Human interaction can be joyful and enriching, but it can also be worrisome, disturbing and destructive, and it is from this murky shrouded world of suspicion, bitterness, chafing desire and petty grievance that the short stories of Norwegian author Kjell Askildsen (1929-2021) emerge and flourish. The stories collected in Everything Like Before represent a selection of Askildsen’s astonishing work over a long career and reveal his fascination with the ways in which our efforts to communicate with one another can go awry and slip unaccountably into conflict and estrangement. In minimalist prose stripped of all but the most essential details, Askildsen describes chance encounters that leave people hurt and confused and long-term relationships pushed to a breaking point. These conflicts arise for many reasons. They can result from trifling misunderstandings or absurd disagreements, seemingly inconsequential flashes of irritation, mistaken assumptions, or grudges of long standing. Askildsen frequently writes about family members who don’t get along and couples caught in passive-aggressive relationships whose resentments escalate into major disputes. But he is also adept at chronicling fraught encounters between strangers. In “A Lovely Spot,” a couple has driven out of the city to spend time at their summerhouse on the coast. Their bickering is constant but more-or-less benign—his driving, what to do during their holiday, etc.—but an accumulation of minor annoyances drives the husband to an inexplicable act of aggression. In the title story, Carl and Nina are on vacation in Greece. Carl is annoyed that Nina enjoys getting drunk and flirting with other men. Nina finds his judgmental attitude tiresome. They argue, he tells her it’s humiliating. After a night of unrestrained drinking Carl realizes their differences are irreconcilable and that they cannot continue. The next morning, while they are having sex at Nina’s instigation, Askildsen tells us, “He remembered, and wanted to resist, otherwise what had been done would be undone.” But it’s too late, the wrongs of the past are suddenly forgotten, and they end up back where they started. And in “A Sudden Liberating Thought,” an apparently random encounter between two old men on a park bench leads to repeated meetings and many companionable discussions, until it is revealed that the two are linked by an experience from the past, which makes it impossible for them to go on meeting. Askildsen’s outlook on human nature is bleak and much of his writing is dour, but we find humour in these stories as well, usually when a character attempts to decipher another’s motivations or anticipate someone’s next move. The stories are relentlessly engaging, filled with startling moments of illumination and stark realization, and Sean Kinsella’s translation is nothing short of masterful. Everything Like Before is a remarkable collection, and Archipelago Books deserves kudos for making the work of this exceptional European writer available to North American readers. ( )

3.5 stars

The 30-odd short stories in this collection vary from being very short to more typical short-story length.

All or nearly all of these stories show slices of regular life for very regular people. All are frustrated and/or bored or the stories just have a feeling of dread hanging over them, many of the characters are elderly or middle-aged and looking at the ends of their health/lives. Some of the characters reappear, and honestly (perhaps because I was reading an egalley on kindle) it was hard to tell sometimes if the stories were meant to connect, if ALL of the stories are mean to connect (like maybe these are all residents of one small town, for example), or even if the same names were reused and they were not meant to connect at all. And while I had some favorites here, reading an entire collection of 30+ stories featuring dread and sadness is...exhausting.

Favorites:
"A Lovely Spot": a couple (husband and wife? brother and sister?) go to a family cabin. She is paranoid, he starts to feel it after too much wine.
"Thomas F's Final Notes to the Public; Carl Lange": An officer comes to Carl's apartment and accuses him of a crime. Carl is upset and wonders how he could be accused of such a thing--and possibly wonders if he might have actually forgotten? He cuts his hair, shaves, and his stress reaction is somewhat odd but also understandable. Cop sees it as very odd. (Is this the Carl from the story "Carl"?) ( )