Book Summary and Reviews of Encircling 3: Aftermath by Carl Frode Tiller

Encircling 3: Aftermath by Carl Frode Tiller

Encircling 3: Aftermath

Encircling #3

by Carl Frode Tiller

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  • Published:
  • Jul 2021, 448 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

The Encircling Trilogy comes thundering to a close as the man at the center is revealed.

The final book in Carl Frode Tiller's groundbreaking Encircling Trilogy is here. In Barbara Haveland's powerful translation, two new letters circle closer than ever to David, who allegedly lost his memory. One is from Marius, who has led the life of wealth and privilege that David was meant to live. And yet Marius does not appreciate it―desperate for attention, he lies to his girlfriend, with disastrous consequences. The other comes from Susanne, an ex-lover whose affair with David led to the breakup of her marriage. Humiliated by David's unflattering portrayal of her in his novel, Susanne is determined to exact revenge on him in the most painful possible way.

Last of all we come face-to-face with David himself: a frustrated writer whose early successes have faded. His therapy sessions seem to reveal a dangerous and violent individual bent on getting what he wants at any cost. With David's own story told, the last piece falls into place, and his true character is unveiled. But as with books one and two, there are twists and turns that upset expectations and leave the reader wondering whom to believe. Across three books, Tiller's incisive character portraits lay bare the inequalities of class and excesses of wealth in Norwegian society. With Encircling 3: Aftermath, Tiller sounds the unexplored depths of David's life, in the culmination of this astonishing feat of psychological realism.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Tiller's fascinating and revelatory final volume in his Encircling trilogy turns everything readers thought they knew on its head...Tiller has created a polyphony of intriguing characters and a brilliant inquiry into the construction of personhood. This strong series couldn't have gone out on a better note." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"[T]hick with provocative twists and ill will...David is hard to like, but Tiller's prismatic approach captures him from a multitude of angles; he and his cohort become fuller, if not necessarily more likable, as the story progresses. A surprising, emotionally intense character study that elevates everyday anxieties into epic form." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

This information about Encircling 3: Aftermath was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Carl Frode Tiller

Carl Frode Tiller is the author of six novels and four plays. Books in the Encircling Trilogy have been adapted for the theater and translated into multiple languages. He lives in Trondheim, Norway.

Barbara J. Haveland is a leading translator of Norwegian and Danish. She is the translator of all three volumes of the Encircling Trilogy by Carl Frode Tiller, and her recent published works include The Cold Song by Linn Ullmann and new translations of Ibsen's The Master Builder and Little Eyolf. She lives in Copenhagen.

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