THE MORNING STAR, by Karl Ove Knausgaard | Book Review

[@stephenwilson1622]

I've read the first two My Struggle's and just finished the Morning Star. The many different layers in this novel - religious, personal, interpersonal, philosophical, ethical - kept me in a physical and intellectual suspense. That feeling, one of suspense, is relatively absent from my experience reading the My Struggle texts. And I would say is the biggest difference between those books and this one, even if some of the characters and narratives are reflective of KoK's own. There are parts of the novel that are elegantly and expertly intertwined, completely unforced. The ending, even before the closing essay, is so powerful and to my surprise caused me to hold my breath for an extended period. Also the closing isn't exactly all Egil's essay, there is a story involving Egil that is also incredibly haunting and moving. This book will stay with me. I'm excited to read 'Wolves' now, but first I think I will read My Struggle 3?

[@ralphjacobsson894]

Came to your video late; I have been a fan of Knauusgaard for long time, and have read most his works including the tomb my struggle. Morning star captured me from the beginning. Loved your review and recommendation of other books

[@DraganaMaravic]

A comment on his own stardom, the duality of it.

[@SpringboardThought]

Haven’t heard of Knaydgaard before, wonder what he’s written. Oh, I see haha the entire background is that. What a nice introduction! Interesting about the comet. It’s interesting how often it appears in fiction. Kind of universalizes things for me. So many people wondering about the same thing when most have such siloed experiences of it. Fantastic review, as usual! Seemed pretty thorough to me. Selling yourself short! I’ll have to check out the author at some point. The library actually has of his books, including this one.

[@travelthroughstories]

Thanks for the kind words, Fraser! Knausgaard is well worth checking out, in my opinion. I think you're right - there's something universal about the subjective experience of astrological things. In one of the My Struggle books (maybe book 2?) Knausgaard talks about how he began fully understanding that his infant daughter was a full subjective human only after she looked up into the night sky and shouted, "look, the moon!" There's somthing unique about every instance of this, but at the same time, mostly every human who has ever existed has done this.

[@WhitmoreReads]

Currently reading, I finished the first My Struggle and ordered the rest. I literally have found my writer for a year or two. His writing is beautiful.

[@PattenDevin]

Great review! Books 2 & 5 of the My Struggle series are a couple of my all-time favorites. Just bought this and very much looking forward to digging into it now. Thanks!

[@travelthroughstories]

Thank you! Books 2 and 5 are among my favorites of the series as well. You'll definitely enjoy The Morning Star then!

[@brentholcomb7842]

The Morning Star...MASTERPIECE!! Just found out that the sequel is out but hasn't been translated to English yet. OMG!!! I cannot WAIT!!!

[@travelthroughstories]

I'm looking forward to the sequel(s) as well!

[@stuartschwartz234]

I read struggle 1 and just finished MS. Which KOK should I read next? help!

[@tstark05]

I made it to page 400 and put the book down. I was so lost and was losing track of which character I was reading or even what gender the characters were. It was quite dizzying. Although now after watching this I may pick it up to finish. Thank you

[@gmcenroe]

I just picked this book up from the library, liked your review and look forward to reading the book, my first Knausgaard book.

[@bookmark_kl]

I love this man, i have read all his books (that came in English) except for "A time for everything" which I started earlier this year and yet to finish, I loved Morning star, its inconsistent at times but I like whatever he writes. It takes a certain courage to attempt a novel like this as a writer I guess. btw, I see that "Wolves from the forest of eternity" is out in Norway and perhaps Sweden too? How is it? i saw somewhere it's more or less like this novel. thanks for the review and the link to the interview.

[@travelthroughstories]

Good to know another Knausgaard fan! I read a Norwegian review of "Ulvene Fra Evighetens Skog" yesterday and it seems like it's *kind of* a sequel to The Morning Star - it looks quite promising, though my Norwegian isn't good enough to read the novel yet, unfortunately. I'll have to wait for Martin Aitken to translate it!

