A looooong but worthy read. WHAT A STORY. He’s too intelligent for his own good. The way he dissects the daily monotony and allows us to perceive the world from his lens is incredible.

I had heard wonderful things about this title but unfortunately after persevering several times I could not get into it.

Hmm this book left me confused but in a good way?? I wasnt sure if it was a mystery or a horror or a realist novel, and the pace was quite slow for a while. I didnt like the ending but the journey there was growing on me, and the main character was such an interesting construct.

Sorry but I couldn't finish it because I just don't have time. It's enormous. I will go back to it as a real book. Also my eyes cannot take that many words on screen.

Huge respect for Knausgaard. Of course will stick and recommend to our customers.

Fascinating, often quite pulpy (some Jo Nesbo-ish / Jurassic Park-esque interludes) attempt to present an apocalyptic scenario in which humans, faced with the appearance of a new star in the sky, become subject to strange and malevolent forces, some of which merely exacerbate incipient ruin, others that punish eschatological indifference or a failure to accept the presence of wonder (or, if you prefer, 'God') in nature. The book asks: what do you believe, and why, and do you think it makes any difference? It also suggests that, if you believe in nothing, or a bespoke faux-reality, you'll be the among the first to suffer.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this novel, in exchange for an honest review.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57799745-the-morning-star?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=HQZ0ch5mr9&rank=1

Karl Ove Knausgaard does nothing in half measures. It’s been over a decade since he’s written the epic 3600 word My Struggle, a series of six autobiographical books covering his life from his youth up to the death of his father. The series was cloaked in controversy due to its candid portrayal of the mundanity of life and Knausgaard’s wrting style of autofiction, but predominantly because Knausgaard had no qualms laying bare his ex-wife’s mental issues and exposing his family members for the world to see. Some believe for his own financial gain. Whatever the case, Knausgaard was heralded as “one of the 21st century’s greatest literary sensations”.

Full review: https://westwordsreviews.wordpress.com/2021/11/24/the-morning-star-karl-ove-knausgaard/

Sorry, but this didn't really work for me. I struggled to finish it (and to be honest I ended up skimming quite a bit). Kudos to him for still working and I'll probably still read his next book, but this read like it was in desperate need of editing. Too rambling, too long - I often felt like I was reading someone's vanity project. I'm afraid I found myself nodding in agreement with some phrases from the vicious Guardian review, namely "This is a book bloated with the inconsequential." Sorry, Karl Ove - better luck next time. Thanks to the publishers and to Netgalley for the ARC.

This is a curiously old-fashioned novel, despite Knausgard’s reputation for experimental fiction. Set in Bergen over 48 hours The Morning Star follows an ensemble of determinedly mundane Norwegians. Arne, a professor, worries about his wife’s mental health who has beheaded their cat. Katherine, a priest, suffers a dark night of the soul about her marriage and purpose in life. Jostein, a drunk and mendacious reporter, tracks down a scoop about a satanic heavy metal band who have disappeared. Elsewhere a nurse worries about a patient with learning difficulties who she inadvertently allows to abscond. With trademark forensic detail we get which cups of coffee, burgers, cars and choice of hotel populate the waking thoughts and desires of the burghers of Bergen.

Knausgard adds to this cast of everyday acts and actors a sense of dread: a strange and bright new star appears in the sky at the start. For each of the protagonists there is a sense of life out of kilter. Just out of the lights dark figures appear. Arne crashes his car after drinking, Katherine meets a stranger who she later believes to be the person whose funeral she was conducting. Jostein happens across a horrific murder.

This combination of Altmanesque short-cuts and the fear and dread that can crash into well-ordered lives at any moment gives this novel a propulsive energy.. The driven nature of the rest of the cast, who have to manage life-changing decisions and spin around each other with the force of comets is contrasted with Egil. Freed of economic worries he is a life-long drifter who has the holiday home next to Arne and floats in and out of the storytelling. The moral enquiries (into faith, marriage, ethics etc) that the characters experience at length culminate in Egil’s thoughts on death - in the form of a sixty-page essay that concludes the book.

This is a big book, and it asks a fair bit of the reader. Does it marry philosophy and storytelling completely successfully? Not always. Does the novelist indulge his middle-aged male protagonists bad behaviour?Perhaps a little too much. Does it run out of steam? Ultimately so, but it’s a journey with lots to offer along the way.

I really enjoyed this novel and rushed excitedly through it, but was a bit irritated and frustrated by Egil's essay near the end. I wasn't very much interested in what he had to say about religion, philosophy and death, but would have liked to keep reading about what happened to the other characters in the book. On the whole, I don't mind open endings in books but here it felt unfinished and left me a bit disappointed.
Thank you PenguinRandom House and Edelweiss/Netgalley for the ARC.

I am not sure what to make of this book. It was as intellectually interesting as it was disappointing.

