The external storyline depicts Mikael Skrent, successfull and well established, age 33, on his way through Oslo to an artist friend's vernissage. In the course of seven hours, previous events surface, stories of women and a deep disillusion which has sent Mikael Skrent spiraling downwards in a destructive whirlpool of contradicting actions, aggression and confusion.   

 Why does existence seem unreal and meaningless? Why does he still struggle with love lost ten years ago, and experience sudden attacks of nausea or fall asleep while having sex? Why does people around him suddenly assume shapes of insects? He is trying to find ways out, but everything seems deadlocked.

Mikael Skrent has been claustrophobically self absorbed, uninterested in everything and everybody, if unuseable for his own gain of ego tripping pleasure. Now he has had his fill, more than he can take, even of himself.

The book has been object for attention in numerous newspaper articles in Norway, for its description of a part of society, the art society, that mirrors the rest of the society and the western part of the world in general, when it comes down to it, where superficial values and egoism overshadows basic elements of importance, and leads to epidemic identity confusion and a wide spread fealing of emptiness and worthlessness.
The writing resembles the style of Brett Easton Ellis, and his almost nauseatingly effective way of pulling the reader into the universe of the characters.

 

 

AUTHOR'S NOTES
 

I describe the breakdown of Mikael Skrent in first person covering his life until now, during a period of a few hours of a day, from the time he kicks out yet another woman from his apartment, until he hits the bottom and can not take anymore. In these hours, he sorts through his childhood and incesteous upbringing, economical career, girlfriends and relationships, prosperity and unhappiness in circles where superficial beauty, the right zip code, expencive clothes and parties, fashion art and media attention, alcohol and drugs and sex, is everything.

I describe this promiscuous, high egoist, this outlived sex fixated peacock, in a way I hope gives the reader a sense of his tired self contempt. I have tried to write a pressure boiler of a novel. And I have inserted factoids about insects, to the effect of similarities to human behaviour and the tension of seemingly pointless existence or conciousness.

This is not a decorative novel. I do not coquette with how things are in a presumed correct literary way. It is written completely from within the main character, Mikael Skrent, and I let him literally rave around in his darkened state.

Mikael is a borderwalker. In between the so called normal and his lack of acceptance of this reality.

This is a positive novel, because it's about the will to not accept  despair and the sense of going nowhere. It's about movement towards change, towards creation.

The female praying mantis destroys and kills to transcend to creation, the act of mating and procreation. Mikael lives in a rift between being a victim and reacting to being independent and create.

I also describe a rare tabu, the woman as a sexual offender, not as a victim.