The Past Returns
A woman tries to forget a man, and the man, who tries to forget her, is called Selim. Selim is a photographer and his work is about seeing, but he understands neither himself nor others. Greater than the love and passion that united them – which were all-encompassing – is the black hole, the pain that radiates from their shared past. These are memories they can’t forget, fragments they can’t piece together. If it hurts terribly to remember, is it worth trying?
In the woman’s past, in the outskirts of the city, there was Alisa. They were almost the same person. If you’ve had a best friend and sister who abandoned you, can that memory ever be erased? What happens when the past returns and grows stronger than the present?
The beautiful language of the story follows the logic of a dream, and it feels as if the emotions almost crawl through to the skin. The Past Returns is a novel about the despair of love that is both sensual and painful.
info
Year of publication
2023
Original title
Det förflutna återvänder
Page count
300
Original publisher
Förlaget M
Original language of publication
Swedish
Reviews
Helsingin Sanomat
"In the end, the novel The Past Returns deals with the initial question of biography and autofiction: the limits of memories and the right to remember."
Hufvudstadsbladet
"With a skilful feeling for the shifts of language, she expresses how mourning someone who has been so close is like mourning a part of oneself."
Svenska YLE
"A story that is sensuous and sensual, painful and intense."
Kiiltomato.net Online Magazine
"You enjoy your time within Taivassalo's text, and while reading it, you get immersed into your own mind and memories. This is what happens in a good novel: the reader’s experiences intertwine with the narrative. The book comes to life, draws a map of memory which is unique to everyone. Taivassalo knows how to depict what it’s like being a contemplative and sensitive person."
Åbo Underrättelser
"[Taivassalo] dares to open doors that might be wisest to keep closed. She dares to enter rooms where everyone does not have, or does not want to have, access."
Vasabladet
"Taivassalo is skilful at evoking a controlled, desperate Edward Hopper type mood in these lonely individuals in urban voids, and she makes sexual desire shine through as strong sensations and lost opportunities."
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