It's Fine By Me (Norwegian, 1992; English translation, 2011) By Per Petterson

There is much to be said for lazily browsing through a bookstore, chances are you’ll find a new author you were unaware of.  Such was the case when I stopped by Sandmeyer's in Chicago’s Printers Row on a wintery day recently and came across It’s Fine By Me, by Per Petterson.  It’s a jewel of a book, plain spoken to the point of being lyrical, and decidely not "purple prose."

First published in Norwegian in 1992, It’s Fine By Me was translated into English in 2011. I guess it fits into the “coming of age” genre, but believe me that is such an insufficient description.  It is, in fact, one of the best written books I’ve read in ages.

Set primarily in Oslo, it is the story of a teenage boy man named Audun Sletten.  He’s the son of an alcoholic; and he’s aspires to become a writer someday.  He’s very well read, and his reading list – Jack London and Ernest Hemingway -- will amaze you, as it clearly inspires him (and Petterson).

Yet, life has its detours.  Just shy of graduation, Audun will drop out of high school and go to work full time, one day a paperboy, the next a union printer.  As the book ends Audun has turned 18, he’s a young man whose adolescence has passed by almost without notice. 

The final chapter details the death of his father, who abandoned the family years earlier.  I doubt there is a son -- in any culture -- who will fail to recognize this near universal father/son dichotomy, a total disconnect between two people who logic says should be close; the funeral, a mourning of a relationship that could have been, more so than one that was.