Maria Gripe, born Maja Stina Walter (25 July 1923, Vaxholm, Uppland 鈥� 5 April 2007, R枚nninge), was a Swedish author of books for children and young people, often written in a magical and mystical tone. In 1946 she married the artist Harald Gripe, who created cover illustrations for most of her books. His illustration career, in fact, began in connection with his wife's debut as author of I v氓r lilla stad ("In our little town"). Maria Gripe's first major success was Josephine (1961), the first of a series of novels that later included Hugo and Josephine and Hugo. During most of her adult life Maria Gripe lived in Nyk枚ping, where an adaptation of her book Agnes Cecilia was filmed. After a long period of dementia Maria Gripe died at 83 in a nursing home in R枚nninge outside Stockholm; her husband Harald had predeceased her by 15 years. Their daughter Camilla Gripe is also a children's author.
Much of her writing, particularly the later works, is suffused with a supernatural or mystical element. This change in her writing style from her less mature work was partly a result of the influence of Edgar Allan Poe, Charlotte and Emily Bront毛, and Carl Jonas Love Almquist, and partly a reaction to violence in entertainment that had begun to gain ground in cultural expression; Gripe sought to manufacture plot tension in less overt ways. A prominent feature of Maria Gripe's writing is a respect for individuals and their unique characteristics, a trait which is especially perceptible in the social realism of the Elvis series, which she co-wrote with her husband Harald in the 1970s.
Gripe wrote 38 books, translated into 30 different languages, making her one of Sweden's most prolific writers. Her last published book is Annas blomma ("Anna's Flower", 1997). Several of Gripe's books have been filmed, such as Glasbl氓sarns barn (The Glassblower's Children), Agnes Cecilia: en s盲llsam historia ("Agnes Cecilia: a singular history") and the "Shadow" series, directed by Anders Gr枚nros in the 1990s. Kjell Grade directed Hugo and Josephine in 1967, while Kay Pollak filmed Elvis! Elvis (Elvis and his friends) in 1976 and Flickan vid stenb盲nken ("The girl on the stone bench") became a television series in 1989. Dramatized versions of Tordyveln flyger i skymningen ("The dung-beetle flies at dusk"), Agnes Cecilia, Tanten ("The Aunt") and Svinhugg g氓r igen ("The backbiter bitten") have been produced as radio serials. She also wrote the original Swedish television script for Trolltider ("Magic Time", 1979).
Stockholm University Literature professor Boel Westin praised Maria Gripe to a writer for Svenska Dagbladet, declaring that her Shadow books presented an exciting narrative that enabled readers to feel as if they were participants: "She has meant a lot. She renewed children's prose."[1]Literary researcher Ying Toijer-Nilsson, who wrote a biography Skuggornas f枚rtrogna ("Confidant to shadows") of the author, echoed the remarks, saying that she would miss "the warm and humorous human being who was Maria Gripe." The biographer continued: "She has done a lot for the children's book world, and she got her readers to think about philosophy, about the world and about death." Toijer-Nilsson pointed out that Gripe's books also have "a significant tendency to support the social advancement of women." Her books have won many awards, including the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1974, and she was the 1979 Swedish winner of the Dobloug Prize for Swedish and Norwegian fiction.
A very good friend of mine lent me this book, back then in 2009.
She told me that she liked a lot this book and I accepted her offer and I get right away to read the novel.
The book was translated to Spanish (that's why I picked this edition for my virtual shelves) but I am sure that since Maria Gripe was a very famous writer, this novel and the others from her bibliography must be in several other options of languages, including English. At least, I supposed that.
It was odd since I don't quite pinpoint if this particular book was the trigger or not, but it was a fact that, at that time, back then in 2009, I was totally ignorant about anything related with Swedish culture.
I hadn't read any book from a Swedish author or watching any Swedish film, at that point, back in 2009.
However, nowadays I am truly happy to say that I am quite aware of Swedish novels and movies.
I have watched several Swedish films that I liked them a lot and some of them even they are of my favorites movies now.
And while in literature, indeed this book was my first example, and I have yet to read far more books from there, now I am quite aware about the popular authors from Sweeden. So, it's now only a matter of scheduling them in my very messy TBR list.
A SURREAL EXPERIENCE
Maria Gripe wrote it, in a very engaging way that you are hooked to the story from the beginning.
She is able to set quite clear that the story is developing in Swedish cities but in a way that you aren't feeling like an intruder in a strange land, but a well received visitor in a place not so different that your own neighborhood.
The main protagonist, Nora, a young girl, she has a very likeable personality so you embrace the book in an instant. And her "sidekick", Dag, a young boy, is a very good character too.
The story has a very cool mystery and odd events that you really are uncertain if it's something paranormal or not.
The narrative sets you in a marvellous surreal ambiance that you really are open to believe that anything can happens there.
Used to be my all time favorite book, one of the first mystery/thrillers I have read in may life (it was a translated version). It was this precious book that got me hooked on mysteries and thrillers so props to this. And it was the first 5/5 I've ever read (which says a lot) !! :)
I first read this book when I was in my early teens, I have reread it several times since then, and I really do like the story a lot.
It鈥檚 a kind of a ghost story, but it鈥檚 not actually scary at all. The ghostly bits are interesting, but the mysterious presence in the Nora鈥檚 apartment clearly has no intention of harming her in any way, which removes some of the tension. In this particular book, I think that鈥檚 a good thing.
I like the plot of this book a lot, and I continue to enjoy it when I reread it even though I know what happens. I think it鈥檚 pretty well paced, and even though it鈥檚 not very long I think that it manages to build up some nice tension and make the reader properly curious before the story starts unraveling and we get our answers.
