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like The Morning Star, there was one character here who felt straight out of My Struggle (Syvert). The novel dwells in his perspective most of the time, which was at first felt revelatory, and then began to drag solipsistically... just like The Morning Star and My Struggle. I think the first Syvert section could have been edited down to 1/2 or 1/3 of its 400 pages without losing much. But Knausgaard has always been a bit Proustian.

The middle half was wonderful, a subplot straight from Richard Power's The Overstory with the thrilling conclusion of an essay on immortality and Russian cosmism. A little too cute with tying the different narratives together, but this is often the case. (Certainly in The Overstory too!)

Read while in Georgia recently, fascinating historical backdrop, understandably unrelatable characters. I didn't love the translation, rhythm felt off. I think it could use a new one, maybe would help find the beauty I didn't see.

"Was that what a novel was: a plane where you could finally juxtapose all the different people, mediating between them and weighing their views?"

I enjoyed the first 1/3 a lot, but it had a lot of half baked ideas towards the end. Antagonist felt under-developed.

A brilliant “sequel” to On Photography. Anyone that follows the news should read this. Anyone that publishes news must.

3 stars for worldbuilding in the first half 1 star for generic and cliche characters (especially female characters)

also (south park voice) "this is what tech accelerationists actually believe"