KELLYq & a: My Dad Sort of Wants You to Read this Book

My Dad is a great guy. Sometimes, our tastes are very similar. Both of us like cooking and are total dorks for Iron Chef. Both of us enjoy kittens and babies (but he's not a wuss, I swear). Both of us sing in the car, much to the chagrin of our fellow passengers.
But there are several points where my Dad and I differ greatly:
Fact: He likes auto-racing. I think it's too loud, boring, and most people who participate are dumb hicks.
Fact: My Dad likes crab feasts. I think they are total bullshit.
Fact: My Dad likes 2,000 piece jigsaw puzzles. Seriously.
Fact: My Dad legitimately enjoyed Knut Hamsun's "Growth of the Soil." I refuse to read the book because I know it's lame.
I asked my dad to explain to me why he likes this book. After the jump, you'll see his reasons for liking this book - which are largely based on "facts" and "personal experience" - and my refutations, which are equally intelligent. Today, dear readers, some advice from me and some "advice" from my dad. You decide whose you take!

It all started with an email:

    From: Kelly
    Sent: Monday, May 21, 2007 2:12 PM
    To: Howie
    Subject: dad  

  I'd like to incorporate you into my blog. Could you tell me why you think I need to read this book? Feel free to swear or whatever. Love, Kel

This is how my Dad responded. My thoughts are in italics.

As you know I only can be held accountable for having given a copy of The Growth of the Soil as a Xmas gift – I never tried to force you to read it.

Yeah right! You so did. I just can't remember any of the circumstances surrounding it.

However, a cursory examination over to Amazon shows that 7 out of 8 reviewers gave the novel a 5 star rating, (the eighth guy snubbed it with only 4 stars).  One reviewer felt the need to hold forth with a 1092 word exultation.

Dad, clearly that was you. Don't deny it.

There is also the whole glowing praise from famous authors thing:

 

  H. G. Wells
  Growth of the Soil impresses me as among the very greatest novels I have ever read. It is wholly beautiful; it is saturated with wisdom and humor and tenderness

  I don't trust a reviewer who can't remember to end his sentences with a period.

 
  Isaac Bashevis Singer
  The whole modern school of fiction in the twentieth century stems from Hamsun.

  This guy wrote this horrible short story called "Zlateh the Goat." It's about a boy who gets lost during Hannukah time with his goat, Zlateh. They get trapped in a haystack during a blizzard and the boy, Aaron, has to drink MILK FROM THE GOAT'S TIT to stay alive. NASTY. I showed a video of this (live action! not a cartoon!) and it SHOWED the boy drinking from a goat's udder. SO NASTY. I do NOT trust this man's opinion.

Be all that as it may, I was forced to read my first Knut Hamsun book Hunger while a freshman at Humboldt State University in 1973.  I was really impressed with the book and I tried to get my friends and family to read it but everyone else thought it was a dud.

I'm pretty sure that book is just about a guy who is really, really hungry. Bo-ring.

Anyway, at that time I seemed to have a lot of free time to read novels, so if I found a book I liked (such as In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck or Brighton Rock by Graham Greene or A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess) I tended to read everything else by the same author.  Knut Hamsun was a bit of a stretch for the HSU undergrad library, but I eventually stumbeld on The Growth of the Soil and I found it to be a very excellent book.  

From today’s standpoint, it’s hard to say whether anyone (specifically you) would like the book.  It is long and it’s translated from Swedish and it’s about situations and people that could hardly be further removed from the Beltway in 2007.  But it is a good escape book – if you can get “into it” the experience will be like time travel.  Some folks like a book like that.  And it’s bleak.  So reading it is like that whole 3 Stooges thing, where it makes you happy that you’re not the one getting a pair of pliers pulling on your nose.

Okay, but seriously? Why would you want to go back in time to like, Sweden in the whatever00's when all there is to do is learn how to use a loom and be intolerant towards Lapplanders? Also, this book should have more of the "fun" side of Sweden in it. You know, super fun disco music, cheap furniture, and the Swedish Chef. Allow me to demonstrate my point with this highly mathematical chart.

See, Dad? I used a math symbol.

Book recommendations are always tricky in my view.  Why do you read a book? Is it for the same reasons as me?  Perhaps not.  Movie recommendations are usually much more straightforward.
If you find that you just can’t face 448 pages of scandi-desolation but you want the same kind of experience, pre-packaged and streamed to you

Seriously. Time out. Go on.

I suggest you watch either Fanny and Alexander or Pelle the Conqueror . Either of these excellent films have the same basic vibe. Love, Dad

Okay, you've heard both our arguments. Mine were mainly immature ramblings, but I had a chart. My dad's were heartfelt, rational, and well-thought out, but he didn't have a chart. Decide for yourself whose advice you will take!

"KELLYq & a" runs on Wednesday mornings. For more information, click here.
 

 

Comments

[Tori]

Oh man, that chart is really good.

[The Mayor]

Sweden has given so much to the world. Don't forget the Swedish meatball special at Ikea. And lingoberries. And crazy death metal bands. And Roald Dahl.

[Inactive account]

KELLYq's dad gave Justin Douglas a Christmas gift?

[Lauren]

Howie is a NERD!

[Lauren]

Just kidding.

[Lauren]

(He'll be reading this.)

[Howie Boyd]

Nice work plagerizing my e-mail Kel. And I have to admit your chart kicks my butt. You (for sure) can give way better advice than me. For instance, I'd like to advise you break into the advice-giving business.

[Howie Boyd]

Hey and nice picture of me, KellyQ, that's my beautiful wife's shoulder and it looks fabulous!

[Inactive account]

You seem to have gotten Sweden confused with Norway, KellyQ. Knut Hamsun is, of course, Norwegian. I spoke to a Norwegian person and he is very upset.

[Inactive account]

ABBA is Swedish, a-ha is Norwegian.

[The Mayor]

As the descendent of both Swedes and Norwegians, I can vouch for Kellyq in that the difference is minimal. Except for, don't tell them that because apparently they think it's a really big deal or something.

[Inactive account]

Don't forget that Sweden and Norway fought a war in 1814. Norway wasn't independent from Sweden until 1905.

[KELLYq]

WHATeverrrrrrrrrrr

[The Mayor]

Agreed Kellyq.

[Inactive account]

Maybe the Omtubsman will have something to say about this!

(ombudsman is a Swedish word, NOT a Norwegian word)

[The Mayor]

What would he weigh in on? The fact that Sweden and Norway are different countries with different people and cultures, or the fact that we tubbers don't seem to care? Gorg-o, are you Swedish? You seem to know a lot about that country...