From the Reviews:

“The Elixir of Immortality is a horn of plenty filled with wonderful stories, thought-provoking points and concise atmospheric depictions from remote latitudes and bygone times, each and every one written in a light and unaffected manner. If book-club editors were alchemists, then this would have been their ‘philosophers’ stone’.” DAGENS NÆRINGSLIV

“However, despite the fact that I was continually inspired to check information and historical sources throughout the 650-page-long book, nevertheless the great strength of the book does not lie in the facts. It lies instead in the universal stories that tell a great deal about Europe, but even more about human nature.” DAGBLADET

“Gabi Gleichmann is a classical writer, and as a novelist he is the same classical author, in magical realistic guise: the world is a chaotic place it is difficult to interpret, and the task of the classical writer is precisely to decipher chaos, clarify connections and write about what has taken place.

The classical writer does not extol the virtues of chaos, but instead discovers sense, reason, irrationality, logic and emotions, and distinguishes one from the other. Therefore it is not just any values and attitudes that gain ground in this novel, but those Gleichmann considers suitable for people and their codes of behaviour. This is not something he preaches about. Instead he dramatises it.” Aftenposten