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4.0 

The Wolves of Eternity

By Karl Ove Knausgaard & Martin Aitken
The Wolves of Eternity by Karl Ove Knausgaard & Martin Aitken digital book - Fable

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Publisher Description

An NPR Best Book of 2023

“Knausgaard is back, with a compulsively readable new novel.” —The Washington Post

The Wolves of Eternity, like some 19th-century Russian novel, wrestles with the great contraries: the materialist view and the religious, the world as cosmic accident versus embodiment of some radiant intention. Is this world shot through with meaning or not? Has there ever been a better time to ask?” —Sven Birkerts, The New York Times Book Review

From the internationally bestselling author Karl Ove Knausgaard, a sprawling and deeply human novel that questions the responsibilities we have toward one another and ourselves—and the limits of what we can understand about life itself


In 1986, twenty-year-old Syvert Løyning returns from the military to his mother’s home in southern Norway. One evening, his dead father comes to him in a dream. Realizing that he doesn’t really know who his father was, Syvert begins to investigate his life and finds clues pointing to the Soviet Union. What he learns changes his past and undermines the entire notion of who he is. But when his mother becomes ill, and he must care for his little brother, Joar, on his own, he no longer has time or space for lofty speculations.

In present-day Russia, Alevtina Kotov, a biologist working at Moscow University, is traveling with her young son to the home of her stepfather, to celebrate his eightieth birthday. As a student, Alevtina was bright, curious and ambitious, asking the big questions about life and human consciousness. But as she approaches middle-age, most of that drive has gone, and she finds herself in a place she doesn’t want to be, without really understanding how she got there. Her stepfather, a musician, raised her as his own daughter, and she was never interested in learning about her biological father; when she finally starts looking into him, she learns that he died many years ago and left two sons, Joar and Syvert.

Years later, when Syvert and Alevtina meet in Moscow, two very different approaches to life emerge. And as a bright star appears in the sky, it illuminates the wonder of human existence and the mysteries that exist beyond our own worldview. Set against the political and cultural backdrop of both the 1980s and the present day, The Wolves of Eternity is an expansive and affecting book about relations—to one another, to nature, to the dead.

33 Reviews

4.0
“If The Morning Star felt like stepping into a quiet storm, The Wolves of Eternity is its more introspective sibling, luring you deeper into the fog. Knausgaard once again serves us his signature: a slow unraveling of ordinary lives, tenderly stitched to themes of existence, mortality, and those uncanny moments that feel too significant to be coincidence. The Wolves of Eternity starts with a man, Syvert, who’s pretty much like all of us—trapped in the rhythms of life, introspective, with memories that won’t leave him alone. His story intertwines with other perspectives, and slowly (classic Knausgaard, am I right?), you start to see these tiny lives slot into a much bigger, stranger puzzle. It’s not just about Syvert or the people around him—it’s about time, death, nature, and that constant, nagging need to make sense of it all. Oh, and the wolves? Alevtina's words still pretty much imprinted in my head, HELP”
Thinking Face“Wow. With this being my second Knausgaard book, I can officially say I am a huge fan. His ability to write about such deep topics in an easily-digestible way is exactly what I need. I love the way this book was able to tie up loose ends yet also leave a sense of mystery at the end. I’m looking forward to continuing this series and eventually exploring more of Knausgaard’s bibliography.”

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