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Usually ships in 1-2 business days | | | Award-winning Norwegian novelist Petterson renders the meditations of Trond Sander, a man nearing 70, dwelling in self-imposed exile at the eastern edge of Norway in a primitive cabin. Trond's peaceful existence is interrupted by a meeting with his only neighbor, who seems familiar. The meeting pries loose a memory from a summer day in 1948 when Trond's friend Jon suggests they go out and steal horses. That distant summer is transformative for Trond as he reflects on the fragility of life while discovering secrets about his father's wartime activities. The past also looms in the present: Trond realizes that his neighbor, Lars, is Jon's younger brother, who "pulls aside the fifty years with a lightness that seems almost indecent." Trond becomes immersed in his memory, recalling that summer that shaped the course of his life while, in the present, Trond and Lars prepare for the winter, allowing Petterson to dabble in parallels both bold and subtle. Petterson coaxes out of Trond's reticent, deliberate narration a story as vast as the Norwegian tundra. (June)
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Per Petterson | | Hardcover: | 250 pages | | Publisher: | Graywolf Press | | Publication Date: | April 17, 2007 | | ISBN: | 1555974708 | | Package Length: | 8.5 inches | | Package Width: | 5.4 inches | | Package Height: | 1.2 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.9 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 83 reviews |
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 A Rare Gem! Sep 06, 2008
Winner of the 2007 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, Out Stealing Horses is a magical novel that captivated me from the first few pages. It is one of those rare books that merits rereading. The story is set in Norway. It is the story of a 67 year old man named Trond Sander who, having suffered a terrible loss, retreats to an isolated forest cabin. The run down cabin needs lots of work and Trond is content to spend his time fixing it up. He has a few neighbors, his dog, and his Dickens novels. He is perfectly content with his life of routines spent in solitude. One night he encounters a close neighbor Lars, another loner, and he realizes that this man was a child he'd known during the last summer he spent with his own father at a similar cabin some 50 years earlier after the war. Old wounds are opened by this meeting.
The book alternates between the present, 1999 and then flashes back to the summer of 1948, when he was a teenager. It is a story of loss, betrayal. While I loved this book, there were some unanswered questions when I turned the final page. Despite this, I highly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates fine literature.
0 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Boring boring boring! Sep 02, 2008
I got to page 195, always hoping to discover why the raves. Gave up at that point due to terminal boredom. No idea why so many people like it. Save your money!!
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 Norwegian Woodsman -- Blue Story of Teenage Memories Aug 19, 2008
Per Petterson's account of 67-year old Trond Sander's fatalistic meeting with new neighbor Lars Haug triggers highly emotional memories of his 1948 summer, as a fifteen year old lad, who lives in a cabin with his father on a timber-lined river front.
Lars ends up having been the younger brother of Trond's summer mate. Their lives through 1948 crossed one another immensely. But, the summer of 1948 also proves to be tragic. For Lars, for Lars' brother Jon, for Lars' parents and for Trond's parents.
As the pages turn, we learn that there is a past during the Nazi occupation of Norway that led the Haugs and Sanders to meet, and actually work, with one another. Occupational relationships apparently grew, and eventually Trond pieces together the parts as best he can from a story never completely told to him. At the end, we readers must assume or believe certain events occurred - but factual proof of same is not delivered. We cannot totally know what really happened, conjecture cannot be dispositive.
Norwegian dialogue is minimal and sometimes awkward to the American reader. When people are delighted, they may say "Can't be denied." Smiles are infrequent among the characters. Giddiness occurs rarely. If this book were a painting, it would be entirely tones of blue.
But, the uniquity of the Norwegian verse makes this book resonate to this reader. It is different. And, different in a good way. The clean and crisp short sentences, combined with the delicate but not embellished storyline, make the book an easy read and mostly pleasant.
Of all other books read over the past several years, this reminds me most of "The Gathering." Each are reflections of a past, much of which is tortured, but predominately overcome. As each is written by European pen, I forewarn readers of light fare to understand that these novels may not be their classic choice. However, to such readers I offer this advice: giving this book a try should "not be denied."
3 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 So wanted to like this, but... Aug 18, 2008
The writing is this book is beautiful. I could feel the cold when reading. And, the premise of the story -- a man attempting to escape his past but events just will not let them, is a good one. However, after a while, I just felt like I was missing something. The time sequence of the novel moves from present to past and back again and at times I had difficulty making those moves. This is definitely a study in characterization, not plot. I agree with those that praised the writing style, and agreed with those that felt it left them somehow unfulfilled.
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
A most extraordinary voice Aug 11, 2008
First, I read In The Wake, then Out Stealing Horses. Both books affected me in the same way; I was mesmerized. This is a writer who controls his reader from the start. He draws you in while you drum your fingers impatiently -- what a slow book, you are thinking -- then he owns you.
After finishing In The Wake, my first thought was...eat your heart out, Ernest Hemingway. This author is more knowing, more skilled, larger, unmannered. (Perhaps appearing unmannered is his skill?) I didn't want to read another author for a week or two; they all read like amateurs.
I am reading Nadine Gordimer's The Conservationist. She has much of the same hypnotic power and control over the reader.
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