The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven

北國隱士

類別 : 文學小說
ISBN:978-0316592550
頁數 : 336
出版 : Little, Brown and Company, 2021 年 10 月 26 日
版本 : 精裝版
版權窗口 : 繁體博達代理Mingming / 简体博達代理Mingming

內容介紹

★美國獨立書商協會 #1 INDIE NEXT PICK

Bookslist, Publishers Weekly Kirkus Review 星級期佳評推薦。

★版權已售俄羅斯Eksmo、英國John Murray

 

THE MEMOIRS OF STOCKHOLM SVEN》(北國隱士),故事發生在兩次世界大戰間的數十年,講述了一個引人入勝的故事:主角將自己放逐到北極圈的孤獨中,最終因一次突然造訪而拯救改變。本書將能吸引喜歡 Julia Phillips 《消失的她們》(Disappearing Earth)、Ian McGuire的《北海鯨夢》 (The North Water) , Hannah Kent 的《凜冬將至》等小說粉絲,他們喜歡沈浸在極端、嚴酷的異國他鄉,也能吸引喜歡專業歷史小說的讀者 ,如《莫斯科紳士》(A Gentleman in Moscow) 

 

1916年, 在一段不安定的日子後, Sven Ormson離開了斯德哥爾摩(Stockholm),到挪威最北界的Svalbard群島冒險,那裡一年有四個月暗無天日,他可能在前一晚欣賞絢燦的極光,但第二天就遭受北極熊的襲擊! 一場雪崩結束他在那的礦工生活, 使他面目全非,幾乎要了命.  於是Sven逃到更遠、無人居住的峽灣。那裡,他建造了一個小屋,在一隻忠狗陪伴下, 獨自生活,讓自己抵禦各種惡劣環境。

 

一位芬蘭毛皮捕獵者的教誨,家人的鼓勵信和在礦區結識的蘇格蘭地質學家,陪伴Sven度過了第一個冬天。在他與世隔絕的幾年裡,一位出乎意料的訪客緩解了他的孤獨,引發了一連串令人驚訝的事件,使得Sven 進入一個由被遺棄者組成的家庭,決定了他的人生方向。

 

THE MEMOIRS OF STOCKHOLM SVEN》(北國隱士)以詼諧幽默的筆觸反映大自然的的嚴酷景觀,證明即使在地球上最荒涼的條件下,人與人間的緊密關係, 我們也不會被愛所拋棄。

2020春以來, 世界大半的人類因疫情過著與世隔絶, 在家隔離的日子。此本小說正是以歷史反照現實之作。

 

相關影片

作者介紹

作者Nathaniel Ian Miller 擁有美國蒙大拿大學的創意寫作碩士學位和環境研究碩士學位,曾是北極遠征隊的一份子。他曾為《Virginia Quarterly Review美國維州季刊》以及Wisconsin, New Mexico, Montana, and Colorad美國多州的報紙撰稿,並獲得數個美聯社新聞獎。他與家人住在Vermont州中部的一個農場。

書評

“Briskly entertaining . . . I was reminded more than once of Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News . . . combines a distinctive northerly setting with a cast of likable eccentrics . . . Rather than any creed or belief system, it is Sven’s various friendships, intense but understated, that sustain him and give his life an order and purpose.”―Ian McGuire, New York Times Book Review

“Transporting and wholly original . . . this modern-day Call of the Wild is funny, moving, and ceaselessly compelling.”―People (Book of the Week)

“Ceaselessly brilliant as an arctic sun, The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven illuminates the very nature of human yearning and perseverance. In attempting to inhabit the uninhabitable, one man shows us that no place is inhospitable to the human heart, and in delivering this searing portrait, Nathaniel Ian Miller ascends to the firmament of today’s most exciting young novelists.”―Adam Johnson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Orphan Master’s Son

“Surprisingly humorous, this heartwarming story reminds us that love can reach the iciest depths of our hearts, even in the most inhospitable locations.”―Kirby Beaton, Buzzfeed

“Captivating . . . Miller offers a marvelously detailed look at a way of life and a profession practiced in an extreme environment, and though purportedly based on a historical figure, the character’s colorfully rendered experiences are the stuff of powerful dramatic fiction.”―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Readers will love the beauty and depth of his story . . . A Swedish trapper relates his unique life with insights about friendship, hardship, and solitude.”―Kirkus (starred review)

“Miller’s prose is lit by sparks of Sven’s somber humor and descriptive elegance . . . Miller's characterization is exceptional and thoroughly engaging, as are the vividly portrayed island denizens . . . Miller has given [Sven] an imagined life told in his own words in this engrossing fictional memoir.”
 ―Bethany Latham, Booklist (starred review)

“A stellar first novel . . .  So authentic in both detail and narrative voice that it’s easy to forget it’s not an actual memoir . . . A truly walloping tale of solitude and survival told in visceral detail, a combination of Miller’s wild imagination and his beautifully precise prose . . . Sven is an insightful yet comically ironic narrator, and there is often great excitement in his story, including ‘ice bear’ attacks, near starvation, Northern Lights, and the haunting sounds of calving glaciers . . . Miller imbues his novel with an unforgettable narrator who asks essential questions of human connection, a remarkable achievement for a novel ostensibly about solitude . . . Like the Arctic landscape itself, The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven is beautifully stark and unimaginably rich, a book that will long be remembered by its lucky readers.”―Alice Cary, BookPage (starred review)

