“Carl Frode Tiller is writing a new bible for his generation, and he is devilishly good when he loses himself in the details. (…) He is at his best when he just writes away, reveling in all these small, strange details. Like when Trond’s mother-in-law chose to paint her postbox pink. Or the carnival-like 17 May celebrations in a small Norwegian town in Nord-Trøndelag, where much of the focus was on mocking the authorities. At times like these, A Worker’s Heart is the best book you could possibly be locked up with. Lock yourself in too.”
Knut Hoem, NRK 5/6 stars

“A master! Carl Frode Tiller (55) writes the most incisive contemporary portrayals in Norwegian literature right now. (…) In retrospect, I regret not giving the first book a rating of six. Book two, on the other hand, is a clear five! Together, the two books constitute a powerful work that should be read by many. (…) Tiller writes better than most of his living fellow authors. There is a unique intensity to his fluid New Norwegian. (…) Tiller is a master at depicting family relationships, both at their most devoted and their most toxic. (…) Tiller’s portrait of a man and his struggle with himself will linger long in the reader’s mind.”
Sindre Hovdenakk, VG 5/6 stars

“Brilliant sequel … (…) There is a panoramic quality to the novel, in down-to-earth language with a wealth of beautiful dialogues and stories that, despite all the controversies, celebrate community. (…) Carl Frode Tiller is at his best in the second part of A Worker’s Heart.”
Stein Roll, Adresseavisen 5/6 stars

“Dialogues are Tiller’s distinctive signature skill. With precision, he captures the level of detail that reveals the pettiness and complexity of close relationships. (…) Tiller’s fantastic self-reflective first-person narrator adds a meta-layer to his style that places him midway between a modernist Dag Solstad and a realist Kyrre Andreassen. Taken as a whole, the novel offers an impressive self-reflective view of the working-class son’s winding path to the academic elite … confirms Carl Frode Tiller as the great storyteller of late modernity. He puts into words a Norway in transition.”
Astrid Fosvold, Vårt Land

“Spot on. (…) Here, Tiller shines with great humour and irony … (…) A Worker’s Heart 1 and 2 capture a time and a mood that are recognisable in every detail, written with great integrity and a psychological flair that very few Norwegian authors can match.”
Oddmund Hagen, Dag og Tid

“The novels constitute a thorough investigation of what telling one’s own stories means for the individual’s ability to find a place in the Norwegian welfare society.”
Tom Egil Hverven, Klassekampen