Home and Away: Writing the Beautiful Game - Softcover

KARL OVE KNAUSGAARD's first novel, Out of the World, was the first ever debut novel to win The Norwegian Critics' Prize and his second, A Time for Everything, was widely acclaimed. A Death in the Family, the first of the six My Struggle cycle of novels, was awarded the prestigious Brage Prize, and the cycle has been globally heralded as a masterpiece wherever it appears.

FREDRIK EKELUND is a novelist, playwright and translator. He won the Fackforeningrorelsens Ivar L Prize in 2009 for his novel M/S Tiden, hailed as "the year's best novel" by Svenska Dagbladet. He has played as a striker in the Swedish authors' national football team. Translated by Don Bartlett and Sean Kinsella.

“Knausgaard and Ekelund make an ideal pair. . . . [Knausgaard’s] talent in describing his family life amid the chaos of watching and writing about football is evident throughout.” —National Post

“[F]or whom these letters resonate, the effect is powerful and cascading, a pleasing waterfall of imagery and intellect. Though the correspondence is mostly about soccer, it is also about so much more.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
“[A] captivating tribute to soccer. Soccer fans will love Home and Away: Writing the Beautiful Game, perhaps persuaded by the title alone. My mission, then, is to exhort readers less familiar with the sport to try this captivating and even profound book by two writers at the top of their game. . . . Lifelong soccer fans, the authors each write from a passionate fan’s point of view, often describing the same match with wildly differing opinions. This book spoke to me as a soccer player and fan, highlighting in sublime detail the players and plays from a dramatic tournament. . . . Both authors have a knack for metaphor and apply it liberally to their sports writing. . . . Among the unexpected pleasures of the book is the power of letter writing to tell stories and deepen relationships. . . . So yes, Home and Away is about soccer, but it is, unpredictably and delightfully, much more than that.” —The Seattle Times

“[A] fantastic book of correspondence. . . . Although soccer fans will get the most of these lengthy discussions on players and tactics, readers with just a passing interest in the sport will be enlightened by their thorough exploration of how soccer has evolved over the years. . . . Filled with exquisite, solemn passages about the stark Scandinavian landscape and the quiet life of caring for children, Knausgaard’s letters are the weightier of the two. . . . As the book progresses, readers can see Knausgaard and Ekelund learning from each other, realizing new desires and prejudices, reevaluating former positions, reposition themselves. The discourse is so open, so productive and thoughtful, that when readers reach the final letter . . . sadness takes over.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“[T]heir interplay takes on the familiar cut and thrust of a football match. . . . [A] genuinely unusual, genuinely engaging two-hander of real affection and insight.” —Literary Review
 
“This might be the oddest book ever written about football. It is also fascinating, insightful. . . . Both men are as keen to discuss art, politics and death as they are to reflect on the beautiful game, and this strange, unclassifiable but engrossing book is the result.” —The Sunday Times