This is a brilliant book. Like Loe's other ones, this is also about an apocalypse in the mind, body and soul. A busy family father topples from his bike onto the ground which stuns him; as he lies in the grass, concussed and estranged from his hectic everyday existance, he starts unraveling and reaches two conclusions: 1) he dislikes people and 2) he must move to the forest.

So he does move into the forest, away from his wife and two kids, and befriends a deer (after slaughtering its mother). And that's just the start.

Radiant writing, quite in-tact with Loe's previous writings so if you've read him before I think you'll fairly soon find your way around this novel as well, and if you haven't, you're in for a treat.

A lot of humor, a bit of tragedy and a lot of everyday bliss. Paper-bag-from-American-Beauty-ish. Love it. ( )

Doppler slår seg i hodet og skjønner at han må flytte fra kone og barn og ut i skogen. I skogen lever han alene, forsøksvis i en jeger/sankertilværelse, men diverse hensyn, primært behovet for skummet melk, gjør at han holder seg i nærheten av sivilisasjonen. Etter hvert får han også selskap av en elg og forskjellige mennesker. Doppler forfekter et nobelt syn om at naturen er for alle, men stjeler også uten hemninger fra både andre mennesker og butikker. Han får det for seg at "flinkheten" er den store samfunnsfienden, men her vil jeg si at han forveksler flinkhet med materialisme og statusjag. Dopplers tanker og tilværelse får en til å tenke seg og gir mye både å kjenne seg igjen i og ikke å kjenne seg igjen i. Ikke minst er boka også morsom. Anbefales. ( )

The best book ever!, Mustread! ( )

http://msarki.tumblr.com/post/128021163103/doppler-by-erlend-loe

A refreshing tale of personal hate and one man’s effort to exist freely enough to express it on a daily basis. Doppler’s War is one against conformity and stupidity and a personal quest to discover eventually if the entire world is actually this pathetically dumb. The hope that he will one day find intelligent life somewhere on the planet provides enough incentive for himself, his young son Gregus, and his adopted teen-aged elk son Bongo, to head off to forests unknown and the ultimate adventure of a lifetime. A novel use of truth as impetus for an invigorating fiction. ( )

This book defies description, but I’ll have a go. It’s about Doppler, a Norwegian guy who after the death of his father has an accident on his bike and subsequently turns his back on civilization to live in the forest. His sole companion is Bongo, an elk calf which he feels responsible for having shot Bongo’s mother for food. The conversations with Bongo made me smile. It’s a tale about family, grief, alienation and a gradual warming towards civilization again, or so you think. No matter how much Doppler wants to be alone, he seems to attract people around him.
It’s a charming tale with a cutting edge. Doppler is happy in the forest but is a keen observer of the society he has rejected. Forced to communicate again with his pregnant wife and two children, he struggles to cope with modern society and his responsibilities, Teletubbies add Bob the Builder included. His teenage daughter Nora, named after an Ibsen character of course, insists on talking to him in elfish. His son Gregus forgets the television and instead helps him carve a totem pole, intended as a memorial to Doppler’s father but which comes to represent the three male generations of Dopplers and Bongo.
I read it quickly and wished it was longer, a book that will yield more for re-reading I think.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/ ( )