Before I Burn

(Paperback, Main)

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Description

In the late 1970s, a pyromaniac runs amok in rural Norway. Who among the close-knit community could burn down homes, causing such fear and anguish As the fires rage, and the police establish a crisis unit in the village, a baby boy is christened: Gaute Heivoll. Before I Burn is a tense psychological drama; a fictional exploration of Norway's most dramatic arson case. Who was the man setting houses ablaze and why did he do it What about the boy who was born amid the flames and has lived with the stories of the fires By juxtaposing the pyromaniac's story with his own, Gaute Heivoll lays bare the insanity that lies just beneath the surface of the human psyche, and the triggers that may flip any of us into madness. Written in fluid, vivid prose, and with a shattering honesty and humanity, Before I Burn is a literary sensation.

Reviews

Luminously written... [Before I Burn is] an unsparing examination of the darker recesses of the human psyche... Heivoll's unhurried prose satisfyingly addresses the mysteries of memory and the precariousness of human existence * The Times *
One of the best books I have ever read... [Gaute Heivoll] manages to describe the rush of setting fire to a house so well. We understand the pyromaniac's fascination for the fire and the heat ... A pyromaniac seen from the inside, and is marvellously written. -- Karin Fossum
Gaute Heivoll is one of the finest voices of his generation. Before I Burn is a glowing depiction of the darkness in an isolated human being's mind. -- Karl Ove Knausgrd
Thanks to Heivoll's adroit and sensitive handling of his themes, this semi-autobiographical account of old crimes is elevated and transformed into a great novel. * Glasgow Herald *
Gaute Heivoll's new book is great storytelling of the highest order, an existential horror story from the foremost of the young writers. -- Edvard Hoem
It has been an eerie pleasure to read Gaute Heivoll's thrilling novel about the pyromaniac who shook his home district in 1978. Fr jeg brenner ned shows once again that Heivoll is a key name among his generation of writers and one of the most significant in contemporary Norwegian literature. The novel has all the requisites to captivate readers and become Heivoll's definitive breakthrough. -- Hans Herbjrnsrud

Author Bio

Gaute Heivoll made his debut in 2002 with the prose collection Liten dansende gutt [Small Dancing Boy], and since then has written poetry, children's books, short stories and novels. Heivoll was the recipient of the 2003 Tiden-prisen Prize. In 2006 he was the Norwegian representative to the Literary Festival Project Scritture Giovanni and his short-story Dr. Gordeau was translated into English, German and Italian.