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Astrid and Veronika
by Linda Olsson
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Edition: Paperback
Publication Date: February 06, 2007
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ISBN: 0143038079
Amazon.com Sales Rank: 63651
Average Customer Rating: 
List price: $14.00
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Showing page 1 of 5
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Reviews
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Heart Warming and Engaging, January 8, 2009
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Astrid and Veronika is a heart warming story about two women on separate solitary journeys. A void is filled when the two of them meet and help each other find resolution to deep unresolved issues. In this world of negativity, it is nice to be able to pick up a humane feel good novel, which also provides a lesson to us all on support and the true meaning of friendship.
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 Tedious and melodramatic., December 6, 2008
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This book is billed as one of those "unlikely friendship between women" stories; the last one I'd read was distinctly awful, so I was wary of this one. It's Olsson's first novel. She clearly has some promise as a writer. Veronika, a twenty-something writer arriving in rural Sweden to work on her book, rents a house next to Astrid, who is about 78. It started out alright. A couple pages in: "[Veronika's] life slowly found its own organic rhythm. After a week she has established her morning routine. She got up early, had coffee at the kitchen table and watched to room absorb that growing daylight. It felt as if the house had accepted her, as if they had begun their life together. The soles of her feet had become familiar with the wooden stpes of the staircase, her nose accustomed to the smells of the walls, and she was gradually adding her own imprint, leaving minute traces."
The writing shows some descriptive talent. However, it's like this the whole book. Nearly everything is described this way, and it starts to get tedious rather quickly. As Veronika and Astrid meet, they both start to wake up to life or something, and start telling each other of their pasts. And the descriptions in their narrated stories are also this overdone and emotionally loaded.
So what had started out with some promise because incredibly tedious, very quickly. There's no sense of priority as far as what has significance; memories from years ago still contain bits about the angle and quality of the light on the floorboards. Every pause in conversation, every "Astrid said nothing" and "Veronika fell silent" is recorded, as is every detail of everything they pass when they walk together. It's incredibly tiring, as are the instances of things like, "You know, Veronika, there was a time when I was afraid to come here. Now I understand that it was my own company that I feared." There are many of these.
Overall, the book is tedious and melodramatic; you hear about their great pains, and how much they've been afraid of life, and you want to tell them to get OVER it already. I found myself constantly rolling my eyes at the writing, and got sick enough of it that I didn't care about the characters at all. Had I not been reading this for a book club, I wouldn't have gotten past page 50.
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 Astrid and Veronika, November 3, 2008
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Read this for a book club. Relationship between two women, one older and one younger, who both are probably clinically depressed and end up being neighbors in the countryside in what seems to be a desolate part of Sweden. They each end up being what the other needs to heal and it is a sweet, if not slow, book. Most of our bookclub did not love it, but thought it was ok.
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3.5 stars, good read for snatches of time, March 9, 2008
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I liked this book, but wasn't enthralled with it. The accidental friendship between these two women fills a need for both and allows them to face painful events in their lives as they find safety in the other's quiet presence. The language is spare and direct, just as the two women are. I found it a good read for waiting time in the doctor's office or in line for child pickup, etc.,events where interruption is expected. I found it easy to leave off and pick back up without losing anything. It's hard to find a book that offers enough to distract you during those brief snatches of time, but doesn't pull you in or require complete concentration. It served a useful purpose for me and under those circumstances, I enjoyed it. However, when I had to wait four hours for a car repair in a grim mechanic's shop, I was glad to be reading The Pillars of the Earth, which made time fly.
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Did not enjoy it, March 7, 2008
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The story was very slow moving and left so many unanswered questions. We read this as a book club selection and not one of us was able to bring finality to the plots in the story.
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Reviews
