The novel "Absalom's Hair" by Bjornstjerne Bjornson, opens with a large amount of static description. First Harald Kaas, and then his home, and then a female guest, are all described in meticulous detail. The writing is very smooth, but the flow of the novel is staunched before it has even begun. This is a great shame, because Harald Kaas is an appealing character as he is described.
Early on, Harald Kaas abandons his bachelor life to marry Kristen Ravn, a wealthy socialite with a penchant for writing purposefully shocking short stories. She is much younger than Kaas, and the talk of the town is that their marriage cannot be happy. How could it, when people 'had heard something of how this husband and wife lived, one in each wing of the house, with different staffs of servants, and with separate incomes; that she had furnished her side in her own way, at her own expense, and had apparently conceived the idea of a new kind of married life.'?
- ISBN13 9781105596094
- Publish Date 14 March 2012
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 25 June 2021
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Lulu.com
- Format eBook (OEB)
- Language English