Its dark mood, hazy, dreamlike quality, its tales of dysfunction and its blurring of boundaries were quite enjoyable, but led nowhere.

Its pace was hard to maintain with its several, interconnected stories, each told from a different point of view. As the stories picked up pace, they were dropped, interrupted, left.

And perhaps that was the point: just as dreams can follow one another, haunt us, make us feel like there’s some meaning to it, only to fade and never return.

Still, as a book, it left me extremely dissatisfied.

The Morning Star is Karl Ove Knausgard's first major novel since the conclusion of the landmark My Struggle series and an astonishing, ambitious, and rich novel about what we don't understand and our attempts to make sense of our world nonetheless. The action takes place a few days in late August. The professor of literature Arne and the artist Tove are with their children at the resort in Sørlandet. Their friend, the rich man's son Egil, is in a cabin nearby. The priest Kathrine is on her way home from a seminar, the kindergarten assistant Emil is rehearsing with his band, the journalist Jostein is out on the town, his wife Turid who is an assistant nurse has a night shift. On this a seemingly normal night in August, a huge star appears suddenly in the sky. No one, not even astronomers and weather experts on TV can explain this alarming celestial phenomenon. Is it a newly discovered dying star? Or something new? Eventually, the interest in the news subsides and life goes on, but not quite as before. Reports of shocking portents and unsettling happenings pour in from the fringes of human existence. Creatures that previously existed only in nightmares, mythology, and computer games stalk through the forest, while animals and the environment itself appear to be behaving in strange new ways. Over several days, a cast of idiosyncratic characters will come to understand what is happening, each in their own way, and all face new struggles in their own lives.

Unusual things are starting to happen on the fringes of human life, strange natural phenomena are increasing and people are trying to interpret their message. Eventually, interest in the star dilutes and life goes on, but not quite as before. This is a beguiling and exhilarating return to fiction from one of the most acclaimed and talked-about global literary stars, and The Morning Star is a novel about what we do not understand--a cosmic, existential drama filtered through the lens of regular human lives. At its heart, it's about what happens when the dark forces in the world are set free - liberated and allowed to roam unabated. It has a rich and extensive gallery of characters and action that ranges from the everyday recognisable to the great cosmic contexts, and from the quantum, infinitesimal to humongous events wreaking havoc on the entirety of our home planet and solar system. It's about great drama viewed through the limited lens of the most mundane elements of quotidian life. Following nine people over two crucial days in their lives this is a deeply atmospheric work with a sinister undertone throughout but it has a wonder to it and is an exploration of the nature of life and death, the ephemerality of living and an examination of our temporary home on this planet where not everything that surrounds us do we comprehend. Touching, original, emotionally resonant, it manages to be both sprawling and intimate. An ode to the fleeting impermanence of a life we don't truly understand but that is beautiful all the same. Highly recommended.

I adore Knausgaard's writing and I was anxious that this wouldn't live up to the brilliance of My Struggle, but I had nothing to worry about. The Morning Star is astonishingly good, completely unique, managing to express and explore ideas in ways that I don't think fiction has done before.

It's a book about the things we don't understand, opening as many questions as it answers, filling you with an unease that is at once uncomfortable and clarifying. There were some horror-tinged scenes that certainly weren't for the faint hearted, some brilliant writing on mental and physical despair, and the final haunting scene will stay with me for a long time.

Whether you're new to Knausgaard or you're already a fan, I couldn't recommend this enough. You'll need to be ready to do some serious thinking about big ideas - God, faith, redemption, death, good and evil - but it's oh so worth it.

When I reached the end of the book my initial thought was - well that's several hours of my life I won't get back. Followed swiftly (after reading a couple other reviews) by - well I'm not investing any more of my time in two more parts of this trilogy I didn't know was a trilogy when I first started reading it. (The blurb labels it as a novel, implying finality) If these reviews can be believed. Which I am wont to do as the story definitely didn't wrap up in this book. All near 700 pages of it. Even considering I glossed over most of the final chapter as it mostly went right over my head.
The three stars I have given it are for some of the characters I met along the way who were really interesting and I am glad to have spent some of my time getting to know them, albeit it not fully as already mentioned, things were scant resolved.
Or maybe it did all wrap up and I am just not the target audience - over the head-wise...
Not sure but it's probably me rather than everyone else... The blurb says it's about what we don't understand, and our attempts to make sense of our world... Not sure I agree, personally speaking - it left me more confused...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I don't know quite what to make of this book, it started off quite normally. A couple spending time with their children at their holiday home. Gradually, it transpires that the wife has mental health issues and the husband escapes one day by drinking himself into a stupor. There is an incident with a huge swarm of crabs crossing a road as the husband drives over them , crunching them and also a dead kitten and aneighbour that the wife might fancy.. It is all told in absolute minute detail, which I found a little dull. I was starting to become interested and finally invested in the couple when the story switches to a priest on her (reluctant) way home from a conference and so it goes on until everything takes a nasty, demonic turn into horror. I found it all rather strange and ultimately not in a good way.

