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A review by saareman
Last Night in Nuuk by Niviaq Korneliussen
4.0
Greenlandic twenty-somethings spiral out from Rashomon-like encounter
Review of the English language translation of "Homo Sapienne" by Anna Halager
This would probably be a 3 in my regular scoring, but it gets a bump to 4 just for the added frisson of it being the first Greenlandic novel that I have ever read. And I just like the interconnectedness of having a single encounter being a pivot point for each of the 5 character stories here. That is what I mean by "Rashomon-like" in the header, i.e. the same encounter from several different points-of-view, not meaning that it is a murder/assault as in the film.
I also tagged this as "short stories as a novel" as the 5 characters here have their own 5 separate sections of the book to tell their tales about how they interact with the others. Mock screengrabs of texting as the equivalent of conversation was a neat modern day touch, but likely will date the book in the long run. Still overall I enjoyed this first novel from a young Greenlandic writer (24-years-old when this was first published in 2014). The ending is a bit of a deus ex machina in that an unrelated event is suddenly introduced into the mix in order to create a "happy ending."
Niviag Korneliussen had her breakthrough through the short story "San Francisco" (2012) which was published in "[b:Ung i Grönland: ung i världen Inuusuttut - nunatsinni nunarsuarmilu |31932329|Ung i Grönland ung i världen Inuusuttut - nunatsinni nunarsuarmilu |Tukummeq Danielsen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1473474914s/31932329.jpg|52586994]" (Young in Greenland - Young in the World) (2013). The short story also has characters named Fia and Sara, who are the main leads of "Last Night in Nuuk," although the short story has a more dreamy surreal plot with a different end result. You can read "San Francisco" in English translation here or in the Nordic anthology collection "[b:The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat & Other Stories from the North|36417302|The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat & Other Stories from the North|Sjón|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1508081321s/36417302.jpg|58114098]."
Trivia Notes
Niviaq Korneliussen wrote this novel first in Greenlandic and also translated it herself into Danish. I am assuming that the English translation by Anna Halager was from the Danish edition although that isn't explicitly stated in my ARC copy.
Confusingly, the novel is being published under 2 different titles in its English translation, as "[b:Crimson|37760563|Crimson|Niviaq Korneliussen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1526683144s/37760563.jpg|43249569]" in the UK and "[b:Last Night in Nuuk|39218053|Last Night in Nuuk|Niviaq Korneliussen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1529978208s/39218053.jpg|43249569]" in North America. Most other translations just seem to go with the original "[b:Homo sapienne|23644765|Homo sapienne|Niviaq Korneliussen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1420812972s/23644765.jpg|43249569]."
Review of the English language translation of "Homo Sapienne" by Anna Halager
This would probably be a 3 in my regular scoring, but it gets a bump to 4 just for the added frisson of it being the first Greenlandic novel that I have ever read. And I just like the interconnectedness of having a single encounter being a pivot point for each of the 5 character stories here. That is what I mean by "Rashomon-like" in the header, i.e. the same encounter from several different points-of-view, not meaning that it is a murder/assault as in the film.
I also tagged this as "short stories as a novel" as the 5 characters here have their own 5 separate sections of the book to tell their tales about how they interact with the others. Mock screengrabs of texting as the equivalent of conversation was a neat modern day touch, but likely will date the book in the long run. Still overall I enjoyed this first novel from a young Greenlandic writer (24-years-old when this was first published in 2014). The ending is a bit of a deus ex machina in that an unrelated event is suddenly introduced into the mix in order to create a "happy ending."
Niviag Korneliussen had her breakthrough through the short story "San Francisco" (2012) which was published in "[b:Ung i Grönland: ung i världen Inuusuttut - nunatsinni nunarsuarmilu |31932329|Ung i Grönland ung i världen Inuusuttut - nunatsinni nunarsuarmilu |Tukummeq Danielsen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1473474914s/31932329.jpg|52586994]" (Young in Greenland - Young in the World) (2013). The short story also has characters named Fia and Sara, who are the main leads of "Last Night in Nuuk," although the short story has a more dreamy surreal plot with a different end result. You can read "San Francisco" in English translation here or in the Nordic anthology collection "[b:The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat & Other Stories from the North|36417302|The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat & Other Stories from the North|Sjón|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1508081321s/36417302.jpg|58114098]."
Trivia Notes
Niviaq Korneliussen wrote this novel first in Greenlandic and also translated it herself into Danish. I am assuming that the English translation by Anna Halager was from the Danish edition although that isn't explicitly stated in my ARC copy.
Confusingly, the novel is being published under 2 different titles in its English translation, as "[b:Crimson|37760563|Crimson|Niviaq Korneliussen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1526683144s/37760563.jpg|43249569]" in the UK and "[b:Last Night in Nuuk|39218053|Last Night in Nuuk|Niviaq Korneliussen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1529978208s/39218053.jpg|43249569]" in North America. Most other translations just seem to go with the original "[b:Homo sapienne|23644765|Homo sapienne|Niviaq Korneliussen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1420812972s/23644765.jpg|43249569]."