[@kseniyasbooknook4172]

Loved your insights and review! I just finished his third book in the My Struggle series and was thinking of trying one of his fiction works. So far I've read all the 4 Season books and 3 My Struggle ones and think I'll get through the rest but I heard #6 is quite difficult to get through lol. thanks for the interview rec too!

[@travelthroughstories]

Thank you! I'm reading through the seasonal quartet right now. Book 6 of My Struggle is definitely tough at points (eg, the Hitler parts...), but I think it's worth reading for sure. The second book of this series should be coming out this fall as well!

[@kseniyasbooknook4172]

@@travelthroughstories what series is coming out? I haven’t been watching for his recent books… where do you order your foreign language books? I haven’t been able to find a site for original Russian contemporary books- like Andrey kurkov… with the current relationship to Russia that’s not surprising

[@travelthroughstories]

@@kseniyasbooknook4172 The Morning Star is the first book in a new series! The next two are already out in Norwegian. The second book, Wolves of Eternity, is slotted to be published in the US in September. From what I've gathered, it's a rather loose "series," but the books are connected in some way. I've only ordered books from Iceland and Norway, and both of those sites only offer books from those two countries, so I'm really not sure where one would find contemporary Russia lit. Usually abebooks or bookdepository have some international language books, but I'm not sure, unfortunately.

[@kseniyasbooknook4172]

@@travelthroughstories oh cool, I didn’t know those were connected. I just ordered the morning star one. It’s sad how not many libraries have these books.

[@jeffsmith1798]

Your commentary reminded me of the poem De Rerum Natura by Lucretius. The desire to give nature meaning and the harm that can result from this desire particularly in the form of religion keeps us from understanding the way things are. I’ve also read My Struggle and I was enthralled by it. Thanks for the additional reference. I’ll check out The Morning Star as well. Have you read any of Knausgaard’s non-fiction. I recently read a work on Munch that I very much enjoyed entitled ‘So Much Longing in So Little Space’.

[@travelthroughstories]

Thank you! That's a really interesting connection with Lucretius. I've read a few of his essays collected in "In the Land of the Cyclopes" and I own that book on Munch, but haven't read it just yet. I do like his criticism though, so I should read that one soon. Thanks for the nudge!

[@chadbuff]

Great review! This was my first Knausgaard, and I loved it so much I've started My Struggle. About halfway through Book 1, but I look forward to continuing on.

[@travelthroughstories]

Thank you! That's great to hear that this was a good starting place for Knausgaard - I wasn't sure as I'm a bit biased by this point. I really hope you enjoy My Struggle! Reading all 6 of those has been one of my favorite reading experiences over the past few years.

[@gustavocarvalho3976]

That's nice, I want to read this book now. I started by the My Struggle serie, Some rain most fall and Boyhood island, definitely my favourites!

[@travelthroughstories]

@@gustavocarvalho3976 I really enjoyed Some Rain Must Fall as well! Boyhood Island might be my least favorite of the series, but even still I quite liked it.

[@bottleimpbooks]

Hello Sean. I actually just picked a copy of A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven from the post office yesterday - thought I'd return to the first novel before getting the latest (I've only entered Knausgaard in his more openly autobiographical thus far, but, like you, I'm in the camp who likes him). Thanks for the review. Have you read his books on soccer or Edvard Munch? Take care, Matthew

[@travelthroughstories]

Hi Matthew - great idea. His prose style is fairly consistent over all of his books, so if you like it, you'll probably like anything her writes. I haven't read either his letters on soccer or the book on Edvard Munch, though I do own the latter. I was planning on getting an artbook of Munch's paintings to view alongside Knausgaard's book, but I never managed to find an affordable one. I'm not super well-versed in visual art, so I'm a bit tepid to read it, though I'm sure it's wonderful.

