“It is indeed an absolutely outstanding book that Dahl has written. … a novel where a theme emerges horizontally, through repetition, until we as readers understand: this is how it is for all of us.”
Rasmus Landström, Aftonbladet

“… an extraordinarily good novel. It is also one of the most profoundly painful things I have read about loneliness – and how it can echo through generations. For Niels Fredrik Dahl writes through his ‘own filter of loneliness’. Yes, it is a kind of autobiographical fantasy, but it never becomes narrowly introspective.”
Lina Kalmteg, SR Kulturnytt

“This is an impeccable novel. A true novel-novel, one that has something to say to any reader. If I still worked in a bookstore, I would be thrilled; this is a book that can be recommended to most people. That might sound very boring, but it is not. It is magnificent literature.”
Annina Rabe, Expressen

“Dahl sits with his father’s leftover papers, mostly postcards and drawings, a few photographs, the only letters are written by the Judge. But from these fragments, Dahl creates a life whose pain points radiate from the book’s pages. … He writes a quietly intimate, poetic prose and chooses images over reasoning and analysis.”
Ingrid Elam, Borås Tidning

“He not only portrays his father and grandparents tenderly, but above all, he depicts through them a time, an era, from the twenties to the post-war period, with a quick glance towards the early 1980s. … The novel places quiet, good storytelling at its center, with an unusually strong ability to bring it to life.”
Torbjörn Flygt, Sydsvenskan

“The author Niels Fredrik Dahl composes a dizzyingly beautiful melancholy, in one of last year’s most acclaimed Norwegian books.”
Bodil Juggas, Arbetarbladet

“It is hard to resist Dahl’s razor-sharp prose. You get drawn in. His understated prose is like being absorbed into a reality close to real life. But in the parallel space that language constitutes. A kind of Narnia for adults, where the crystal-clear shifts between different time planes in the novels cut like a dip in icy fjord water”
Cecilia Hansson, Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden

“An emotional experience … Strong images expand and take possession of all the senses, almost physically. Gradually, they condense into a novel about loneliness, longing, and despair.”
Maria Schottenius, DN

“The father portrait that Niels Fredrik Dahl has created truly sparks. … Niels Fredrik Dahl has written a striking 20th-century story reflected through the abrupt turns in the life of a struggling person. Sharply charged arguments are mixed with breathtakingly beautiful expressions.”
Tommy Sundin, VK

“It is a beautiful, moving story, by an author who is as much a poet as a novelist.”
5 av 5, Femina

”A superb read”
5 av 5, BTJ

“A deep and moving novel about loneliness and identity … Walking Man takes its place in the Norwegian literary golden age, and with Niels Fredrik Dahl’s fine reconstructive prose, the novel is both an important and worthy winner of the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize 2024”
Klaus Rothstein, Weekendavisen, Denmark

“A  tour de force of storytelling … [a] beautifully composed and elegantly written novel about a piece of Nordic history and patriarchally caused loneliness as vast as a Swiss boarding school.”
Kamilla Löfström, Information, Denmark

“A Norwegian novel about fathers and sons won this year’s Nordic Council Literature Prize. Well deserved. [Walking Man] is masterfully written, and it’s full of ghosts.”
5/6 stars, Per Theil, Politiken, Denmark

“It is hard to resist Dahl’s razor-sharp prose. You get drawn in. His understated prose is like being absorbed into a reality close to real life. But in the parallel space that language constitutes. A kind of Narnia for adults, where the crystal-clear shifts between different time planes in the novels cut like a dip in icy fjord water”
Cecilia Hansson, Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden

“A wonderful novel spanning from 1920s Alexandria to present-day Oslo. It’s about loneliness across generations where the narrator pieces together an image of the father’s childhood. A story brimming with longing to reach the closest ones and sheer elegance on all levels.
Maya Troberg Djuve, Dagbladet, the 3 best books of 2023

“A tender portrait of a missing father. A remarkable and traumatic childhood story is presented by Niels Fredrik Dahl with a sensitivity rarely seen … Walking Man is full of concentrated sentences saturated with melancholic beauty … crystal-clear passages … chiselled out with the deep devotion of a fine carpenter to his material.”
Anne Merethe K. Prinos, Aftenposten

“A thought-provoking, successful coming-of-age mosaic … Dahl approaches the task with a care and abundance that sweeps the reader along … With ‘Walking Man,’ Niels Fredrik Dahl has erected a literary monument to a beloved father who, against many odds, did not become like his own father. It is a successful novel that elegantly attempts to weave together the threads of another person’s life.”
Henrik Keyser Pedersen, Klassekampen

“Intoxicating about loneliness and loss… The novel is one of the best, most poignant, soberest, most elegant, and touching I have read in a very long time… It’s a story filled with longing but also devotion, glamour, and a curiosity for life… In my two decades as a critic, I’ve only given a handful of top ratings. The books share many common qualities, but there are also significant differences in what makes them outstanding and special. In Father’s Back, it’s simply the breadth and depth, as well as the economy and richness. Even a flourish of glamour. Dahl paints on a grand canvas where historical events have an important place, while also maintaining the complexity of characters, relationships, and structures (language, form). Father’s Back captures and conveys something essential about longing and loneliness, the transience of life and hopelessness, about the beloved, the lost, and what’s been lost.”
Maya Troberg Djuve, Dagbladet, 6/6 stars

“… the story of a child, and an adult, who never felt like he belonged. A beautiful novel about hereditary loneliness  …  Mother at Night from 2017 was a groundbreaking read for me that can still resurface in my memory with the slightest reminder. Father’s Back is surely just as good; I believe it will withstand the test of time, perhaps even more so.”
6/6 stars, Leif Ekle, NRK

“The lack of intimacy is heartbreakingly portrayed… The novel illustrates that children are dependent on their parents and loyal in their devotion. The author captures the vulnerability… Insight and vulnerability are balanced with humor in a beautiful, well-written, and poignant portrait of childhood.”
Astrid Fosvold, Vårt Land

“A tender meditation on the yearning to belong …The love between mother and son is beautifully described… Lyrically portraying “Father’s” tentative path to adulthood, the yearning for companionship, parents, and a sense of belonging. Father’s Back is a quiet and beautiful book about loneliness, which allows for truly contemplative reading.”
Oda Faremo Lindholm, VG, 5/6 stars