As a die hard Knausgaard fan, i was honoured to receive and advance copy of this novel courtesy of the publishers for which I am very grateful.

I was enjoying the book which is told through the eyes of several protagonists over the course of one evening and sees them going about their daily lives against a distant backdrop of a falling star which goes on to affect them and change their lives. I was particularly moved by the thread which featured Katherine the priest officiating at a funeral of an unknown man.

However about 5 hours into the read about halfway through the book the plot begins to turn into a "something nasty in the woods" horror book and becomes somewhat of an intellectual Steven King. Not being a fan of the horror genre I am afraid to say I was put off enough to put the book down unfnished. I enjoy Knausgaards writing style and he is very good at giving us a slice of normal day to day life. However it is not likely that I will be picking up the other 2 books as I believe this is to be continued in another 2 parts.

This was at times a difficult read but it was absorbing and profound in equal measure. Not for everyone but I enjoyed it immensely. Give it a try.

TITLE: THE MORNING STAR
AUTHOR: KARL OVE KNAUSGAARD
PUBLISHER: HARVILL SECKER
ISBN 10: 1910701718
ISBN 13: 978-1910701713
PUBLICATION DATE: 30.09.21

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION:

The dazzling new novel from the internationally bestselling author of My Struggle

One long night in August, Arne and Tove are staying with their children in their summer house in southern Norway. Their friend Egil has his own place nearby. Kathrine, a priest, is flying home from a Bible seminar, questioning her marriage. Journalist Jostein is out drinking for the night, while his wife, Turid, a nurse at a psychiatric care unit, is on a nightshift when one of her patients escapes.

Above them all, a huge star suddenly appears blazing in the sky. It brings with it a mysterious sense of foreboding.

Strange things start to happen as nine lives come together under the star. Hundreds of crabs amass on the road as Arne drives at night; Jostein receives a call about a death metal band found brutally murdered in a Satanic ritual; Kathrine conducts a funeral service for a man she met at the airport - but is he actually dead?

The Morning Star is about life in all its mundanity and drama, the strangeness that permeates our world, and the darkness in us all. Karl Ove Knausgaard's astonishing new novel, his first after the My Struggle cycle, goes to the utmost limits of freedom and chaos, to what happens when forces beyond our comprehension are unleashed, and the realms of the living and the dead collide.

NO SPOILERS

I am a little obsessed with Knausgaard’s “My Struggle” books (there are six, I want more!) mostly because of the way he writes, so I was hoping The Morning Star would draw me in in the same way. It’s the first of his fiction I have read and his style, skill and command of words did not disappoint.

Like My Struggle, The Morning Star is written in the first person, with each chapter being from a single character’s point of view, making it incredibly intimate and placing the reader right there beside the narrator. The relentless minute detail is superb!

Now, whilst the writing is absolutely to my liking, the story is not. The genre is not one I enjoy yet the writing is so absolutely to my liking and the plot so well woven that I love this book. It’s dark and oppressive in places but joyous in others. There are many characters and I lost track of who was who but a couple of paragraphs was enough to remind me. I wasn’t keen on the philosophising; interesting though it was, there was just too much for me. It felt too much like an explanation which I didn’t need.

I did feel the book was unfinished but I understand it is the first of a trilogy and I shall be reading the rest, just to get more words from Knausgaard. Honestly, that man could write a weather report and it would be Pulitzer worthy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harvill Secker for the complimentary copy of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed

This novel begins with similarities to Knausgaard's My Struggle series, with a focus on the domestic day to day care of children, cooking meals, drinking coffee whilst also struggling to support a partner apparently suffering from mental health problems. This is one of a number of intertwined narratives set over two hot summer days.

A mysterious star appears in the sky (not above Bethlehem this time) and the domestic scenes give way to a darker more disruptive narrative with strange occurrences as boundaries melt, evil spreads and death merges with life.

Knausgaard is an excellent writer and both the characterisation and narrative are very good. I would have given 5 stars, but at times I felt the symbolism was intrusive and the intertwined narratives too complex. Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a review copy.

This isn't really a book for me but I can see how anyone interested in religion, Christianity, spirituality, demonology and mysticism might love it. It's very wordy for the ideas that are being explored here with some unsettling moments of something close to horror as the boundaries between death and life seem to become permeable. At the same time, there's a lot of very heavy-handed symbolism: all those snakes around the apple tree, for example! And, not trusting his readers, the author has to voice some basic knowledge: that Lucifer means 'light-bearer' in Latin and is also known as the Morning Star before he becomes a fallen angel. If you like your fiction esoteric and with a brooding focus on ideas of sin, death, theology and the mysteries of life, this may suit.