Doppler Hardcover – October 1, 2014

I was so happy to find this translation of Doppler so I could give it to my other half for Christmas. I am Norwegian so I've read the original which is very funny :-) The book is made to a good quality and the price was not too bad at all.

I read a quote that turned out to be from this book. I thought it was fuñny so I bought the book on a whim. I read it in two days then bought another book by Erlend Low. Loved both. It reads a lot like "Catch 22" so if you are a fan of deadpan humour you will enjoy this book.

Nice, short, fun, completely absurd. Only few missteps. Wondering if I want to read a continuation. Probably will, I think.

Interesting perspektive on society in Norway and the western world

;-)

It's well-written, funny and interesting.I got a nasty sunburn reading this story (forgot about time).It was worth it.

If this book was intended to portray the meaningless and shallow ramblings of a mildly and uninterestingly demented and very ordinary man whom very few of us could find to be a sympathetic character, then Erlend Loe has succeeded.There is room in the story line to make this an interesting and amusing book that could provide some insightful social commentary, but Loe did not do that. Instead he has given us drivel that only occasionally provides some mild, but unsustained, amusement, that is on the whole utterly uninteresting, and that completely fails in any of its half-hearted attempts at commentary. A real disappointment.How did this book get published?

This book happened at exactly the right time in my life. I've come to a point where the things, and moments, that had meant something for SO long, have now become frivolous, and unnecessary. I pretty much wanted to highlight every other sentence in this novel, and if I hadn't borrowed it from work, I probably would have. Also, I have not laughed out loud the way I did while reading this book in a very, very long time.Doppler lived a life of man with a wife and two children, one teenaged girl, the other, a boy, still floating through a cloud of innocence at the precious age of 3. We don't meet their acquaintance initially though, as the book opens into an expanse of greenery, and open air-the forest, Doppler's new residence. We learn that after living a rather routine life, and upon hearing that his father has died, Doppler-with the help of a painful epiphany-has given it all up, packed it all in..or er..out, and set up house in the woods. He has also adopted a moose-calf, and is quite content with it all.Such a simple joy this book was. I savoured Doppler's days of leisure, and commended him for turning his back on the conventional. Though I didn't exactly agree with this lack of responsibility for his family, I found myself wishing that we could all be so lucky-to find happiness in the less obvious things. It made me feel privileged in the worst way, sitting in my room, on my fancy leather couch, sipping from fancy mug of tea, reading the truths of truths."You're here and then you're not. From one day to the next. I saw it all in a flash and realised that the difference is so overwhelming that the mind has to acknowledge its limitations and pass. All the things you can be and have, a then at the drop of a hat all things you cannot be and have because you have been and had for the last time."Doppler was an extremely funny character-I LOVED his musings, especially the ones that involved him speaking to Bongo, the moose-calf. I felt the love in that relationship more strongly than I feel with characters in a romantic situation-this was pure, and not one bit contrived. Just a simple love for someone/something that was only able to listen-no judgement, no awkward conversation. I also appreciated Doppler's ability to contradict his beliefs, and quite easily at that-in his quest to abandon society, he ended up unintentionally helping others in their own search for meaning. It's corny, but it gave me a new sort of hope for humanity-people can be good, even when they don't mean to be.This book was short, and brimming with meaning. I recommend it to anyone who ever sought to think beyond the daily routines and obligations of life. Anyone who's ever just wanted to say, "No, I'm not doing that today. I think I'll go for a walk instead." Someone who's just wanted to keep on walking, see where it would take them. That person needs to read this book.

Ah Erlend Loe, I was forever amused by his "Volvo Lastvagnar" (sadly, not translated into English), and was hoping that "Doppler" will deliver the same kind of sarcasm and striking humour. And it kinda did, but I was disappointed.Loe's original, dark-humoured narrative is recognisable in this tale of an unhappy and self-diagnosed "failed" man, who one day drops everything (i.e. his bourgeois Oslo existence) and goes to live in the woods in the manner of Thoreau's Walden. It's not entirely clear (and maybe it does not matter) if this change from "nice" to crazy comes due to the concussion (Doppler falls off his bike prior to his re-valuation of his life) or if he is simply depressed and shaken by his father's death. Anyway, before you know it, his life as a misanthrope with a pet moose Bongo attracts more attention than he needs, and his way of life gets a following.The novel is quirky and amusing in a lot of ways and there were parts of it I really liked (the man who spends his life re-creating the World War II scene, all the interactions with Bongo). Erlend Loe's humour is also the reason I keep reading his books.It took nearly a decade for "Doppler" to be translated into English language, and I guess some of the sharpness and novelty of the novel was lost with age.Overall, a light read, and the humour will not appeal to everybody. Approach with caution.

This book defies description, but I’ll have a go. It’s about Doppler, a Norwegian guy who after the death of his father has an accident on his bike and subsequently turns his back on civilization to live in the forest. His sole companion is Bongo, an elk calf which he feels responsible for having shot Bongo’s mother for food. The conversations with Bongo made me smile. It’s a tale about family, grief, alienation and a gradual warming towards civilization again, or so you think. No matter how much Doppler wants to be alone, he seems to attract people around him.It’s a charming tale with a cutting edge. Doppler is happy in the forest but is a keen observer of the society he has rejected. Forced to communicate again with his pregnant wife and two children, he struggles to cope with modern society and his responsibilities, Teletubbies add Bob the Builder included. His teenage daughter Nora, named after an Ibsen character of course, insists on talking to him in elfish. His son Gregus forgets the television and instead helps him carve a totem pole, intended as a memorial to Doppler’s father but which comes to represent the three male generations of Dopplers and Bongo.I read it quickly and wished it was longer, a book that will yield more for re-reading I think.

Great book, bit quirky and light hearted, I enjoyed it very much.

Great short read .. doesnt plull any punches . Honest outlook on life And not scared to bare some common truths

Hilarious! Imaginative!