
2005 Shortlist
The Half Brother
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Growing up in sixties Oslo, Barnum lives with an extended, eccentric family and his older half-brother, Fred, who was conceived after the rape of their mother in the dying days of World War II. Barnum seems to have stopped growing and Fred, implicated in a tragedy that leaves a family member dead, becomes mute – only roused when he hears ‘Living Doll’ one time too many. The two half-brothers embark on their seperate courses, Fred becoming a boxer and Barnum a scriptwriter, and it is twenty-seven years before a fax from their dying mother offers Barnum the chance to see his brother again.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Date published
05/02/2004
Country
Norway
Original Language
Norwegian
Publisher
Vintage
Translator
Kenneth Steven
Nominating Library