So this is my review of Innsirkling 3, I finished a series. Go me.
The book
This is the concluding novel in the trilogy Innsirkling by Carl Frode
Tiller. The premise is that a man named David who has lost his memory, and a
newspaper small ad asks people to send him letters. This book is focused on
Marius, the man who was exchanged for David in the hospital when they were
born, and Susanne, David’s ex-girlfriend when they were in their 20s-ish. The
last person we focus on is David himself. And the mystery of David is revealed.
Because through the whole trilogy you’re not entirely sure if David has
actually lost his memory, or if this is just a scam.
Thoughts
Okay so here’s the thing. Every single character in this trilogy is an
awful person. They’re just horrible people. Not just slightly flawed, they’re
awful. And I hate them. Especially because they don’t seem to be aware of their
awful-ness, they mostly seem to feel like the world has fucked them over, and
it’s not their fault. And I hate them.
This isn’t a deal breaker by the way, I quite enjoy hating the
characters I read about. That makes me sound like a crazy person. And while
they’re awful people, they also have redeeming qualities, and I often
understand the reasons why they do the awful things they do. There is a scene
in Susanne’s part of the book and she is at dinner with her sister. Her
perfect, beautiful, sister who is always sort of lording over Susanne, not
overtly, just little jabs. And she’s married and everything, but she tries to
flirt with their waiter by pretending to mix up her credit card with her gym
card. Which is one, obnoxious, two slightly pathetic and sad, but also sort of
understandable. She’s in her fifties, and she wants to be admired and found
attractive by a young, handsome man. Also, Susanne indicated that she thought
the waiter was hot, so why not show up her as well? It’s great.
During all the books it’s told that David has this art project going,
he’s a novelist, and it’s implied that this memory loss is his project. That
isn’t resolved until this novel. I found the solution, or explanation, I guess,
really interesting. Tiller is really good at keeping you on your toes. The art
project is really interesting, and I’ve used “interesting” a lot. It’s sort of
implied throughout what might be the explanation, or what happened, and you’re
sort of nervous about what’s going to happen, or what happened. And it’s
uncomfortable.
I think David is an incredibly fascinating character. He’s very entitled
and self-involved. He’s passive aggressive, and unpleasant, and I don’t see why
he has a girlfriend, because I’m sure she could do better. He assumes the worst
of absolutely everyone, I’m pretty sure because he assumes everyone is like
him. Tiller is a skilled writer in that he makes me both hate this man, and
also feel sorry for him, and want to know what happens to him, and how he
feels. It’s weird.
I feel like Susanne is pretty much borderline crazy for what she does.
It’s really weird, it’s also sort of genius in a way. Because it leads to us,
and David, finding out what people do to him, and it’s a very interesting way
to build up a character, because he won’t be censored by his own opinions and
thoughts. It’s obviously censored anyway, because the people writing David will
probably try to put themselves in the best possible light, and they don’t know
everything about David. But you get a very detailed description from a lot of
perspectives, which is great. Also. After reading what David did to Susanne I
understand why she wants revenge. I understand why she’s furious and hurt and
why she’s sad. And while she’s sort of crazy, I wanted to know if it gave her
closure in anyway. Also, her ex boyfriend, who she was with before David, is
awful and I hate him so much. Good God.
Finally
The characters are awful humans, but they are fascinating, and well
developed and incredible. The writing is strong, and it’s badass, and Tiller is
such and exceptional writer. I was a bit underwhelmed by the other book of his
I read, but this is a solid trilogy. It’s very good.
