Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? by Johan Harstad

So he’s sort of like the perfect communist in a way.īecause he’s so committed to whatever work he is involved in at any one time. I think that what’s important for him is to-okay, this is the reason I think he would have trouble being number 222: what Mattias believes in is that being number two-the runner up-will do pretty much the same job, achieve the same results as being number one, except that he doesn’t have to take any blame or field any glory. Being ‘number one’ in anything is never a goal for him, but would Mattias settle for being number 222 instead of two? He is what I imagine the anti-Tyler Durden ( Fight Club) would be like. His characterisation never overwhelms or underwhelms-he simply ‘whelms’ for 460 pages, experiencing what comes his way in a controlled, pensive mind-meld. Kent MacCarter: I wanted to start by diving right at Buzz’s main antagonist/protagonist, Mattias. What you take away from the book will be enough fuel for a week’s worth of lunches each portion longer than a Kraftwerk song, each bite a calculated ho-hum from one of the more well-sculpted anti-heroes in the past thirty years, whether you like that character’s ditty, scant ambitions or not. The number two is an important digit in Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion?, Harstad’s debut novel from 2006 which has recently been translated into English and published in Australia by UWA Press. Sisto Malaspina, co-founder of Pellegrini’s, bounded up to us with his defining smile and cravat, and two salami and cheese sandwiches. We snagged two stools by the bean grinder and the tamp bin. Zipped into a florid hoodie, Harstad was the single Iced Vovo in this Tim Tam box of a classic espresso bar. It was not an overtly rainy afternoon in Victoria, unlike those that typify such a Faroese deluge, but it had been a wan morning with a leisurely climactic drool. The setting and timeline for much of Harstad’s Buzz is on the Faroe Islands, a treeless archipelago nation of 18 islands in the North Sea, its calendar filled with downpours. This was Harstad’s second full day in Melbourne, rounding out his first week in Australia. The vowels of his salutation cambered underneath their fellow consonants, complementing his locks of unkempt hair wedged underneath a cap. My cappuccino was thankfully sipped to its foam curtsey before Harstad’s fair complexion and amiable countenance loped through the front entry of Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar in downtown Melbourne. Amid my questions and his replies, I didn’t manage a bite. The concert in which Norwegian novelist Johan Harstad can eat a sandwich, drink a watermelon granita and adroitly conduct an interview without any noticeable pauses for gulping or chewing is an impressive orchestration. Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion?

Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? by Johan Harstad