What do readers think of The Quiet Girl by Peter Hoeg? Write your own review.

Peter Høeg’s The Quiet Girl is not an easy read. The shifts between present and past are sometimes difficult to follow and the plot is, in my opinion, over complicated. But then, Høeg is not known for simplistic writing or “dumbing down” for broader audience appeal. He has high expectations for his readers and expects to be met half-way and then some. So, there is some work necessary; one must pay attention while reading and trust in the journey. The reader must be willing to follow where the author leads. Fortunately, the main character, Kasper Krone, is so charming, his mystical abilities so fascinating, and the writing itself so lyrical, that the journey changes from perilous to pleasurable fairly quickly.

After reading only the first few pages of this book, I doubted I'd be able to hold on to the end....however, once I continued on, I began to really get into it. The story reads like a dark, mystical, multi-faceted dream. It moves around unexpectedly to different times and places in the main character's experience, which at first bothered me, but then once I found the rhythm of the book, I was able to follow along without any trouble. Surprisingly, because this is not the usual genre of book I read, I found myself quite involved right through to the end. I'd say, in a broad sense, the book is about the psychic struggle between good and evil, light and darkness. I found it quite enjoyable.

It would be natural for anyone who read Smilla’s Sense of Snow to expect great things from Peter Hoeg. Although I looked forward to re-experiencing his writing magic, I found his latest book, The Quiet Girl, very disappointing. Despite the right ingredients of “unforgettable” characters, mysticism, and mystery, Hoeg’s rambling tome fell off the tracks early in the story and never quite got back on again. Although the endless juxtapositioning of time was disconcerting at first, it was aggravating and confusing well before the middle of the 408-page tome. As all bibliophiles know, even the best writers will crank out a stinker now and then. If nothing else, Hoeg’s latest novel proves this axiom.