In this
thought-provoking existential comedy, a lowly video store clerk receives an
astronomical bill for simply living his life.
The absurdities
of life coupled with the strangely surreal are hallmarks of Swedish actor and
playwright Jonas Karlsson's work (The Room). His second
novel, The Invoice, again turns on a Kafkaesque premise: a
nameless, 39-year-old part-time video store clerk and film aficionado--a loner
with only a handful of friends, whose most notable indulgence in life is having
a pizza and taking in a movie in his one-room Stockholm apartment--receives a
bill for 5.7 million kronor (roughly $875,000) in the mail. Thinking the
bill--imprinted with a nondescript logo--is a mistake or a scam, the narrator disregards
it. The next month, he receives another bill in the same amount, but with a
surcharge of 150 kronor tacked on as a late payment. When the narrator calls to
inquire, he makes matters worse as it is soon discovered that he owes even more
than originally calculated. "What am I supposed to be paying for?"
the narrator asks. "Everything," says the representative. "Being
alive costs."
Through a
cryptic, engrossing storyline that snowballs with staggering, thought-provoking
complications, Karlsson reveals more about his underachieving hero. It seems
contradictory that the hefty "happiness tax" in the whole country
should be imposed upon someone living such a simple life. Fair or not, this
leaves the narrator to scramble for deductions in the form of disclosures about
free-floating anxiety, missing his parents and the loss of a secret love. The
satirical, philosophical nature of this story delves into the meaning and
purpose of life, how we measure joy and what truly constitutes a sense of
accomplishment.
Hogarth, $24.00 Hardcover, 9781101905142, 208 pages
Publication Date: July 12, 2016
To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE
Note: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read the review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (7/15/16), link HERE
This review was also published in a longer form on Shelf Awareness for the Book Trade (6/20/2016). To read the longer form review, link HERE