Long time ago I started writing about books I was reading, but I never quite managed to follow up on it. This is the second attempt and we will see how long that lasts:-).



What really pushed me to start again was that I just read a book that reminded me of my all time favorite poem - De evige tre (Eternal three) by Tove Ditlevsen. This poem brilliantly sums up how we humans are. We will always want something else than what we have. While the poem just takes one example it can be applied to almost everything in life.



The book I read was Pan by Knut Hamsun which is a Norwegian Nobel prize winning author. The protagonist is Lieutenant Glahn which is staying in a hunting cabin in North of Norway. He ends up falling in love with an upper class Edvarda that first encourages him but then scorns him. He is truly loved by another girl Eva, but while he sees nothing wrong enjoying her admiration, he is still madly in love with Edvarda.



The storyline itself wasn't the most intriguing one but the characters, their flaws, and the descriptions of nature and how the main character experiences nature was what made me love the book.



The story is told from the point of Lieutenant Glahn. The story does a good job of portraying how utterly incompetent he is in social situations. By repeated incidents of social blunders he looses the interest of Edvarda but is incapable of really understanding why. His social incompetence also comes through in how he treats Eva, which thankfully is simple enough to not fully understand how rude he is towards her. The triangle between Lieutenant Glahn, Edvarda, and Eva was what reminded me of De evige tre except this time it was two girls and one guy.



While in reality I hated the characters they were so true to real life that I couldn't help but being fascinated by them. They showed so many similarities to people I have met throughout my life, and flaws that I recognize in myself. This was definitely not the typical fairy tale romance nor a dark depiction of humanity. This was real life!



An added bonus for me as a person that loves nature were all the descriptions of nature and more importantly the descriptions of how the main character experiences nature. Reading the book was like being out in nature. He felt exactly like I feel while walking through the forest myself.



And to try to rate the book on the scale I made long time ago...



Literacy Value: 5

Entertainment Value: 4

Educational Value: 2




All in all I am impressed by Hamsun and plan to read more of his works.



If anyone is interested, an online English translation can be found at the Gutenberg project. I read the Norwegian version, which was a bit on the heavier side for me since it is in rather old Norwegian.