The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven is pure delight. From the first page, I was transported to a world unlike any I’ve experienced or even read about—a bleak and unforgiving landscape where ice bears, subzero temperatures, and Sven’s own worst impulses conspire against him, where loneliness and terror coexist with his growing appreciation for the flinty beauty of life. Only in such a place, I came to understand, could such a solitary man—emotionally stunted, misanthropic, self-pitying, disfigured—discover the bonds of friendship, and find family in a ragtag band of misfits. This novel’s hard-won wisdom, droll humor, and offhanded insights about human nature will pierce you to the core.”―Christina Baker Kline, New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train and The Exiles

“A kind of Odyssey, complete with dogs worthy of Argos and a few precious human companions, this spare and unusual novel plumbs the dark side of polar narratives. Sven, as mysterious to himself as he is to us, is an unforgettable character.”―Andrea Barrett, National Book Award–winning author of The Voyage of the Narwhal and Ship Fever

“The magic of The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven is in its defiance of dark expectations. Sven is a bright but disaffected urban bookworm who moves to one of the most forbidding landscapes on earth, finds dangerous work, suffers a hideous maiming, and hides his appearance by retreating into even greater isolation. And it is here, at the doorway to unmitigated despair, that Nathaniel Ian Miller truly surprises and shines. For all Sven’s damages, his desolation makes each visitor indelible, as into his arctic dystopia traipses a cast of emotionally damaged misfits, estranged family members, military outlaws whose crime is love, an irresistible scrounge of a dog, a gifted trapper of few words and a kind geologist of many, until we are regaled with some of the most convincing portrayals I’ve seen of human beings creating connection and kindnesses despite their brutal circumstances and unhealed wounds.”―David James Duncan, author of the national bestsellers The River Why and The Brothers K

“Nathaniel Ian Miller’s vision of the Arctic is one of sharp-toothed beauty and harrowing, clarifying hardship. The men and women who manage to survive the landscape are transformed by the effort, forced to question who they are and who they want to be. Their surprising, rule-breaking lives invite the reader on both a polar adventure and a consideration of what makes our lives worth living.”―Caitlin Horrocks, author of The Vexations

“The beauty of the writing in this debut turns this into much more than a story about the Arctic. Sven sees himself as wholly unremarkable, and yet his observant eye and keen sense of humanity make him one of the most relatable characters I’ve encountered . . . A beautiful read.”―Ginny Wehrli-Hemmeter, Anderson’s Bookshop, Naperville, IL

“A stunning novel . . . Life is never quite what we think it is going to be, and in the High Arctic there are even more surprises that test every ounce of our soul. I loved this.”―Annie Philbrick, Bank Square Books, Mystic, CT

“Deftly spun from the slightest thread of historical fact, The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven delivers more than just a wholly believable fictional world . . . A remarkable book that gives contemporary readers new insight into the nature of love, longing, and humanity.”―Claire Benedict, Bear Pond Books, Montpelier, VT

“The stark beauty of the Arctic so beautifully detailed in Nathaniel Ian Miller’s debut is only second to the marvelous cast of characters he brings to life . . . Stockholm Sven discovers that connection and family are possible in even the most daunting of circumstances. Miller’s gorgeous book reminds us that the greatest skill humanity possesses is our capacity to love.”―Luisa Smith, Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA

“This is a rich, multifaceted treasure of a novel which I could hand to anyone with complete confidence . . . Miller provides unforgettable characters, a deeply mesmerizing tale, and the most exquisite prose.”―Damita Nocton, Country Bookshop, Southern Pines, NC

“Debut author Nathaniel Ian Miller takes a sad, broken character living in desperate isolation in a barren and beautiful landscape and creates a stunning meditation on friendship, compassion, and familial love. I fell deeply in love with this beautiful, heart-swelling novel.”―Stan Hynds, Northshire Bookstore, Manchester Center, VT

“This book is simply glorious . . . I know that seems odd to say about the brutal life in the Arctic, but Stockholm Sven will seep into your consciousness and make even the most harrowing and abominable seem common in this place he calls home. You will not soon forget these characters and the lengths they go through to survive and thrive."―Julie Slavinsky, Warwick’s, La Jolla, CA

“I don’t know that I’ve ever come across a book more satisfying to my inner misanthrope . . . Anyone who constantly longs for quiet, feels prickly in an overcrowded space, loves the idea of unfettered alone time: this book is for you . . . Nathaniel Ian Miller has written a novel that, in showing us extreme isolation, re-minds us how vital our bonds to this world are. I adored it.”―Lindsay Lynch, Parnassus Books, Nashville, TN

“A stunningly honest historical novel that depicts the hardships of life in the frigid far north . . . A moving tale written with the kind of tenderness that makes you want to put your arms around the people who make this lovely book a treasure to read.”―Vicki Honeyman, Literati Bookstore, Ann Arbor, MI

“Nathaniel Ian Miller has woven a luminous tale of enduring friendships and companionship, familial love and the incredible beauty of a harsh natural world. This is one of those rare reads where you keep caring about the characters once you’ve closed the book. Deeply satisfying!”―Françoise Brodsky, Shakespeare & Company, New York, NY

北國隱士

The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven

北國隱士

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