LOPSIDED
SLAGSIDE
I can never find the right words. I just freeze. I feel rage on the point of bursting out but I never do anything. I freeze or leave, I just do a bunk. I’m so angry. I’m such a coward – so much so that I really deserve to have to suffer for it.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Vilde moves to Bristol to take a year off after high school. She leaves behind everything she has in Norway – including her boyfriend Markus. In Bristol she takes up the brutal martial art Krav Maga, and meets the strange, manipulative Fiona. Their friendship ends up having fateful consequences, leading Vilde into a corner from which she cannot extricate herself.
PRIZES AND NOMINATIONS
Shortlisted for South Norway Literary Prize 2017
Excerpt from the jury's statement:
«A truly engaging story about identity […] The true strength of the story lies in its deep psychological insight, and the precise portrayal of the main character’s relationship to her body, and to other bodies.»
Shortlisted for the Brage Prize 2016
Excerpt from the jury's statement:
«Lopsided is an extremely well-written novel about disquiet and longing, violence and the body. With an unusually incisive prose and a story as exciting as a thriller, the book poses questions about what it means to be human.»
REVIEWS
«Lopsided is her best novel so far.»
«It is high time Heidi Sævareid gets the Brage Prize. [...] [The book] is exciting like crime novel, and extraordinarily well written.»
★★★★★
« It is while expounding the relational that Heidi Sævareid displays her strength. She observes human interactions with a sharp eye. Everything is ablaze – anger and despair, anxiety and mania.»
★★★★★
Torborg Igland, Fædrelandsvennen
«Heidi Sævareid has outdone most YA writers ever since her first book, The Leap, was published. After reading this year’s dark and shocking Krav Maga novel, Lopsided, it is clear that she is in a league of her own.»
[...]
The passages depicting the Krav Maga classes, where Vilde is struggling to focus and therefore gets beaten up (maybe partly because she feels that she deserves it), are among of the best ones in the novel. They are precise, focused and vibrant – from movement to movement, moment to moment.»
«A genuinely exciting and beautifully written story about shame and aggression. I haven’t read anything like it before [...] Ever so slowly the book capsizes and takes the reader with it, sinking deeper and deeper into an existential ocean. It takes time to recover after reading the book.»
MEDIA FEATURES
«–I needed to get in touch with an aggression that I don’t naturally feel, Saevareid says. –I wanted to push my character as far as I could.»
«Heidi Sævareid has sought out charismatic churches, been suspended from metal hooks and practiced martial arts as research for her books. – Discomfort is productive, she says.»
«–Delighted to be included on this list, but I’m also looking forward to the day when we no longer need these kinds of lists, was Sævareid’s comment when Lopsided was listed as a book where the characters queerness is a non-issue.
«– I wanted to write a book about queer people where the fact that they are queer has nothing to do with the story.»
Feature story, Fædrelandsvennen
WHAT THE BOOK BLOGGERS ARE SAYING
«Heidi Sævareid has yet again written a brilliant, substantional YA novel. It is free from cliches, powerful and dark, with amazing psychological portraits. I’m looking forward to forward to her next novel!»
«Her characters feel real. They are not just characters that exist so that the story can be told.»
«Lopsided is a well written and realistic novel with lots of amazing passages and plenty of surprises along the way. If you want to read a modern novel that portrays people who are in a vulnerable life phase, I heartily recommend this book!»
«An exciting story that builds and builds until it climaxes. Extremely well written, and very true to life. This is the best of the two Sævareid books I have read.»