“Subtle and with a distinct signature…With Lirhus, it looks as though we have been given a new artist. He has control of his devices, knows how to construct a story, to withhold and to give out, but even more importantly: He possesses the never fully understood ability of pulling his readers along with him, of stirring a desire to enter the work that is not based on technical skilfulness…Look for The Woods Are Green. The book stores aren’t overflowing with novels with subtle qualities these days. We need a debutant like Lirhus”
Dagbladet
”Debut novel marked by linguistic resistance and fantasising abilities … a life story that grips you – through the linguistic claws and grasps in the text … The strength of the book lies in the language itself – but also in a reckless imagination”
Aftenposten
”Agnar Lirhus is a skilled debutant, in the sense that he writes well and has an eye for drawing characters and situations with few strokes of the pen. He is at his very best when he depicts the interpersonal”
VG
”Agnar Lirhus makes his debut with a small but substantial novel … It is a fine and well-composed debut … Warm sense of humour and a good heart ensure that the slightly failed and misguided Filip Randén seems human”
Bergens Tidende
”I say! … A small gem … The whole thing is wrapped in a slightly stilted, almost stuttering, and playful language that at times makes the novel a very funny read”
Universitas
”an impressive, not to mention linguistically strong first novel … The novel, that shines with well adapted levels of action and leaps of time that create suspense, has become a sweet and sincere novel, about life, love and how it’s all connected … And while the story slowly and perfectly portioned advances during a bus-ride to Stockholm, Lirhus does magic with the language. It is simple. Sober, with short sentences, that still say more than enough … an amazingly good debut novel”
Moss Avis
”as intense as a Mykle, though not with vibrating eroticism, but with a seriously gloomy existentialism … The small novel is brimful of gripping sequences and trains of thought where we encircle the personality Filip, who assumes an increasingly tragic posture, yet with authenticity. This is really convincing from a debutant”
Sarpsborg Arbeiderblad
