Norma, Sofi Oksanen
Norma, Sofi Oksanen
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Norma
A novel

Author: Sofi Oksanen

Narrator: Fiona Hardingham

Unabridged: 7 hr 40 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/05/2017


Synopsis

From the internationally best-selling author of Purge and When the Doves Disappeared, a spellbinding new novel set in present-day Helsinki, about a young woman with a fantastical secret who is trying to solve the mystery of her mother's death.

When Anita Naakka jumps in front of an oncoming train, her daughter, Norma, is left alone with the secret they have spent their lives hiding: Norma has supernatural hair, sensitive to the slightest changes in her mood--and the moods of those around her--moving of its own accord, corkscrewing when danger is near. And so it is her hair that alerts her, while she talks with a strange man at her mother's funeral, that her mother may not have taken her own life. Setting out to reconstruct Anita's final months--sifting through puzzling cell phone records, bank statements, video files--Norma begins to realize that her mother knew more about her hair's powers than she let on: a sinister truth beyond Norma's imagining. As Sofi Oksanen leads us ever more deeply into Norma's world, weaving together past and present, she gives us a dark family drama that is a searing portrait of both the exploitation of women's bodies and the extremes to which people will go for the sake of beauty.

About Sofi Oksanen

Finnish-Estonian novelist and playwright Sofi Oksanen is one of the most awarded literary authors in Scandinavia, and her work has been translated into more than forty languages. She lives in Helsinki.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Neale on October 18, 2019

The novel opens at Norma’s mother’s funeral. A man rather rudely introduces himself to Norma as Max Lambert and claims to have been one of her mother’s old friends. Strangely, seeing as though Norma and her Mother were very close, Norma has never heard of him. He adds to the strangeness by handing N......more

Goodreads review by Enrique on November 03, 2023

Página 80 abandono. Demasiado movimiento y trama para mí gusto. Tampoco entiendo bien el propósito de la autora que parece jugar con la realidad y la ficción en la narración. No he logrado integrarme en la historia a pesar de percibir cierto simbolismo en la parte inicial. No me veía con fuerzas par......more

Goodreads review by Anna-Maria on December 28, 2015

Sorry to say, but I was disappointed. The story line was confusing, and the style and intensity varied alot and not intentionally. Please read and check if you get the same feeling and share my view. I hope you get more out of this book.......more

Goodreads review by Lily S. on December 15, 2017

4 stars. This is my first from Oksanen. 4 stars In the core of the book there is a girl (Norma) whose hair has magic abilities. It grows really fast and she can sense other people's mental states with it. The story begins when the Norma's mother dies and she is left alone to uncover all the things th......more

Goodreads review by Jeilen on November 14, 2020

Lo único que no me ha gustado es que no hay una clara delimitación entre la acción o pensamiento de un personaje y esto me confundió bastante ,por lo que aún ahora no estoy clara con los sucesos. Supongo que fue hecho con toda intención,ya que le viene bien a esta historia, que es a partes iguales e......more


Quotes

International Praise
 
“The reading experience is pure pleasure . . . Norma is not only the story of a young woman and her identity, both perched on the outskirts of the ordinary, but also a suspenseful mystery.” —Turun Sanomat (Finland)
 
“Sofi Oksanen is one of the brightest shining stars in Nordic literature . . . I want to devour Norma whole—and at the same time pause to make it last longer. Oksanen is simply fantastic, and here she is at her best.” —Norrköpings Tidningar (Sweden)
 
“True to herself, Oksanen denounces a globalization that turns human beings into merchandise . . . A hair-raising novel.” —Livres Hebdo (France)
 
“A peculiar and disturbing novel that evokes the universe of filmmaker David Cronenberg . . . Norma impresses as much as it sends shivers down our spines.” —Lire (France)
 
Norma is an urgent story of beauty ideals, fertility, and women’s vulnerability to exploitation . . . There is something tough and inexorable about Sofi Oksanen: she grabs the reader and demands we listen.” —VLT (Sweden)
 
“Hold on tight, because this is the best novel you will read this fall.” ★★★★★★ —Femina (Denmark)