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Ebook483 pages7 hours
Home and Away: Writing the Beautiful Game
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this ebook
From the always astonishing Karl Ove Knausgaard—a brilliantly unusual book to delight both reading sports fans and the literary world. Bridging the two worlds of soccer and great writing, in the tradition of Lewis's Moneyball, Hornby's Fever Pitch or Buford's Among the Thugs, Knausgaard provides us with a die-hard fan's impassioned, personal, quirky, entertaining musings on that fundamental relationship between sports and life.
I remember every single World Cup starting with the one in 1978, what I was doing, how I was living, who I was, and the world in which it took place. But I have always just watched them on TV, never in reality, and I want it to stay that way—so that´s the starting point for this book, isn't it? Life against death, yes against no, Brazil against Argentina.
Karl Ove is sitting at home in Sweden watching the World Cup on TV (and falling asleep), with his wife, four small children and the dog; his good pal Fredrik is away in Brazil, playing beautiful football on the beach and watching the match. In this lively, argumentative, unique long-form email correspondence between them, written back and forth across the world, what begins as musings on the famous 2014 World Cup becomes (naturally) an exploration of the essential questions of life, with soccer as the catalyst for an inspiringly entertaining exchange of thoughts and ideas encompassing everything from the elusive nature of personal happiness, competitiveness, politics, insider knowledge about international football, art and literature, all rivetingly dissected with brilliance, verve and humour.
I remember every single World Cup starting with the one in 1978, what I was doing, how I was living, who I was, and the world in which it took place. But I have always just watched them on TV, never in reality, and I want it to stay that way—so that´s the starting point for this book, isn't it? Life against death, yes against no, Brazil against Argentina.
Karl Ove is sitting at home in Sweden watching the World Cup on TV (and falling asleep), with his wife, four small children and the dog; his good pal Fredrik is away in Brazil, playing beautiful football on the beach and watching the match. In this lively, argumentative, unique long-form email correspondence between them, written back and forth across the world, what begins as musings on the famous 2014 World Cup becomes (naturally) an exploration of the essential questions of life, with soccer as the catalyst for an inspiringly entertaining exchange of thoughts and ideas encompassing everything from the elusive nature of personal happiness, competitiveness, politics, insider knowledge about international football, art and literature, all rivetingly dissected with brilliance, verve and humour.
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Author
Karl Ove Knausgaard
Karl Ove Knausgaard was born in Norway in 1968. My Struggle has won countless international literary awards and has been translated into at least fifteen languages. Knausgaard lives in Sweden with his wife and four children.
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Reviews for Home and Away
Rating: 3.785714314285714 out of 5 stars
4/5
14 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Oh my I just love love Knausgaard. Even when so much of the descriptions are of soccer and plays and players I've never heard of! But I do think Fredrik Ekelund, his co-author, should be mentioned above. After all the book is a series of letters between them. They are friends, and so in between their game commentary they talk of personal things: Knausgaard's children, Ekelund's teen-age depression, the ordinary but so beautifully described (on both their parts) quotidian details of their lives.The time period of these letters made it especially meaningful for me. I sat in a living room from late June through mid-July with some Italians and my husband, all rabid soccer fans, waiting for my daughter to give birth to our granddaughter (who was born on one of the few days with no game), and then again in that living room with a newborn adorable little baby. Interesting to compare Italian, American, Norwegian, and Swedish (Ekelund) reactions to the various teams.I just bought Home and Away for a friend who also writes beautifully about soccer. Maybe I can turn him into a Knausgaard fan.I see Knausgaard has a new book coming out in August called "Autumn," but apparently we have to wait till 2018 for the English translation of the sixth and final book of My Struggle.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hey, hey, hey, how does an avid non-soccer fan like me end up reading a 400 page book of letters by two avid fans about the 2014 World Cup? Because one of them was my man, Karl Ove Knausgaard, and I knew he would be all over the map subject wise. Sure, there were abundant details about specific matches, players, and countries, but it quickly got personal and much more. So many times, they both seemed to use the soccer news as way to discuss so much more. The two of them ended up describing their lives, hopes, and dreams; as well as philosophy, politics, class, art, literature, and the ever-popular Scandinavian subject of life and death. This was an intelligent correspondence between two writers, one that knew few limitations. From a personal viewpoint—the only one I have—all the soccer details are easily skimmed over, as I quickly moved on to the meat of the book. The relationship between Ekelund (a Swede) and Knausgaard (a Norwegian now living in Sweden) began years ago on a soccer field, with a pickup game of their own. The letters are friendly, humorous, and knowledgeable on so many subjects. The back and forth, question and answer, stepping stone format between them cleverly lead the letters to many fascinating points and discussions that nobody could predict. Ekelund watches games in Brazil (his favorite team, as they are explosive and take chances), while Knausgaard is mostly at home watching games on TV, and prefers a more technical, solid, and proven game. Their preferences in playing styles are reflected in their fascinating letters. If I were a soccer fan, I would have been over the moon for this book. Still, it was a very interesting correspondence. Now, if only they were tennis fans … way over the moon!