Karl Ove Knausgård - My Struggle Volume 2: A Man In Love BOOK REVIEW

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Rachel Cusk Guardian Review:

[chasechase]

best reading channel on the whole internet.
its true. its fantastic.

[destine]

Shit I am so sad you moved! I lived in the metro detroit area and thought if I ever run into you id thank you for renewing my love of books! well Thanks!

[mohibahmed]

Hello!
Been watching your channel since a long time and each time one of your videos has come online has corresponded with times when I'm starting to get lost in the humdrum of life and getting away from books. Your videos have pulled me back each of those times. A huge thank you!

Really miss the older videos with longer times before edits, where I could see you thinking through what you're going to say. I completely understand the need for this format and its truly a good thing. These videos have a charm and urgency. But for me, those older videos had a different charm. But it's all excellent work, all across the board!
Keep reading, keep posting and keep making literature sound like the absolute fucking best thing in the world (dont mind the language), because in all honesty, it is.
Warmest regards from a fellow reader!

[natevelosos]

“The first volume was about dealing with death, the second is about coping with life”

[navidson]

I felt so bipolar about vol. 2, as a man in my early 30's I found myself so frustrated with this book. When I finished vol 5. I immediately wanted to open vol. 2 and go through it again. I found myself angry with it because I did not want to admit that I related so strongly to the struggle of raising two little girls while maintaining my own masculinity. I still feel myself naturally wanting to push just vol. 2 away because I subconsciously did not want to face my own challenges

[joshlilesy]

I've been waiting years for this followup to the first review! reading the Min Kamp series over the last few years has been a really worthwile endeaavour, thank you for introducing me to Knausgaard.

[Craw]

I love your commentary on books. It's honestly its own form of art and I feel like few people, if any, do it better than you.

[liamshope]

Im so glad you got around to reviewing the 2nd volume. Reading the Min Kamp series changed my fucking life honestly

[starwarsfamilyguy]

oh i thought you were reading mein kampf lmao

[LifeVersity]

4:03 i agree the intensity of life does dull as time goes on. usually because when we are younger everything is novel and new. but all that tells us is new experiences will keep our life vibrant as we grow older

[jakobwagstrom]

Great review as always, condensed and very articulate. Keep it up!
If you're into Norwegian literature, I would also highly recommend the Knausgård favourite "The Birds" by Tarjei Vesaas.

[MrDaedaluss]

Im feelin the new between two ferns background

[DarkAngelEU]

_It wasn’t like that any longer. Alot had happened. And what had happened laid the groundwork for what could happen. Not only were the opportunities fewer, the emotions I experienced were weaker. Life was less intense, and I knew I was half way, perhaps more than half way._




There are women that make you feel as if life has only begun when you met them. They revive the experience of youth. They make it new. They make life intense. I'm pretty sure that is what the Hemingway character meant in 'Midnight in Paris' when he said to Owen, you can't be a good writer when you fear death, find a woman that makes you forget about death, and then start writing.

[JonnaaM]

I'm currently reading the third book about, the one about his childhood. He's from the same region as me in Norway, so a lot of the places are familiar. It's clear that Knausgård has touched on something universal in his books

[marcelhidalgo]

From California to Florida to Detroit to Texas. Man, this guy moves around.

[SuperStrangSshadow]

I love Karl Ove Knausgård. Not because he is norwegian like me but I like his honest writing style.

[kylewente]

I loved the ideas you raised about how writers are now trying to rise above the narrative form as we understand it. The other day in my fiction writing class, my professor called my story an 'anecdote' for it lacking a traditional conflict, and it felt wrong to me that a story that I want to communicate truth through would use a form that is biased and deceiving. Knausgard and the increasing prevalence of nonfiction writing is paving the way for new forms, or a dissolution of form altogether.

[tialopez]

It is interesting to see how you have changed physically over the last few years of your posting videos.

[sg.r.]

I once read the book volume 3 because I thought it was an independent novel; then I knew it was part of a series, but I didn't noticied before because in this book the story starts in his childhood, and is a master piece.

[jeremyhickersonsalem]

I have read all the My Struggle books twice (except book 6, which only came out last year - I've only read it once), and book 5 four times. I think they get even better as you proceed into the series: books 4 and 5 are my favorite. I enjoyed book 2, but it wasn't as gripping for me as the others. Karl Ove's editor made him add the 50 pages on his courtship with Linda - can you imagine how dark the tone of the whole book would be without that? He wrote that section in a day, if I remember correctly. I took the "Hamsun" nickname to simply be that he was an unmannered Norwegian writer, but you may have something w/ it also implying a certain conservatism.