I will say though, that once the story gets going, the main way that Nora finds things out to solve this mystery is by having people tell her about things that happened a long time ago. So there鈥檚 quite a bit of storytelling going on within the story, which I like in this particular case, but I know it might not be everyone鈥檚 cup of tea.
When it comes to the characters, I like them a lot as well. Nora is a great main character. I sympathize with her a lot, and the way that she reacts to things is fairly realistic, I think. I especially like how she鈥檚 initially quite reluctant to actually start investigating what is going on, because I think it fits her personality pretty well.
Really, the reason I鈥檓 giving this book four stars and not five is because I鈥檓 not a huge fan of the writing style. There鈥檚 nothing wrong with it, per se, it just doesn鈥檛 really fit my personal preference. Of course, when it comes to writing and language, I can鈥檛 speak for any of the translations, since I have only read it in its original Swedish.
Overall, this book is pretty great. Even though it鈥檚 a young adult novel, I鈥檇 say that it鈥檚 probably geared towards a slightly younger audience than most YA I have read. That does not, however, make it any less enjoyable for an older reader.
Andra g氓ngen jag l盲ser denna men blir s氓 SPOOKED! 脛r verkl inte gjord f枚r sp枚kerier och sj盲ttesinnen. Hj盲lper ju inte heller att jag heter Agnes Cecilia. Oavsett s氓 fin. Sorg och utsatthet och ensamhet och att f枚rst氓 sig sj盲lv. Att vilja bli sedd, s氓 viktigt det 盲r.
Jag har l盲st den h盲r f枚rut, men det var s盲kert 枚ver 20 氓r sedan. Maria Gripe var en av mina favoritf枚rfattare n盲r jag var i den v盲rsta bokslukar氓ldern. Jag var beredd p氓 att f氓 en helt annan upplevelse av boken den h盲r g氓ngen, jag har blivit vuxen och tiderna har f枚r盲ndrats. Men boken m氓ste s盲gas vara tidl枚s. Spr氓ket i boken 盲r n氓got gammaldags, men inte mer 盲n att det 盲r en antydan till att den utspelar sig f枚r snart 40 氓r sedan.
Ber盲ttelsen 盲r lika f枚rtrollande nu som den var f枚rsta g氓ngen jag l盲ste den. Jag hoppas att m氓nga ungdomar fortfarande f氓r m枚jlighet att l盲sa Maria Gripes magiska ber盲ttelser.
~ "On deep thought, it is totally unimaginable that that which has once existed with the full force of reality, could ever disappear, and then throughout all eternity to come, continue to be non-existent" ~
It was reading that and being more enchanted by the book; It also allows us to think about what lies beyond our mere understanding.
The book has writing that I really liked, detailing situations but without exaggerating. It also has a way of keeping you waiting chapter after chapter, which is what happened to me with the last ones, I wanted to know what else was next.
It describes how another world, beyond our understanding, can communicate with us and that not all that type of event has to be something bad or terrifying, in fact, the story that the author developed was very beautiful. It also describes the feeling of loneliness and even though we are all unique, we can have several things in common and how small the world can be; It also shows how we can bring out a facet of ourselves that we don't know so as not to betray ourselves. The friends, loved ones or close ones who are with us even though we sometimes overlook it.
Finally, I prefer the tenacity of Nora, the protagonist; to find what we are looking for despite fears, insecurities, obstacles and allowing ourselves to feel that contact from another world/universe/or whatever you want to call it, may be beyond our understanding but sometimes perhaps it can be simpler than it seems. 馃専
'Los adultos son complicados. Los ni帽os que mienten se traicionan casi enseguida, pues no son tan astutos. Pero los mayores se creen sus propias mentiras. O con derecho a mentir. Los ni帽os nunca tienen ese derecho. Las mentiras son infames. Pero las de los adultos siempres se puden justificar. Los adultos s贸lo mienten por cuidado, por consideraci贸n o por sabidur铆a, as铆 que sus mentiras son siempre blancas. Eso es al menos lo que ellos quieren que los ni帽os crean.''
Es una historia entra帽able que tiene como protagonista a Nora, una ni帽a que queda hu茅rfana siendo muy peque帽a como consecuencia de un accidente. Ir谩 a vivir con sus t铆os y con su primo, pero Nora no acaba de sentirse parte de la familia a pesar del cari帽o que todos le demuestran. Estos sentimientos dan lugar a un di谩logo interior sobre la soledad, sobre la p茅rdida, que nos acompa帽a a lo largo de la novela. El escenario en el que se desarrolla la historia es una casa bastante singular donde ocurren cosas que tienen dif铆cil explicaci贸n. Pasos, relojes, llamadas extra帽as, una mu帽eca. Nora tendr谩 que emprender una b煤squeda sin saber qu茅 tiene que buscar ni donde debe buscarlo.
Me ha gustado toda esa ternura que desprende la novela, el punto de misterio con esa atm贸sfera inquietante, el realismo m谩gico, la bonita y triste historia... El 煤nico punto negativo que le pondr铆a es que algunas veces los di谩logos se me han hecho un poco raros, no s茅 si era la traducci贸n o que lo he le铆do muy r谩pido y me he perdido alguna cosa. Muy recomendable.
'Ellos no lo pod铆an saber, pero siempre que cuchicheaban entre s铆 o hablaban por tel茅fono, estaba ella por los alrededores merodeando y escuchando. Merodeaba y escuchaba. Era la 煤nica manera cuando nadie quer铆a decir la verdad'.