(Spoilers)
For the discussion on March 6, 2013, the Wednesday Whodunit mystery book discussion group chose Broken by Karin Fossum, another Norwegian mystery fiction writer. The cover of the book Broken includes the byline "A Mystery" but it's different from most if not all mysteries I've read. There actually aren't any major crimes committed in the book until some at the end. I think it's more of a psychological thriller that focuses on the main characters: Alvar Eide, the shy gallery employee; Lindys or Helle or Rikki or Katrine, the drug addict who comes into Alvar's orderly life; and the author herself. Every few chapters consist of the author actually interacting with Alvar, a kind of "fourth wall-breaking" structure that initially seemed a bit gimmicky but later provided some interest insights and complemented the story.
Fossum develops the story rather subtly, first introducing Alvar as a very reserved single man in his early 40's with a good job working in an art gallery and a comfortable, if possibly lonely life. He has no desire to connect with people other than what's required for his job. But he still has longings such as the longing for the author to tell his story causing him to "jump the line" of characters (waiting for their stories to be told?) The author gives him a story and along the way we as readers really get inside Alvar's head. I found that while I often did not agree with his actions, I could still understand how he felt and, in some cases, sympathize. As much as he avoided connecting he needed to and ended up doing so with the most unlikely and possibly the worst person for him. His inner conflicts could get rather intense and there were times I felt like urging him to act differently (e.g. "No, don't give her the key!). But I still wanted to know what happened next. Even when I pretty much figured out how it would end, I still wanted to know exactly how it went down. That seems to be the mystery: how will it end and will Alvar survive?
I thought Fossum created the different settings and developed the main characters well. I could picture Alvar's flat with the antique furniture and the glass trophies won by his father on the mantle. "The large room had four windows that let in plenty of light and he had several green plants which were lush and verdant." (p. 44-45) I could also easily picture the gallery in my mind with its three floors, workshop for framing, kitchen/break room, and the paintings themselves such as the waterfall, the creepy merry-go-round, and, of course, Broken, the severed bridge. The painting reminding me of a bridge that I think is somewhere in the San Gabriel Mountains that leads right into the side of a mountain. I initially thought the mystery in Broken would be whether or not Alvar would get the painting or maybe he would steal it or something like that. He did come to terms with it, just not in the way I expected. I felt like I was right there with Alvar when he went to get Goya, his new cat, and I could see Goya resting on his lap.
Certainly the most intense character other than possibly Alvar and the author is Lindys or Helle or Rikki or Katrine, the unabashed drug addict. Fossum's descriptions make it easy to picture her with her gray coat, blue-green veins on her temple, and her pointy ankle boots with incredibly high heels. She seems so repulsive and fascinating at the same time. She's so different from Alvar with her aggressive personality and manipulation. She doesn't care what others think and is completely unapologetic about her life. But like Alvar, I think she also needs to connect with someone. She has some intelligence such as when she remembers that Alvar is thinking of buying the painting Broken and has the savings for it. She knows how to care for his cat, Goya, and figures out that he let in the wrong cat that one time. She shows Alvar some affection, though only after he gives her money for drugs. She is a compelling character but not someone I would ever want to meet in real life. I later read that Karin Fossum spent some time working with drug addicts before she started writing novels.
Broken was first published in Norwegian with the title Brudd in 2006. The English translation was prepared by Charlotte Barslund and published in 2008. I think the copy I read was in American English rather than British English. Alvar joins a checkout line at the Cash and Carry rather than a checkout queue. However, he later has to turn his key anti-clockwise rather than counterclockwise when he realizes that the door to his flat is unlocked and learns that Lindys/Helle/Rikki/Katrine stole his spare key.
There were a couple of words I did not know. When Alvar visits the farm where they are giving away kittens, he is "ushered into a warm farmhouse kitchen with a long table, a fireplace, and curtains with colorful pelmets." (p. 141) Much later Alvar is asked to choose between rissoles, prawns, and roast beef at a cafeteria. Neither pelmets nor rissoles were in my dictionary and I had to go to www.merriam-webster.com to find them. A pelmet is a short valance or small cornice for concealing certain fixtures. A valance, by the way, is a short curtain at the top of a window, canopy, or bedframe. Rissole is minced meat or fish covered with pastry and fried in deep fat. That sounds good. Other foods mentioned in the book include homemade meatballs with pickled gherkins and paprika from the delicatessen at the Cash and Carry and gluhwien that Alvar sometimes makes for gallery customers during Christmastime. Gluhwein is mulled wine, more of a drink.
Besides the severed bridge in the painting Broken, there were a couple of other relatable references in the gallery. Alvar is "quick to spot what customers wanted and roughly what they could afford. This one could stretch to a Willabald Storn, while that one over there will probably have to make due with a Halvorsen." (p. 20) I almost thought that Harry Hole's younger sidekick from the Jo Nesbo novels had taken up painting on the side, but I think it's just a coincidental name. Another gallery customer is a woman in a dark coat wearing "a foxtail around her neck and gloves of find brandy-colored leather." (p. 32) That description reminded me of some colorful faux foxtails worn by models at a fashion show at Victoria Gardens in 2009.
Through Alvar's interactions with the author, we get some insight into her life and thinking. I'm not sure how much of it is actually true. She could be a fictional version of herself. But she's still interesting. She has a casket filled with worries. "I write them down and place them in the casket and then I slam the lid shut. So they can lie there in darkness and never materialize." (p. 60) She also describes this vivid and kind of disturbing dream about being entrusted a tiny and slippery baby by an important delegation. Alvar seems to think that happiness is something that just might come his way but the author insists that "Happiness is not some bird, Alvar, that suddenly lands on your shoulder. . . You have to set something in motion to achieve the good things in life. You have to act." (p. 113) She tells him of the philosopher Zapffe who espoused that Mankind's tragedy is "that too much peacefulness can sometimes lead to disaster." (p. 195) Then there's her description of November: "I need rainstorms and fairly cool air. I need rotting leaves and muddy roads. The kind of shivering quality that characterizes November. The gray naked landscape stripped of everything that grows and comforts us but not yet blessed with white icing sugar snow. A bleak time in many ways, a brutal time. It is as if everything surrenders in November." (p. 198)
I'm not sure I would consider Broken as pleasure reading. It is compelling, interesting, and intense. It's not exactly escapist reading. If anything it makes me think more about things. The story would repel me but still get under my skin and mess with my head, perhaps similar to Lindys/Helle/Rikki/Katrine for Alvar. Reading it was an interesting experience that I'm not sure I want to have again anytime soon. It should make for an interesting discussion. In the meantime, I can read some more traditional mysteries and action/adventures. I'm currently reading the pastiche Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds by Manly W. Wellman and Wade Wellman. Now that's pleasure reading.
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