by their parents/caregiver and goes adventures. I think it may be set in Stockholm.
-Definitely a "coming-of-age"/nostalgic style and feel
-At one point they end up helping out at a workshop that makes funeral wreaths. I think they end up painting the banners that go on them? They build some kind of personal relationship with the other people who work there but eventually it's time for them to move on. I remember that the workshop is very hot since it's summer.
-At another point, their father (or mother?) shows up on the scene again and takes them to a restaurant, where they have a big steak dinner with lots of soda and they end up very sleepy and satisfied. I think the parent shows up with a new partner, and it's the partner who splashes out on all the food.
Any ideas?
I remember just a few things:
-It was about a boy (I think it was a boy and not a girl) who is kind of abandoned for the summer in the city by their parents/caregiver and goes adventures. I think it may be set in Stockholm.
-Definitely a "coming-of-age"/nostalgic style and feel
-At one point they end up helping out at a workshop that makes funeral wreaths. I think they end up painting the banners that go on them? They build some kind of personal relationship with the other people who work there but eventually it's time for them to move on. I remember that the workshop is very hot since it's summer.
-At another point, their father (or mother?) shows up on the scene again and takes them to a restaurant, where they have a big steak dinner with lots of soda and they end up very sleepy and satisfied. I think the parent shows up with a new partner, and it's the partner who splashes out on all the food.
Any ideas?
Best answer: In Barnens Ö the child, Reine, convinces his mother that he has gone to summer camp, and convinces summer camp that he is sick in hospital, if that helps cement what I agree is probably the right answer.
posted by J.R. Hartley at 1:55 AM on June 29, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by J.R. Hartley at 1:55 AM on June 29, 2021 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: That’s it! And even found the funeral wreath detail mentioned in a NYTimes review.
You guys are amazing.
posted by whitewall at 2:13 AM on June 29, 2021 [3 favorites]
You guys are amazing.
posted by whitewall at 2:13 AM on June 29, 2021 [3 favorites]
Y’all beat me to it. Jäklar.
posted by Bella Donna at 9:09 AM on June 29, 2021
posted by Bella Donna at 9:09 AM on June 29, 2021
Best answer: Also made into a movie.
posted by Rabarberofficer at 9:15 AM on June 29, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Rabarberofficer at 9:15 AM on June 29, 2021 [2 favorites]
Metafilter: "This might be impossible." = It might take almost two hours.
posted by kate4914 at 12:05 PM on June 29, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by kate4914 at 12:05 PM on June 29, 2021 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Namlit at 1:14 AM on June 29, 2021 [1 favorite]