BOOK REVIEW: LOTTA ELSTAD, “JEG NEKTER Å TENKE (I REFUSE TO THINK)”, OSLO, EDITURA FLAMME FORLAG, 2017, 240 P.

Abstract

Lotta Elstad is one of Norway’s new literary stars, enjoying considerable international attention after her debut in 2008. Elstad (b. 1982) is a writer, journalist, historian and non-fiction editor, a complex figure, standing out through her original contrasting style. Between the few chosen ones for NORLA's talent development programme, New Voices, as part of Norway’s project as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2019, Elstad was present with her newest novel, I Refuse to think. She had already made her entrance to Europe with her books translated to languages such as English, German or French, and now for the first time, to Romanian as well.

Winner of the Oslo Prize for best novel in 2017, I refuse to think is a daring and witty feministic dark comedy, extremely contemporary, written in the author’s specific energetic and light, but also sharp satirical style. It is a book of high contrasts, as Lotta Elstad is a master of blending serious themes, such as abortion and politics, with humour, writing at a fresh, energetic pace, while maintaining the intellectual feature of her works through various references and ingenious subtext. Hence we also encounter traditional timeless literary motifs, such as love, the right to decide for oneself and the attempt to control one’s own destiny, typical of Norwegian literature.