4.0
The Wolves of Eternity
ByPublisher 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.
“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.
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4.0
Isabel Pires
Created 20 days agoShare
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“Tudo o que possa dizer sobre este livro é insuficiente para transmitir a sua beleza.
Objectivamente, conta-nos a história de Syvert, um jovem norueguês que regressa a casa após o cumprimento do serviço militar. Ainda sem perspectivas para o seu futuro, fica a viver com a mãe e o irmão de 12 anos, Joar.
Metade do livro é a descrição do quotidiano de Syvert, como se se tratasse de uma escrita banal. Mas a capacidade de transformar o banal em revelação está presente ao longo de toda a obra e a sua leitura tornou-se quase compulsiva.
Outra personagem de relevo é Alevtina, uma irmã de quem Syvert descobre a existência quando encontra umas cartas escritas em cirílico, de uma mulher russa para o seu pai. Este morreu quando Syvert era ainda criança, e a curiosidade sobre quem foi o pai surge após um sonho marcante.
É um livro muito descritivo, de gestos, de paisagens, de sensações, mas ainda assim há sempre vida, presença, densidade. Como se cada detalhe do quotidiano contivesse um eco do absoluto.
Há outras personagens, acontecimentos não totalmente explicados, que me deixaram imersa nesta leitura tão envolvente. Não é preciso rotular, apenas mostrar, como se o mundo não precisasse de explicações, mas de atenção. E os pequenos gestos quotidianos são simbólicos, o campo onde o invisível se manifesta.
Aqui o mundo comum e o mundo invisível coexistem, como se o banal fosse o espelho de algo espiritual, ancestral ou cósmico.
A estrela brilhante que aparece, e para a qual não há uma explicação científica, é um culminar dos símbolos que fazem parte da narrativa.
Os temas da morte, da conexão e do sentido da vida estão presentes ao longo de todo o livro. A eternidade manifesta-se nos pequenos gestos quotidianos, e foi também esta particularidade que me deixou rendida à escrita de Karl Ove Knausgård.
Lamento que esta opinião não faça justiça ao livro. Não tenho essa capacidade.”
Sam Barker
Created 27 days agoShare
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“After learning about Knausgaard’s writing process, this book makes so much sense. It’s a cohesive book with plotting and story development, but between those folds are small vignettes, that push the narrative forward. Hearing that he tries to write three pages a day makes complete sense. I lost a little interest with Alevtina’s story, but it was nice to see Knausgaard (known for his mastery characters encompassed with male angst) write a fully realized and compelling female character. Excited to continue this series.”
haleymca
Created about 1 month agoShare
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“Wow.
Full disclosure- I tend to try to know as little about a book as possible before reading it, and therefore, I accidentally read the third book in this trilogy first. My reading pattern went: third book (Third Realm), first book (The Morning Star), and second book last (this book).
This gave me an interesting perspective on the characters, as I learned things about them later than the author intended the audience to. I believe that may have impacted my perception of the story. Overall, I found the third book in the series to be an absolute triumph, and was let down by the first and second books. However, I believe if I had read them as intended, my rating on this book would be higher.
The whole series did an incredible job of building a sense of apprehension at every moment, even when nothing was happening plot-wise. Every book gave you a sense of unease and disquiet. The setting was absolutely stunning. The characters were so interesting - almost none of them fully likable, but so realistic for that fact.
I hope to re-read the series in a few years, in the correct order, and see how I feel about it then.”
Laura McCarthy
Created about 1 month agoShare
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LostInSonora
Created 3 months agoShare
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“The Wolves Of Eternity is a sequel to The Morning Star.
The Morning Star was a very contradictory experience for me.
It was certainly a very flawed book and from what I could understand this series has been very divisive even among the My Struggle fans.
Personally I had to really struggle to attune myself to Knausgaard's writing style in the first book. It was simultaneously very compelling and frustrating to read his extremely mundane and precise style. The narrative was also very uneven. Morning Star had something like 7-8 first person narrators and I really think that some of them were extremely interesting to read while others excruciatingly boring. It was an ambitious but really uneven book. It was at best a just above mediocre experience. But at the same time there was something about that book that really captivated me. Even after months of finishing it I still think about some of the lines, scenes and the magical realism of that book. The whole story,themes and atmosphere has a strange sort of mystery and dreaminess around it. It really left a lingering taste. The best way I could describe is that it was a book which was more fun to think about later than to actually read it all the way through.
The Wolves Of Eternity is almost the opposite when it comes to the reading experience. I absolutely tore through it in 7 days. Such a great improvement upon Morning Star.
It is not the sequel to Morning Star as it is marketed as. It is set in the same universe and follows characters who (as far as I know) also appear in the later books but it's very much it's own thing narrative wise. The thing that is common with the Morning Star is it's thematic similarities. I think I have read very few writers who have been as haunted or preoccupied by death as him. The book is mostly narrated by 3 narrators.
Syvert, A Norwegian man who finds a box containing letters from the secret lover of his father during the summer of 1986 which leads to him visiting Russia 30 years later to meet his half sister, Alevtina a scientist struggling with mid life crisis. Then there is Vasilisa, A poet and friend of Alevtina who is writing a book called "The Wolves of Eternity" which is about this the Russian cosmist Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov and his idea that how humanity's main driving power is death and how the only way humanity could evolve or fulfill its destiny is to resurrect every person who has ever died in history, materially.
From the start the book is much more even than the morning Star because we follow many less characters than it. I also have gotten used to Knausgaard's writing style which I find almost cozy on many ways. There is something oddly comforting in his style. There is also a very subtle sense of dread and anxiety throughout the book which never really explodes fully.
Now I will admit I am not sure about his philosophical ideas. This book is really praised for its philosophical ideas and even though they are very amusing a lot of it feels very... I don't know someone who read a very interesting topic and wanted to just vent about it and a lot of those ideas felt very naive almost. I don't know if it's supposed to be intentional or I am just ignorant. The musings on death etc. often reminded of someone who just read some Kierkgaard or something and felt compelled to just regurgitate it. It could be interesting at times but also very superficial at times. I do think there is something very interesting about the idea of the The Wolves Of Eternity which proposes that death is a forest of Eternity which makes the Wolves(humans I guess) always look into it,haunted by it no matter how much you feed them. I think it is a wonderful poetic idea but philosophically it feels too obvious especially for an idea which is so foundational for such a huge book. But again I am not really as well read to comment on it especially because how extensively he alludes to Russian philosophers and figures most of whom are alien to me. Of I have read them I guess I would have been able to give a concrete comment on the ideas.
Overall I think it was excellent and so much more satisfying than Morning Star while having the same sort of lingering effect and great atmosphere. If you love really long books over 800 pages,Love Russian literature and books with a little gothic/macabre atmosphere and themes with interesting enough philosophical ideas then just read it. You don't even need to read the first book to read this one.”
About Karl Ove Knausgaard
Karl Ove Knausgaard’s first novel, Out of the World, was the first ever debut novel to win the Norwegian Critics’ Prize and his second, A Time for Everything, was longlisted for the 2010 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. The My Struggle cycle of novels has been heralded as a masterpiece wherever it has appeared. His work is published in 35 languages. Knsugaard's newest novel, The School of Night, will be published by Penguin Press in January 2026.
Other books by Karl Ove Knausgaard
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