At twenty, Karl Ove moves to Bergen. As the youngest student to be admitted to the prestigious Writing Academy, he arrives full of excitement and writely aspirations. Soon though, he is stripped of youthful illusion. His writing is revealedto be puerile and clichéd, and his social efforts are a dismal failure. Akward in company and hopeless with women, he drowns his shame in drink and rock music. Then, little by little, things take a brighter turn. He falls in love, gives up writing in favour of the steady rewards of literary criticism, and the beginnings of an adult life take shape. That is, until his self-destructivebingesand the irresistible lure of the writer's struggle pull him back.
In this fifth instalment, of the My Struggle cycle, Karl Ove discloses his personal and often deeply shameful battles with introversion, alchol abuse, pnfidelity and artistic ambition. Knausgaard writes with unflinching honesty to deliver the full drama of everyday life, in a breathless novel poised between a desparate yearning to be good, and the terrible power of transgression.