HÅPAS DU TRIFS BRA I FENGELSET – HOPE YOU’RE HAPPY IN PRISON
By Susanna Alakoski
IT’S VISTOR’S WEEK for the relatives at the rehab. Anni is there reluctantly, for her brother Sami. After all the broken promises and relapses she doesn’t have much hope left. They grew up together and had the same childhood – where there was never any money, but always alcohol. For Anni, life has turned out well: a great job, husband, and kids. For Sami, life is hellish. During long periods they have had no contact, but Anni’s yearning is always there.
IN BEYOND, ALAKOSKI depicted vulnerability from a child’s eyes. Here we meet adults with a similar background, they struggle with their heritage, their imprinting, their survival. Anni’s story is filled with sorrow and rage, toward the power of drugs and the ejective mechanisms of society, but it is a story told with power, humour and not least – love.
ABOUT THE BOOK
First published by Albert Bonniers, Sweden 2010
RIGHTS SOLD TO
Finland, Schildts & Söderströms
Sweden, Albert Bonnier
REVIEWS
It is so without defences. So ugly and beautiful and terrible and moving, so grand and so real. It is tears and laughter, and it strengthens my belief that literature can still have a position-taking, social significance.
– Hufvudstadsbladet
I have only touched on how this book is written, the method is very rare today. The entire novel seems like a punch in the face to beautifully written fiction, it is terse, quick, sharp and corrosive. A book that makes Charles Bukowski’s novels about Henry Chinaski – infamous for their rawness – almost seem refined.
– Svenska Dagbladet
Powerful, endlessly upsetting, often painful to read; but what truly makes the novel glow is Susanna Alakoski’s distinctive sound. She takes the most worn-out everyday words and makes them glitter like sparklers.
– Tidningen Vi
A book I wholeheartedly urge you to read. It tells our history. A hidden and shameful part of our shared, modern, Swedish history.
– Dagens Nyheter
A searing portrayal of hope, despair, grief, anger – and a sibling love that never fades. Stylistically too, the novel is a bullseye.
– Folkbladet
BOOKS
Fiction
