The Aboveground
The Aboveground
Mikael BerglundAn understated, multidimensional literary novel about all-consuming love, dire misunderstandings, and memories that live in the very ground we walk on.
It isn’t until one of the last days of Oskar’s summer job at a pre-school in Ammarnäs, when he first sees Eija. She steps of her motorcycle to pick up her baby brother, smelling of sweat, fuel, smoke and the reindeers that she keeps, and Oskar immediately realizes that this meeting will transform his life. But he is about to leave to go back south, and she is pregnant with another man’s child, and so nothing can happen between them.
There’s just something about Eija, the people, the mountains, waterways, and the very air around her that opens Oskar up to his own Samí roots. He tries to move on but time and again he gets drawn back to Ammarnäs, back to Eija.
THE ABOVEGROUND is an evocative story about belonging and loyalty, about language and trust, and about how the very ground we walk on can give way when two people manage to get really close to each other, if only for a brief moment.
Mikael Berglund’s portrayal of the relationship between Oskar and Eija is subtle yet spellbinding, showing how even a love as strong as theirs can be torn apart by miscommunication and doubt. Written in a succinct, visceral style that cuts directly to the core, Berglund captures the wild, violent beauty of the nature around them. Apart from a great love story, THE ABOVEGROUND is a captivating depiction of Samí culture, an exploration of masculinity, and the hardships in trying to find belonging as an outsider.
‘Several passages in this novel are so beautiful in their austerity that I can’t read on, I have to linger.’
Gefle Dagblad
‘The language comes alive, twists and turns; unrelentingly inventive.’
Svenska Dagbladet
