Doppler

Where to start with Doppler? It's brilliant.It's funny, it's sad, it's well written but odd.Its set in Norway. It's basically about a man who goes to live in a forest who ends up with a baby Elk. I wasn't sure, as an animal lover, with the first chapter but persevered and I am so glad that I did. It's well worth a read.

This book defies description, but I’ll have a go. It’s about Doppler, a Norwegian guy who after the death of his father has an accident on his bike and subsequently turns his back on civilization to live in the forest. His sole companion is Bongo, an elk calf which he feels responsible for having shot Bongo’s mother for food. The conversations with Bongo made me smile. It’s a tale about family, grief, alienation and a gradual warming towards civilization again, or so you think. No matter how much Doppler wants to be alone, he seems to attract people around him.It’s a charming tale with a cutting edge. Doppler is happy in the forest but is a keen observer of the society he has rejected. Forced to communicate again with his pregnant wife and two children, he struggles to cope with modern society and his responsibilities, Teletubbies add Bob the Builder included. His teenage daughter Nora, named after an Ibsen character of course, insists on talking to him in elfish. His son Gregus forgets the television and instead helps him carve a totem pole, intended as a memorial to Doppler’s father but which comes to represent the three male generations of Dopplers and Bongo.I read it quickly and wished it was longer, a book that will yield more for re-reading I think.

Thoroughly enjoyed this easy read. Smallish book so handy to pop in a bag. Will be a keeper to be read again and again.

Ah Erlend Loe, I was forever amused by his "Volvo Lastvagnar" (sadly, not translated into English), and was hoping that "Doppler" will deliver the same kind of sarcasm and striking humour. And it kinda did, but I was disappointed.Loe's original, dark-humoured narrative is recognisable in this tale of an unhappy and self-diagnosed "failed" man, who one day drops everything (i.e. his bourgeois Oslo existence) and goes to live in the woods in the manner of Thoreau's Walden. It's not entirely clear (and maybe it does not matter) if this change from "nice" to crazy comes due to the concussion (Doppler falls off his bike prior to his re-valuation of his life) or if he is simply depressed and shaken by his father's death. Anyway, before you know it, his life as a misanthrope with a pet moose Bongo attracts more attention than he needs, and his way of life gets a following.The novel is quirky and amusing in a lot of ways and there were parts of it I really liked (the man who spends his life re-creating the World War II scene, all the interactions with Bongo). Erlend Loe's humour is also the reason I keep reading his books.It took nearly a decade for "Doppler" to be translated into English language, and I guess some of the sharpness and novelty of the novel was lost with age.Overall, a light read, and the humour will not appeal to everybody. Approach with caution.

Great book, bit quirky and light hearted, I enjoyed it very much.

Great short read .. doesnt plull any punches . Honest outlook on life And not scared to bare some common truths

Abstract, surreal, a simple take of one mans revolt against the world.

My all time favourite book. Funny, sweet, deep in places, very easy to read and brilliantly written. Not much more you can ask for really, is there?

Dieses Buch folgt nicht dem üblichen Schema, gibt einem nicht das Gefühl alles schon mal gelesen oder gehört zu haben; es ist gut geschrieben, witzig, aber ganz und gar nicht oberflächlich. Kann ich nur empfehlen.

Me he divertido como un enano con este libro. Cualquier geek disfrutará con la historia del protagonista que un buen día, hastiado por su acomodada pero vacua vida, su divorcio y la sociedad, decide apartarse de la misma... pero mejor leed vosotros mismos...

I was so happy to find this translation of Doppler so I could give it to my other half for Christmas. I am Norwegian so I've read the original which is very funny :-) The book is made to a good quality and the price was not too bad at all.

Just great fun

I read a quote that turned out to be from this book. I thought it was fuñny so I bought the book on a whim. I read it in two days then bought another book by Erlend Low. Loved both. It reads a lot like "Catch 22" so if you are a fan of deadpan humour you will enjoy this book.