I’ll occasionally read a book which makes me think about things differently and Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller is one of them. In places it’s laugh-out-loud funny, but it’s also brim full of pathos and insights that stop you in your tracks. It’s one of the best books I’ve read this year.
Norwegian by Night was described in the blurb on BorrowBox as the story of an elderly man going on the run in Norway with a small boy whom he has rescued from violence. The novel won loads of awards, including the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger in 2013. I thought it might be fun and so I borrowed it.
The protagonist is an 82-year-old New Yorker called Sheldon Horowitz, who has been transplanted to live in Norway with his granddaughter and her husband, after the death of his wife. Horowitz is irascible and impatient (not unlike a Walter Matthau film character), raging at life in general, not just at being in Norway. As a young man he’d been a Marine sniper in the Korean war, although his family always believed he’d only been an army clerk, and after the war he’d become a watch repairman. Now, living in a strange country where he doesn’t speak the language, he’s finding life bewildering and difficult, and he’s furious at what he’s become.
In Oslo Sheldon is living in a flat with his granddaughter and her Norwegian husband and, one morning, hears a violent argument between the woman who lives upstairs and an extremely aggressive man. She and her small son take refuge in Sheldon’s flat but the man follows and the woman is killed. Sheldon and the boy manage to escape and because Sheldon doesn’t know who he can trust, he decides he should take the boy to his grandson-in-law’s country cabin, where he knows there’s a gun with which he can defend himself and the child. Together they set off and Sheldon must use all his ingenuity to avoid their pursuers.
The story isn’t as basic as this makes it sound. First of all, the violent man is an Albanian gangster who has the men and resources to hunt down Sheldon and the boy; secondly, the Norwegian police are obviously involved because of the woman’s murder. Miller deftly weaves all the elements into a coherent whole, adding layers of observations and insights which make everything sing. As well as being a wonderful novel it’s a very good murder mystery.
My verdict
You’ll have gathered already that I really loved Norwegian by Night but the first thing to say is that I listened to it as an e-Audiobook and, with hindsight, I think I might have enjoyed it even more if I’d read it off the page. In a few places, as the story sped along, the narration made it tricky to discern what were Sheldon’s inner thoughts and what was actually happening. It didn’t spoil anything, it was just that a couple of times I found myself having to work out who exactly had been saying what to whom.
Throughout the novel the humour is dry and ironic, and in places very funny indeed. And the characters are wonderful. Sheldon is beautifully drawn and a delight – someone who leaps off the page to meet you, full of quick repartee. Miller also makes sure the other, lesser characters are equally clear in your mind’s eye. From Rhea, Sheldon’s granddaughter, and Sigrid, the senior police detective and her colleagues, to the thuggish Albanian gangsters – they all feel like real people.
It’s a beguiling book. I was quickly drawn in by the wit and humour and found myself really caring about the characters and what was happening to them. It’s been several weeks since I finished listening to it, yet still it lingers in my head and I keep thinking about Sheldon Horowitz. My thoughts on this novel can’t do the book justice, so please do try to read it. I’ve since read the follow-up novel (American by Day) and listened to The Girl in Green, both of which I enjoyed hugely, but not nearly as much as this, which I rate as 5 Stars.
Review by: Cornish Eskimo
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