Book Notes: Per Petterson’s I Refuse

I Refuse is a 2012 novel by a Norwegian writer, and it’s extraordinary. It’s like Madelaine Lucas’s Thirst for Salt but in its male version.

Petterson’s book is about masculinity. It’s about two 53-year-old men who were friends in childhood figuring out where life brought them and whether it’s too late to change things.

It’s just so good, people. Really good. You have male friendship, fatherhood, loneliness, falling in love when you are past 50, fishing at night next to other silent men. It’s the most male thing I have read in a while, and it’s not very easy to comprehend because I’m not a man but, God, it’s good.

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