The Castle in the Pyrenees
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Through five intense years in the 1970s, Steinn and Solrunn had a happy life together. Then they suddenly parted ways, for reasons that are unclear to both. In the summer of 2007 they meet again on a balcony of an old wooden hotel by a fjord in western Norway. It is a place they both have fond memories from, and their meeting turns out to be fateful. But is it purely coincidental that they meet at that particular spot at that particular time? Over a couple of weeks that summer they write emails to each other, and it becomes clear that they have been living with very different interpretations of their shared past...
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A novel in epistolary form, this book chronicles the exchange of emails between two Norwegian, now-married individuals who were once adventurous students and ex-lovers. Years run their course and change the lives of these two people, until by chance or fate (that is one of the questions the book tackles) - they meet again. Was their meeting pure chance, or the will of destiny? This and other questions relating to life, the beginning of the Universe, existence, climate change, the existence of God, love, loss, and death are all examined, and talked about at length through the exchange of emails.
A thoughtful read, like most of other Gaarder's work, will make you get out the pencil every now and then because there are some beautiful ideas and expressions you will want to remember.
