Norwegian by Night was recommended to me by a friend who rarely gets it wrong. "It's a murder mystery," she told me, "but really it isn't." I was sufficiently intrigued to find out for myself. Yes, there is a murder, a clever female police officer, and violent drug dealing gangs, but the novel is not really about the murder. Instead it is an extended exploration on remembrance, regret and redemption.
Sheldon Horowitz is an 82 year old American, who has recently moved to Norway to live with his granddaughter after his wife passes away. He is a bit of a curmudgeon in the tradition of too many elderly male characters in contemporary fiction. His family thinks he is suffering from dementia, but he strenuously disagrees, instead he believes "...his memories were just becoming more vivid with age. Time was folding in a new way. Without a future, the mind turned back in on itself. That's not dementia. One might even say it's the only rational response to the inevitable." Horowitz is a veteran of the Korean War, and he might have been a highly decorated sniper or possibly a filing clerk, but either way, he still believes Korean agents are out to kill him. Amid all this uncertainty, he suddenly finds himself rescuing a young boy from a violent domestic situation and going into hiding with the child in an unfamiliar country.
When I read the first few chapters, it reminded me of A Man Called Ove: a grumpy older man, in a Nordic country, finds himself reluctantly spending time with a child who forces him to confront his past and reevaluate his life. In both cases, the author uses witty and ironic prose and the protagonists find themselves in absurd situations. But that is where the similarities end. Norwegian by Night is a much darker tome. The ghosts that haunt Sheldon are many, and he must not only grapple with his own past and guilt but also with his rage at God. Did I mention he's Jewish? As his granddaughter tries to explain it to the Norwegian policewoman, "...he's Jewish. He's not your normal whacko. His name is Sheldon Horowitz. Can't you hear it? It's like his whole history is built right into his name."
Because the child does not speak English and is rendered mute by trauma, Sheldon is given ample room to deliver long philosophical monologues. As the author puts it "Sheldon continues speaking for both of them. Silence is not a practiced skill of his."
Sheldon's ruminations stretch far and wide, but if a single theme merges, it is the moral justifications for war and the impact combat has on soldiers. Indeed war overshadows everything from his anger at being too young to fight in World War II and avenge the Holocaust to his experiences in Korea and what he imagines his own son's experiences were in Vietnam. He argues morality, reflects on the Bible and seeks out eternal truths. He plunges deeply into the meaning of love, sacrifice, revenge and redemption. Yet throughout it all the author maintains an urgent pace, as the police, Sheldon's family, and the murderous criminals all race to be the first to find Sheldon and the boy.
If you pick this up expecting a light Norwegian murder mystery, you may be disappointed. But if you are like me and are attracted to the mystery genre because, at its best, it illuminates the eternal puzzle of good and evil, Norwegian by Night is highly recommended.
Four smileys out of five: 😀😀😀😀
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