Product Description

Troubled by an inability to find any meaning in his life, the 25-year-old narrator of this deceptively simple novel quits university and eventually arrives at his brother's New York apartment. In a bid to discover what life is all about, he writes lists. He becomes obsessed by time and whether it actually matters. He faxes his meteorologist friend. He endlessly bounces a ball against the wall. He befriends a small boy who lives next door. He yearns to get to the bottom of life and how best to live it. Funny, friendly, enigmatic and frequently poignant - superbly naive

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5145 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Erlend Loe's cult novel Naïve. Super, about a 25-year old who is unable to find any meaning in his life, was a huge success in his native Norway, and a bestseller throughout Europe--and it isn't difficult to see why.

The narrator has given up on doing his Masters and gone to stay at his brother's house. His brother is away on business and needs his mail redirecting via fax. Aside from that there is nothing to do. So he makes lists, worries about time, befriends a small boy who lives next door, worries about his good friend and his bad friend and tries to understand what being, and being here and now, means. In mostly very short, sometimes elliptical, wry but never ironic chapters Loe works at his character's fear of the meaningless and works meaning into the slightest of material. There is a lovely moment toward the end of the novel when the narrator's brother picks up and plays with the child's toy he has previously berated the narrator for holding on to. Sometimes, we feel, imputing meaning to the simpler things may well be the only route to understanding the more complex ones.

The novel is reminiscent of "60s" writer Richard Brautigan at his best, has the knowing artlessness of Douglas Coupland and shares a love of lists with Nick Hornby but Loe has bagfuls of his own unique charm. This is a beautifully unaffected, funny book, refreshingly free of cynicism, which manages to raise serious existential questions while retaining throughout the lightest of touches and the quirkiest of observations.--Mark Thwaite

Review
"It displays a canny lightness of touch and a great deal of charm. An effortlessly hip and savvy antidote to the rainy day blues." Sleazenation; "Loe certainly has some of Salinger's lightness of touch, and the often comic voice of his unnamed narrator recalls Salinger's Holden Caulfield. A charming debut novel." The Times; "A book overflowing with creative talent... Well-calculated naivety" Dagbladet (Norway); "It is a fascinating how much depth this young author can convey in simple language - a major talent." Oldenburgische Volkszeitung (Germany); "I devoured Erlend Loe with giggling excitement." Arbetet (Sweden)"

From the Back Cover
You're 25. You're educated. Everyone is getting on in the world, finding their place in it. Making decisions, growing up ... But why? What's the point in it all?

'To me, growing older has for a long time been associated with a certain uneasiness. I generally don't give a toss about space, but I have a problem with time.'

'This is what I have: a good bike; a good friend; a bad friend; a brother (in Africa?); parents; grandparents; a large study loan; a BA degree; a camera; a handful of (borrowed) money; an almost new pair of trainers.'

'This is what I don't have: plans; enthusiasm; a girlfriend; the sense that things fit together and that everything will be alright in the end; a winning personality; a watch.'

Naive. Super is a charming portrayal of a mid-twenties life crisis. Through compiling lists, playing repetitive games, making friends with a little boy from next door and taking a trip to New York, the protagonist finds joy in the world and just enough comprehension of it all to see it through.

Naive. Super has been translated into ten languages across Europe - this is its first UK publication. The book was a bestseller in Norway where it attained cult status.

Naive. Super is for all lovers of books like Nick Hornby's High Fidelity.

Erland Loe was born in Norway and has worked in many areas of the media. Following the success of this novel he is now quite a celebrity in Norway. He has also published six children's books and has translated the poetry of Hal Sirowitz into Norwegian.

Customer Reviews

Naive. Simple.
After having ordered this item off Amazon, I read the blurb and I seriously thought I'd made a wrong decision in ordering it because although I tend to like most books I read, I'm only sixteen and I was in need of something light to read, not something about a struggling twenty-five year old.

After reading the first couple of lines, however, I was hooked on to it and now I am in need of something similar to read.

This is definitely one of the best books I've ever read.
Because it made me re-believe.
In trees, and bikes and in people.

It's simple. Nothing too bad happens. Nothing too exciting.
It's real.
It's everything we're short of in today's society.

Absolutely unique
Unfortunately, it is want of some people to always want to compare books to others they like or appreciate. While this works well sometimes, I feel that comparisons tend not to do "Naive. Super" much justice at all. It is completely unique. I do not remember reading a book quite so fresh. Erlend Loe's childlike narrative voice is spiritual. It make you yearn for the immediacy and wonder that many attribute to the years of childhood.

Indeed, the "story" is really secondary. When I first read the description of what happens in the book, it sounded interesting but perhaps a little derivative. Not until you read this brief, delightful book - and I so recommend that you do - will you realise that it is only the descriptions of the book that are derivative. One of the best books I have read this year, without a doubt.

magic
The narrator of this story is a 20-something, and with the use of simple sentences and his naive/childlike take on the world around him, gains him a certain empathy from the reader that makes this book a joy to read.
the story concerns the narrator and his attempts to figure out 'what it's all about'. It takes in a trip to new york, making new friends, sorting out his love life, a hammer and peg, and trying to understand the theory of relativity.

at times sad, at times laugh out loud funny yet always beautifully written...a must read.