The Story of Karma

THE STORY OF A MARRIAGE by Geir Gulliksen is more the story of karma than anything else. The narrator, the cuckolded husband Jon, admits he left his first wife for his second wife, with zero consideration for his two-year marriage or his baby girl. Not only that, but the mistress/wife #2, Timmy (nickname), was also in a relationship when they met. I feel zero sympathy for either of them, since they both struck me as selfish, self-centered people who place lust above love, and base their pitiful relationship on their sexual encounters (which includes a lot of fantasizing).

In addition to throwing away two relationships to begin their affair, after they marry, they have two children together, who are forced to suffer the fallout of their poor excuse of a marriage. It also seems, based on Jon's way of describing daily activities, neither of them want to be around their own children, which makes me wonder why they even bothered having them. Timmy doesn't seem to care about anyone's needs or wants, except her own, and Jon seems hyper-focused on getting laid whenever possible. The two young boys (and their older half-sister) are just after-thoughts and/or work.

Needless to say, Timmy does whatever the hell she wants, when she wants, including having an affair with yet another married man, and spending little to no time with her family. Jon is falling apart, but what is happening to him is essentially what he did to his first wife. The ending is so spectacularly pathetic and disgusting, I wish both Timmy and Jon had been killed in a car accident, so their children could at least have something resembling a happy ending.

As far as the writing, Gulliksen does a great job with character development, otherwise, I couldn't feel so strongly about my disliking of Jon and Timmy. However, the author spends too much time describing minute details about insignificant garbage like eating an apple or appraising one's genitals in the bathroom mirror. Between Jon's self-pity, Timmy's apathy to her own family, and the ridiculous amount of details, I wondered who on earth I could recommend this book to.

To be fair, I do wonder if the difference in American and Norwegian societies affects my interpretation of the marriage and the affairs of the characters. I can't relate to their attitudes and reactions. I can't even imagine what kind of mindset Gulliksen had when he wrote this. I have also had this type of reaction in the past, when I've read similar novels written by non-American (and non-UK) authors, so I'm sure cultural differences between author and reader absolutely make a difference.

As much as I disliked this book, I am curious what else the author might create.

As always,
AstraDaemon