A Death in the Family

“ Strangely compelling ”

Bill Bailey, Daily Express

“ Knausgaard has a spectacular gift for finding profundity in the mundane details of his existence ”

Will Storr, Guardian

“ Strangely compelling ”

Bill Bailey, Daily Express

“ Karl Ove Knausgård has started something that could turn out a masterpiece in Scandinavian literature with roots in the tradition of the great novels by Marcel Proust, Robert Musil and Thomas Mann...It is impossible not to be thrilled ”

Berlingske Tidende (Denmark)

“ A scorchingly honest, unflinchingly frank, hyperreal memoir of the life of one man and his family ”

Guardian

“ Possesses a wide range of traditional literary qualities in great quantity: seriousness, profundity, and intensity. The rumpus it has caused in its homeland Norway aside: If you want to read a book that matters and achieves great things, just get started ”

Jyllands-Posten (Denmark)

“ This first instalment of an epic quest should restore jaded readers to life ”

Independent

“ As tense as any thriller yet without a jot of sensationalism ”

Metro

“ Readers will be captured by Karl Ove’s narrative intensity ”

Times Literary Supplement

“ I think this is one of the best pieces of writing I’ve ever come across. ”

Farm Lane Books (literary blogger)

“ Makes other books seem spineless afterwards. ”

Just William (literary blogger)

“ Honest, probably unparalleled in its approach and revelations. It will cause you to reflect deeply after you've completed it, which accounts for why it has been so enjoyably debated. I think Knausgaard's memoirs are likely to have a long rippling effect the more widley they are published and read ”

Bookgeeks

“ Knausgaard's thinking is magnificently unbridled, a veritable flood of thoughts. His description of life in all its variety is undaunted and confident. ”

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany)

“ Between Proust and the woods - allow yourselves to be seduced by a Norwegian life...Like granite; precise and forceful. More real than reality. ”

La Repubblica (Italy)

“ A tremendous piece of literature ”

Politiken (Denmark)

“ This is the first part of Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgaard’s six book mega novel, based on his own life – and if there’s any justice the craze for Nordic noir should mean British readers greet it with open arms...as tense as any thriller yet without a jot of sensationalism. ”

Metro

“ A rare achievement. No one in his generation equals Karl Ove Knausgaard's combination of talent, style, observational skills and original thinking. ”

Dagens Næringsliv (Norway)

“ Bowled me over... The slow pace of disclosure makes this account of a Norwegian adolescence pulse with intensity ”

Independent

“ A masterful book that confronts the ordinariness of death. Translator (from Norwegian) Don Bartlett rises to the challenge magnificently ”

Independent

“ Super Proustian – and also Nick Hornby-esque – novel… It’s great… Beautifully done ”

Evening Standard

“ This is writing so vivid, it seems to alter the pitch of reality ”

Metro