Description
Shortlisted for the 2017 International Man Booker Prize
Shortlisted for the 2018 International Dublin Literary Award
Islanders are never afraid: if they were, they wouldn’t be able to live here. Born on the Norwegian island that bears her name, Ingrid Barrøy’s world is circumscribed by storm-scoured rocks and the moods of the sea by which her family lives and dies. But her father dreams of building a quay that will end their isolation, and her mother longs for the island of her youth, and the country faces its own sea change: the advent of a modern world, and all its attendant unpredictability and violence. Brilliantly translated into English by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw, The Unseen is a profoundly moving exploration of family, resilience, and fate.
Praise for The Unseen
“Even by his high standards, his magnificent new novel The Unseen is Jacobsen’s finest to date, as blunt as it is subtle and is easily among the best books I have ever read.”—Irish Times
“A deeply satisfying novel, both sensuously vivid and remarkably poignant.” —Kirkus, starred review
“A pearlescent tribute to the alchemy of the sea….The Unseen works toward an end that’s as much a beginning—a tight-woven net cast into the unknown.” —Foreword Reviews, starred review
“A beautifully crafted novel . . . Quite simply a brilliant piece of work . . . Rendered beautifully into English by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw, The Unseen is a towering achievement that would be a deserved Booker International winner.”—New European
“A profound interrogation of freedom and fate, as well as a fascinating portrait of a vanished time, written in prose as clear and washed clean as the world after a storm.”—The Guardian
“The subtle translation, with its invented dialect, conveys a timeless, provincial voice . . . The Unseen is a blunt, brilliant book.”—Financial Times
“The Unseen is a story of elemental force with the bearing of myth. It tells of love and loss and the struggle for existence on a rough-hewn island where simple joys flash in brief moments between endless travail. It is a masterpiece.” —Stephen Sparks, Point Reyes Books (Point Reyes Station, CA)
“In this stark and beautifully told story, the humans become like the trees that have daylight and twilight without night, and then fierce storms in the darkest of days when the winds bend even the staunchest of beings. I love this story, and whether it is in winter or summer, and those days in between, it gives me hope; and silence. Highly recommend. ” —Todd Miller, Arcadia Books (Spring Green, WI)
“Reminiscent of Halldor Laxness’ Independent People, The Unseen is a paean to survival in an inhospitable landscape. Told in language as stark as its setting, it traces the history of a family scrabbling out an existence on a Norwegian island. Tightly focused and wistful in tone, the book is as much about the terrain as it is about the people who inhabit it. A satisfying winter read.” —Grace Harper, Mac’s Backs (Cleveland Heights, OH)
“I read this a while back, but, like all wonderful stories, it has stayed with me and I am reminded of it often … A lovely translation and so very worth reading.” —Nancy Brown, RJ Julia (Madison, CT)
“An absolutely riveting, starkly beautiful, and weirdly serene book which draws us into a harsh and alien landscape … The spare prose, rhythmic and prosaic, turns when we least expect it to deliver a wallop. Jacobsen is in masterful control of language, character, and nuance throughout this book detailing the devastating work of survival and the occasional beauty which makes it worthwhile.” —Steve, Scuppernong Books (Greensboro, NC)
“What a joy to read – as long as you are willing to go to some uncomfortable places emotionally. Set on an island off the Norwegian coast with only one family as its inhabitants Jacobsen makes you feel the forces of nature, man’s helplessness in the face of it, the ruggedness and perseverance of humankind when fate places them in the lives they have and the futility of words when survival is paramount. The language is beautiful, evocative and forceful, the characters suffer and hope, the days forever long and incredibly short and water is both their savior and their destroyer. This is a book that should not be missed.” —Laura Parsons, Island Bound Bookstore (Block Island, RI)
“A novel beautifully told in vivid vignettes that makes for a wonderful mise-en-scène of a novel.”—Shannon Alden, Literati Bookstore (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
“The Unseen will validate your belief in the power of stories to transport and transform us. With rich detail and simple yet exquisite prose, Jacobsen’s novel depicts life on a tiny Norwegian island inhabited by only one family—the Barrøys–who for centuries have made the island their home and the sea, their life… Jacobsen (along with his translators Don Bartlett and Don Shaw) makes you feel the intensity of the life and death struggle that the Barrøys confront in fulfilling their sea-bound legacy. On nearly every page are sentences so heartbreakingly beautiful that you will want to stop and read them again. The Unseen is a quiet, understated masterpiece.” —Lori Feathers, Interabang Books (Dallas, TX)