[@hollyc4624]

I am in love with his use of language in this book. Even with a challenging play on meaning, the prose drew me into it completely. I will definitely try more for him and how exciting that there will be a sequel!

[@skyranch480]

That was a great review. I'm almost finished, reading Egil's treatise on death. I wonder if the star is the flip of the sta r of Bethlehem and portends the antichrist. Are the winged creatures fallen angels? Kind of like The Second Coming by Yeats. The oppressive heat plays a part in this book also. It's part of the miasma that hangs over everything. There's a sequel, but I've read that the translation is not good.

[@charlesring9579]

Best Book I read in a very long time! Masterpiece

[@travelthroughstories]

I'm glad I'm not alone in loving this book!!

[@charlesring9579]

You made me aware of The existence of A time for everything so I read it and I likes that one to, so Thank you!

[@travelthroughstories]

@@charlesring9579 I'm so glad you liked it! That book is incredible.

[@charlesring9579]

I’m from Sweden, the neighbour of norway (and as you know the country that gives out the Nobel Prize), and there is a kind of eternal rivalry going on, but’ Knausgård’s broken that barrier in recent years and he’s enormously popular here now. (Sorry for my English, its my third language 😅) Have a great sunday!

[@travelthroughstories]

@@charlesring9579 I've always wondered about the Norwegian/Swedish author divide. It is interesting because Knausgård lived in Sweden for so long!

[@marcinc5361]

Great review, as well as the whole channel!

[@travelthroughstories]

Thank you!

[@zabarisquest9508]

So weird, just finished morning star audiobook today and saw a doc about 1066 last night and now just seeing this

[@VITORB82]

Love KoK books. Going through "Some rain must fall" book.

[@travelthroughstories]

That's one of my favorites of the series! Great book.

[@yahaira_f]

Would this be a good entry into Knausgaard? Or would one of 'my struggles' be better?

[@travelthroughstories]

I think this would be good place to start if you're interested in more conventional novels! His My Stuggle books read more like memoirs than novels, whereas The Morning Star reads at times like a more literary Stephen King book.

[@janneglnd7633]

Very good! Thank you!

[@rashmigawade2011]

Is it necessary to read 'A time for everything'....before reading a 'Morning Star '??

[@javieralessandro8850]

Thanks for the review!!!

[@travelthroughstories]

Thanks for watching!

[@michalronge8057]

Great review.

[@laurasalo6160]

I don't know. He ended his book on page 666. Woo. Isnt that a little bit lame? I have 666 Audiobooks on my Playlist and nobody cares...

[@donatellabrandiberg9342]

Love your reviews! I just wanted to tell you, given that you like this author, the correct pronunciation of his name, which isn't anything difficult no worries - [kɑːl ˈûːvə ˈknæ̂ʉsɡoːr], the simplest thing is to type the name on google translate and listen to the audio, anyway, the k is not omitted like in english, å is pronounced like 'odd' and the last d is omitted, for the au of knau I can't find an english example but if you pronounce it like you already do it's not too bad although it goes more towards an e sound

[@travelthroughstories]

Thank you! And thanks for the pronunciation tip - I go back and forth on whether to use the kind of standard American pronunciation of non-English names or, in this case, the Norwegian. For whatever reason, I pronounced the "gard" in this video in a weird American way, but since then I've tried to be more conscious of pronouncing it correctly (my Norwegian is getting a bit better, but my pronunciation is still quite bad, hah). Either way, thanks for taking the time to explain it clearly!

[@donatellabrandiberg9342]

@@travelthroughstories I get it, it feels odd to diverge from the standard pronunciation. I still have a hard time saying Van Gogh properly....BTW did you know that it's not even his birth name? he changed it from Olsen, like many norwegians do nowadays, they opt for more embellished and original names because it's extremely easy to change name in Norway. Just a little trivia from my husband, who's the nordman (I'm italian, and btw you pronounced Elena Ferrante perfectly in another video)