“Ørstavik sketches a spare but capacious meditation on both the shape of [her characters’] relationship and the effort required, practically and emotionally, by the narrator to care for her partner through the end of his life . . . The narrator maintains a controlled—but not cold—distance that only enriches the intimacy throughout . . . Various phrases and riffs on the word love, including ti amo, sustain an incantatory power, and the brevity of this striking text makes its final moments soar.”
Publishers Weekly, US, starred review
“The novel shares a compassionate vision, bridging the gulf between the one who will go on and the one who will not … A remarkably frank and finely sieved account of two people approaching the ultimate parting of the ways.”
Kirkus Reviews, US, starred review
“The outstanding Norwegian writer Hanne Ørstavik is finally becoming better known to an English-speaking audience … What is so impressive is her ability to capture—with precision, candor and, indeed, tenacity—her shifting sense of self, as the foundations on which it rests crumble with every passing moment.”
Toby Lichtig, Wall Street Journal
“In 120 pages of poetic, honest and heart-searing reflection, translated by Martin Aitken, an unnamed woman charts the experience of caring for her dying husband as he refuses to acknowledge his terminal diagnosis. It is a book about intimacy, and the beauty and deep challenge of loving another human being”
Best books of 2022, Enuma Okoro, Financial Times
“This is a deceptively slim novel. Its 96 pages contain multitudes: two lives, past and present, seamlessly interwoven … Tender, anguished and truthful»
Lee Langley, The Spectator, UK
“Ti Amo by Hanne Ørstavik proves you need this Norwegian writer on your bookshelf … A harrowing novel that delves into the complex emotions of bereavement … When the narrator asks, in the closing pages, “Where do I go from here?” there is hope of a future for her, and for Ørstavik’s worldwide fans – hope of more books from this most skilful of writers.”
Susie Mesure, iNews, UK
“Ti Amo is novel of passion, commitment and confusion. It is an open window into the complicated, often conflicted, emotions of caregiving without the numbing effects afforded by time and distance . . . [Ti Amo] is more than autobiographical fiction or memoir—it is also a deeply personal tribute to power of love.”
Joseph Schreiber, Rough Ghosts
“This year’s little novel from Ørstavik opens rooms with great emotions and wise thoughts about life, love and death. All we can do is say thank you an enter”
Ellen Engelstad, Klassekampen, Best of 2020
“Hanne Ørstavik has written her perhaps best novel about the great loss of her own life”
Adresseavisen, #1 on the Best of 2020 list
“With ti amo, Hanne Ørstaviks rediscovers the intensity and presence of her first novel Love. ti amo explores the liminal experiences that a novel can contain. At the same time we see her oeuvre from a new perspective. It’s a powerful, very good novel about loving, and her best in a long time”
Astrid Fosvold, Vårt Land, Best of 2020
“What do we really talk about when we talk about “truth” in literature? Hanne Ørstavik’s painful book of grief provides rich answers … thoughtful and – even for her – enormously raw … Ørstavik accomplishes astonishingly much on few pages in this book”
Morgenbladet
“An exceptionally good novel about grieving and waiting … Ørstavik writes brilliantly about life with a husband who is dying … the book’s powerful opening immediately led my thoughts to Marguerite Duras’ iconic love novel The Lover (1984) … With perceptible details Ørstavik creates images in the reader’s head. She brings us straight into a human drama that many of us will eventually go through … Ørstavik writes so well that the book feels both essential, timeless and universal. She manages to show the enormous power that resides in words. Here they make both the husband and love come alive to the reader”
Aftenposten
“One of the most powerful things about the book is precisely this description of the process of losing someone to illness. The time it takes. That it’s possible to feel bereaved already before death arrives … It’s exhausting reading, breathless in its resignation … And then, midway through the book, there is a turning point. To me this is where the book really grabbed me, catching me off guard, I would say, in a brilliant way. One shouldn’t reveal too much of this, but I will say that it’s one of life’s ambushes deep down in the valley of death, equal parts dream and taboo, possible and impossible, an incident that gives grief a colour nuance it probably only can have for those who have stared into its eyes long enough.”
Klassekampen
“A tender novel about losing your closest one to cancer … perceptive, thoughtful and brilliantly written … [Ørstavik’s] novels are characterised by the way she uses language and words to create identity. She has never done it as successfully and satisfyingly as now … above all it’s a beautiful novel. About love in a real sense”
Adresseavisen, 6/6 stars
“What is true? What is real? How can you reach in to another human being? These questions have been central throughout Hanne Ørstavik’s work. In her latest novel, Ti amo, in a story which is her own, she takes these questions to another level … Ørstavik has an impressive ability to expose the inner world of a person, to reach in to where it hurts the most and explore complex experiences in simple prose, without everything falling apart”
Vårt Land
