The Third Realm
A Novel
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"The people in The Third Realm are as vivid and convincing as Knausgaard's autobiographical persona . . . Enthralling . . . you can't stop reading." --Lev Grossman, The Atlantic
"One of the most genuinely suspenseful, alluring books I've ever read. Novel by novel, Knausgaard is replenishing some feral charge to the world." --Brandon Taylor, The Washington Post
A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR o A kaleidoscopic novel about ordinary lives on the cusp of irrevocable change, from bestselling author Karl Ove Knausgaard.
For several days, a strange and bright new star in the sky above Norway has sown an unyielding sense of foreboding, of agitation, and of fear. Tove, a painter on holiday with her family, has spiraled into a psychosis that stirs her into a flurry of unbridled creativity. Geir, a policeman who has been investigating a grisly triple murder, comes to a sinister revelation he must keep to himself. Nineteen-year-old Line falls in love with the lead singer of a metal band and is lured into a secret and frightening world.
But most bewildering, and disquieting, is the discovery made by Syvert, an undertaker: since the star has appeared, no one has died.
In The Third Realm, Karl Ove Knausgaard returns to the spellbinding world of The Morning Star and The Wolves of Eternity, as a cast of new and familiar characters continue to reckon with the meaning of this star. What is haunting them, and why?
As supernatural forces collide with the mundanities of the everyday, and the threshold between life and death becomes diffuse, people are forced to live their lives as before while the world around them slowly changes in inexplicable ways. Piercing through human existence into the bestial and phantasmagorical, Knausgaard flings open the gates to our most distressing neuroses and forces us to ask: What happens if the dark forces in the world are set free?
About this Author
KARL OVE KNAUSGAARD's first novel, Out of the World, was the first ever debut novel to win the Norwegian Critics' Prize and his second, A Time for Everything, was widely acclaimed. The My Struggle cycle of novels has been heralded as a masterpiece wherever it has appeared.
MARTIN AITKEN's translations of Scandinavian literature number some thirty-five books. His work has appeared on the shortlists of the International DUBLIN Literary Award (2017) and the U.S. National Book Awards (2018), as well as the 2021 International Booker Prize. He received the PEN America Translation Prize in 2019.
Reviews
A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
"One of the most genuinely suspenseful, alluring books I've ever read. Novel by novel, Knausgaard is replenishing some feral charge to the world." --Brandon Taylor, The Washington Post
"The people in The Third Realm are as vivid and convincing as Knausgaard's autobiographical persona. . . . Enthralling. . . . you can't stop reading." --Lev Grossman, The Atlantic
"The Third Realm is as unsettling, disturbing and riveting as [Knausgaard's] previous instalments, and I was even disappointed that it came in at a mere 500 pages. . . . Knausgaard's skill in capturing conversation makes his characters spring vividly from the page. . . . His books are as accessible and creepy as anything by Stephen King and as addictive as your favourite TV drama series. There's no writer I would rather devour." --Leyla Sanai, The Spectator
"Ferociously readable. . . . The compulsion to keep reading springs, as always, from Knausgaard's ability to transcribe patterns of thinking. His faith that access to the consciousness of others might make us feel less alone remains a profound--and distinctly literary--conviction." --Charles Arrowsmith, The Times
"Transcendent. . . . With breathtaking confidence, Knausgaard mirrors The Morning Star, giving us other, richer perspectives on the material. . . . With its disquisitions on death and eternity, [The Third Realm] is extremely grandiose. . . . Thinking it was a finale, I found it magisterial." --Lara Feigel, The Guardian
"Genuinely unsettling." --The New Yorker (The Best Books We've Read in 2024 So Far)
"Intense. . . A clarifying continuation, packed with philosophy, terror, and the beauty of the mundane. . . . There's plenty here to keep fans of the previous installments hooked." --Publishers Weekly
"Knausgaard delves deeper into the lives of Norwegians affected by the emergence of a new heavenly body . . . As throughout the series, Knausgaard is using everyday people to explore knotty questions about God's existence, our need for spiritual connection, and the fine line between religious devotion and mental illness . . . Readers who come to this book first will find an entertaining story about people sorting through spiritual, domestic, and emotional confusion. But those who've read the prior novels will get a deeper sense of just how fascinating, frustrating, and unknowable we can be to each other, and the consequences of that disconnection. Typically contemplative for Knausgaard, but unusually propulsive as well." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A highly readable and compelling work by a major and prolific novelist." --Library Journal (starred review)
"Plot lines familiar from the previous novels explore rich new dimensions. . . . [Knausgaard has] undeniable gifts for creating sympathetic characters and telling involving stories." --Booklist
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