The Third Realm

Starred review from August 1, 2024
Knausgaard delves deeper into the lives of Norwegians affected by the emergence of a new heavenly body. This novel is a continuation of the series launched withThe Morning Star (2021) andThe Wolves of Eternity (2023). Though perhaps "remix" is a better term: The book covers many of the same incidents in the previous novels, but from different characters' perspectives. InThe Morning Star, a man named Arne was puzzling over the state of his emotionally troubled wife, Tove; here the anguish is clarified via Tove's narration. The earlier novels looked at the ritual murder of a group of black-metal musicians from a reporter's point of view; here, the police investigation and a young woman in the musicians' circle take center stage. And Syvert, an undertaker and central character inWolves, extends the discussion of the new star's impact and whether it's delivered immortality to humanity. As throughout the series, Knausgaard is using everyday people to explore knotty questions about God's existence, our need for spiritual connection, and the fine line between religious devotion and mental illness. Unlike its predecessors, this one benefits from the lack of an extended gassy disquisition on philosophy and science (though there's a relatively short detour into neurology). It also has more narrative energy than its predecessors, particularly in the sections dealing with the ritual killings. Geir, the detective, comes out of crusty-cop central casting, but the procedural is engrossing and disturbing. Readers who come to this book first will find an entertaining story about people sorting through spiritual, domestic, and emotional confusion. But those who've read the prior novels will get a deeper sense of just how fascinating, frustrating, and unknowable we can be to each other, and the consequences of that disconnection. Typically contemplative for Knausgaard, but unusually propulsive as well.

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September 1, 2024

Bestselling author and International Dublin Literary Award winner Knausgaard (My Struggle) offers a murder, shapeshifting visitors, metal bands, and a bank of dreams in this third novel, which continues from The Morning Star and The Wolves of Eternity. Prepub Alert.

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August 19, 2024
The intense third installment in Knausgaard’s Morning Star series (after The Wolves of Eternity) teems with carnage and interpersonal drama in the wake of a new star’s appearance in the skies above Norway. The cast, many from The Morning Star, reckons with the recent murder of three members of a metal band and the unnerving mystery of the astronomical event, which seems to be linked to a strange phenomenon in which nothing and no one can die. Tove, who is bipolar, tips into a disturbing mania at the vacation house she shares with her teacher husband, Arne. Gaute suspects his wife Kathrine, a priest, of having an affair. Nineteen-year-old Line becomes romantically involved with Valdemar, front man for a metal band whose lyrics reflect his morbid obsessions. Syvert, an undertaker out of work since the star’s appearance, meets with Helge, a famous architect who witnessed Syvert’s father’s death. Jarle, a doctor, is puzzled by a brain-dead patient’s return to consciousness. Geir, a philandering police officer, is stymied while investigating the abovementioned murders. Though readers new to the series would be lost, it’s a clarifying continuation, packed with philosophy, terror, and the beauty of the mundane. There’s plenty here to keep fans of the previous installments hooked. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency.

September 15, 2024
Following The Morning Star (2021) and The Wolves of Eternity (2023), this third installment in Knausgaard's latest cycle of novels retells many of the same events from its two predecessors, this time from different points of view. Tove, the disturbed wife of Arne, narrates her own chapters, which expands the emotional purview of the couple's precarious marriage. The killings of death metal musicians are revisited, this time from the perspective of the police department's official investigation. Syvert returns to expound on the significance of the strange star whose unprecedented appearance threatens to upend everyone's understanding of life, death, and the nature of reality. Shaped by Knausgaard's signature ""neurotic mundane realism,"" as one critic has characterized the Norwegian author's obsessive style, the plot lines familiar from the previous novels explore rich new dimensions even as this title comprises the most compact entry in the series thus far. If the cultural zenith of Knausgaard's literary trajectory has passed, his undeniable gifts for creating sympathetic characters and telling involving stories still define a powerful if slowly diminishing zephyr of the zeitgeist.

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