“Right now, no one writes better than her … The course of the story is fantastically unpredictable. The suspense is mostly on a small scale, but more than enough to keep the reader hooked. Each character feels so alive, while the story has many layers. The destinies that hide within the music of the Hardanger fiddle, the proud farming culture that is not ashamed to be compared to city folk; an environment rarely depicted in modern literature. At the same time, Flatland weaves a masterful portrait of a farming family in decline … When the book ends, I have no desire to let go of the story and would like to read more. That said, the novel, ending and all, has a rich resonance. For Helga Flatland writes with artistic expression, as it is called when a folk musician will play better than just well.”
Maria Årolilja Bø, Adresseavisen, 6/6 stars
“Dark and hypnotic from the Norwegian heartland … And the book’s title is simply unusually appropriate, considering how it feels to leaf through the hypnotic final pages – they actually reverberate inside your head long after you finish reading”
Oda Faremo Lindholm, VG, 5/6 stars
“Helga Flatland’s new novel is a seething mix of traditions (and generations), trauma and desire … There’s hardly a dull point in the book, because the novel is so dynamic – with the way it switches between characters and voices, cognitive and emotional universes, life stories … Flatland is quite simply an excellent narrator of contemporary topics, effortlessly addressing problems connected to both metoo, the urban vs rural divide and corona response in her book … She is wickedly entertaining in a way that is reminiscent of Vigdis Hjorth, and her prose has great punch. That makes Reverberation a delightful, catchy read.”
Maya Troberg Djuve, Dagbladet, 5/6 stars
“I can say right now that this is a suspense story with not just one, but several disturbing twists. Some are more surprising than others … Flatland likes to explore intimate and not so intimate relations within the nuclear family”
Anne Cathrine Straume, NRK
“It’s clear from all her novels that she is a technically skilled writer. She knows how to convey the unspoken words in the communication between people who know each other well, and the technique of switching between different perspectives is something she uses in most of her novels … In the descriptions of the ambivalence that surrounds this kind of people, Flatland shows her strength as a storyteller, and the stories we learn through him, point towards a larger literary context. They are stories of women who follow their desires and are punished for it, and they work as a parallel to Mathilde’s own story. A little bit clever perhaps, but it works wonderfully well”
Ida Vågsæther, Morgenbladet
