Dizzying Opportunities, No Fear
Far out on the desolate inland plains of northern Norway, there is a house. The house is shared by two sisters. They seldom leave the house. Nobody has visited them for a long time. One sister can’t get out of bed and needs nursing. The other simply never left. They live beyond conventions, north of…
Far out on the desolate inland plains of northern Norway, there is a house. The house is shared by two sisters. They seldom leave the house. Nobody has visited them for a long time. One sister can’t get out of bed and needs nursing. The other simply never left. They live beyond conventions, north of common custom. Are they trying to keep each other alive – or to kill each other? When did their kind feelings turn into hatred? When a man enters the picture the conflict sharpens. The sisters realize that one of them has to go, and a series of surprising incidents and bizarre situations follow.
Inventive and darkly humorous, Dizzying opportunities, no fear is a raw depiction of the determined struggle for power and mutual dependence between two sisters.
Praise for Dizzying Opportunities, No Fear:
“The sisters’ violent intimacy has its own power, but the real strength of this book lies in the way so much is withheld. (…) Like cold settling into bone, the sensation of horror creeps up with unshakeable stealth.”
(The Daily Mail, UK)
“Literary epitaph of the highest order […] the format is small, but [Dizzying Opportunities, No Fear] should stand out among this autumn’s new novels. The author has created a solid and original epic universe which doesn’t grind away on worn out themes like infidelity, couple relationships and childhood, but which produces something brand new […] The form and content of this novel are communicating extremely well with each other. The language is strongly poetic – an innovative and sensous prose which contrasts sharply with the partly revolting content, and the frail body of the narrator.”
(Bergens Tidende, Norway)
“An inventive and grotesque novel about the power struggle between two sisters … It’s a liberating feeling when you get a completely original story in your hands. Gøhril Gabrielsen’s second novel is such a story.”
(Dagbladet, Norway)
”… raw and dark and in addition wonderfully different from anything else published this autumn … Through her writing Gabrielsen creates a riddle which stands out, with a peculiar atmosphere and a distinct form […] The book shows how literature given the right form becomes good literature, and that stories that keep a conscious distance to its characters perhaps more often provides a base for new thoughts. The first person narrator also combines witty self insight with existential word games.”
(Dag og Tid, Norway)
“From one of the darkest corners of the world comes the bleak, brutal but brilliant story of a simmering sibling love-hate relationship so caustic and corrosive that its dramatic demise can only be potentially deadly. (…) Using the sparest of prose and the power of suggestion, Gabrielsen teases, taunts and tests her reader […]. The Looking-Glass Sisters is a work of intelligence, empathy, intensity and exceptional beauty and originality […].”
(Lancashire Evening Post)
“[…] even the harshest scene possesses a raw, stark beauty. […] Gabrielsen’s novel disturbs and challenges. Once we have begun, though, it is near impossible to pull away.”
(The National)