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Stella Descending
On a warm summer night in Oslo, Martin draws Stella into one of the risky games that have defined their ten years together: a balancing act on the edge of their rooftop, nine stories up. "Exquisitely written. . . . As hallucinatory as August heat." -The Washington Post Amid the shouts of horrified onlookers, Stella stumbles, falling for a moment into Martin's arms before plummeting to her death. (Did he try to save her?)
So begins Linn Ullmann's transfixing tale of Stella--jealous wife, forbearing lover, angelic nurse, unloved daughter, devoted mother, and finally, a woman possessed of a secret now for-ever lost to the living. As Stella's life unfolds in the recollections of those she has left behind, we observe the fabric of many lives unraveling. And as Stella herself bears witness from a place beyond death, we come to understand how precarious her life was behind its facade of loveliness and order. With a quiet power, Stella Descending gives us the backlit dailiness--and the dark metaphysical underworld--of life in a fabled metropolis. And in brilliantly evoking the loneliness that haunts all our intimacies, it becomes a fable of life everywhere.
So begins Linn Ullmann's transfixing tale of Stella--jealous wife, forbearing lover, angelic nurse, unloved daughter, devoted mother, and finally, a woman possessed of a secret now for-ever lost to the living. As Stella's life unfolds in the recollections of those she has left behind, we observe the fabric of many lives unraveling. And as Stella herself bears witness from a place beyond death, we come to understand how precarious her life was behind its facade of loveliness and order. With a quiet power, Stella Descending gives us the backlit dailiness--and the dark metaphysical underworld--of life in a fabled metropolis. And in brilliantly evoking the loneliness that haunts all our intimacies, it becomes a fable of life everywhere.
Book Details
- Publisher: Anchor Books
- Publish Date: Jul 13rd, 2004
- Pages: 256
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 8.00in - 5.16in - 0.55in - 0.42lb
- EAN: 9781400030941
- Categories: • Literary
About the Author
Born in 1966, Linn Ullmann is a graduate of New York University, where she studied English literature and began her graduate studies before returning to Oslo in 1990 to pursue a career in journalism. She had established herself as a prominent literary critic when her first novel, Before You Sleep, was published in 1998 and became a critically acclaimed best-seller throughout Europe. She writes a column for Norway's leading newspaper and lives in Oslo with her husband, son, two stepchildren, and a dog.
Praise for this book
"Exquisitely written. . . . As hallucinatory as August heat." -The Washington Post [Ullman]'s gift is for weaving the banal details of love, career and family with the mystic world of dreams and ghosts into one seamless fabric . . . The hypnotic allure of the story adds to the reader's eagerness to return to Stella and share the enigma of her final flight." -The New York Times Book Review "Weird and wonderful . . .Ullmann has effortlessly established a distinct literary voice." -Elle "Magical in its imagery . . . Extraordinary." -The Boston Globe "Surrealistic . . . in the original 1920s sense: as a work of art that blurs the borders between mundane reality and the reality of fantasies and dreams. . . Where Ullmann differs is in her humor . . . her snappy prose and cheeky attitude." -Los Angeles Times Book Review "Exquisite. . . . The atmosphere and taut pacing make this an icily swift read, one whose chill lingers longer than a Scandinavian winter." -Entertainment Weekly
"Ullmann has a knack for uncovering rich, off-beat details that lend this disturbing story a breath of black humor." -The Miami Herald "Quirky . . . compelling. . . . the lyrical introspections of Ullmann's characters make us feel that our failures don't really matter; what counts is that we keep on trying." -St. Petersburg Times
"Haunting, elegiac . . . deft and light enough to work, creating just the right atmosphere of foreboding and regret." --Kirkus Reviews
"Wonderfully strange . . . . Ullmann pairs her native Scandinavian starkness with playful prose . . . to peculiar, pleasing effect. . . . Once one enters Ullmann's hypnotic world, the reward is an emotionally rich and layered story about the elusiveness of truth." --Publishers Weekly
"Ullmann has a knack for uncovering rich, off-beat details that lend this disturbing story a breath of black humor." -The Miami Herald "Quirky . . . compelling. . . . the lyrical introspections of Ullmann's characters make us feel that our failures don't really matter; what counts is that we keep on trying." -St. Petersburg Times
"Haunting, elegiac . . . deft and light enough to work, creating just the right atmosphere of foreboding and regret." --Kirkus Reviews
"Wonderfully strange . . . . Ullmann pairs her native Scandinavian starkness with playful prose . . . to peculiar, pleasing effect. . . . Once one enters Ullmann's hypnotic world, the reward is an emotionally rich and layered story about the elusiveness of truth." --Publishers Weekly