Amitra of the week

Amrita Acharia.

The Norwegian women have a message for you

"Happy Norwegian Constitution Day!  And also, vi elsker Doctor Monkey!"

Book reports

A shy life long Norwegian bachelor goes to India to look for a wife after his sister gives him a book about people who live in foreign countries.  He meets a woman and miraculously she agrees to marry him and go live with him back in Norway.  He goes back ahead of her to give her time to tidy up her life in India.  On the day of her arrival his sister gets in a terrible auto accident and he must go to her bedside which prevents him from meeting his wife at the airport.  His Indian bride takes a taxi to meet her new husband in his home land, but something goes wrong and she ends up brutally beaten and dead.  The cops are baffled.  Uncomfortable secrets arise in the ensuing investigation and no one knows who to trust anymore.

The interesting premise of this Inspector Sejer novel isn't borne out in the execution of the story.  Like many modern Nordic crime mystery novels this one really doesn't have a satisfying conclusion.  It ends with many questions unanswered and many loose ends left to twist in the cold Norwegian wind.  

I enjoyed this Inspector Sejer mystery much more than the previous one, perhaps because I had figured it out about two thirds of the way into it.

In this one a beautiful little girl goes missing and the main suspect is a troubled loner who refuses to speak other than to say, "No."  The girl's family is devastated and the small town is awash with fear, then resignation, then relief after her body is finally found.

The suspense is quite good in this one, Ms. Fossum builds her story up brick by brick and before you know it, you're hooked.

Admit it

You want this record album.

The first Sec. General of the United Nations was from Norway

And that's no joke. Yay Norway!

Norway's air force is...

...among the most modern of all the Scandinavian countries.

The biggest hobby is Norway is...

...amateur dentistry.

June is 'Celebrate Norway!' month here on Monkey Muck

Instead of doing a short 'Let's Learn About..." post about everyone's favorite northern European country, I'm going to devote a whole month to posts about Norway. You'll learn about Norway's history, meet it's people, learn about their customs, and so much more. So let's kick things off with two bits of Norway's history!

Norway was founded in 917 by these three Swedes of Viking origin. They had been kicked out of Sweden for not being blond enough and for being naughty. Their names were Skvrskynn the Mighty, Hrdyrickvens the Bold, and Lefty. They set sail from an unnamed Swedish port and they made their way to the hunk of land that would one day be called Norway. When their ship ran aground in a lightly wooded shallow bay, they were said to have muttered, "Oh fjord it, we've run aground." And that is where we get the word fjord from.

Henrik Ibsen, Norway's greatest ever playwright, not only wrote great plays, he was an inventor as well. He invented the heaving sigh, angst, the whoopie cushion, the hairstyle known as the mullet, and herring flavored Tang.

More fun facts about Norway to come, so stay tuned!