The year is 1998. Cannabis is about to be legalized in Norway.
At least if the Legalization Faction of the youth group of one of the country’s smallest political parties gets their way. 19 year old Mikael joins the activists. The fact that he is uncertain about the differences between hash and cannabis, or the fact that he hasn’t smoked either one, is of less concern, as long as he can get close to the faction’s beautiful and charismatic leader, Kaja. He soon discovers that Che Guevara’s text book in guerrilla tactics has deep insights to offer, even outside the jungle. But as the struggle for love and a free country starts claiming its victims, the image of Che’s brutal demise grows stronger in Mikael’s mind.
Guerrilla Life is a hilarious story about political activism and youthful spirit, about longing for belonging, and about finally getting laid.
Praise for Guerilla Life:
“Already now it’s tempting to name Rune Berglund Steen’s debut novel Guerilla Life to this year’s best … Steen has a style, a tempo and a skewed gaze which takes your breath away when you start reading … an existential and political gravity … Small, precise stings and a touch of the wider world ensures that Steen makes us hope for a new, politically committed generation of writers. Oh, and he can also write. The book is enormously funny”
Dagbladet
“An effortlessly funny student novel … Berglund Steen was praised for his poetry debut Pre-Schengen Sequence. The Not-Wife Letters, and here he shows that he also commands a smooth, agile prose”
Dagens Næringsliv
“The novel’s strength lies in its many sharp observations and clever phrases, and in the author’s ability to bring humour into almost every scene … A funny, tragicomic and well-written coming of age story”
Stavanger Aftenblad
