Nilsson, Per. Heart's Delight.NILSSON, Per. Heart's delight. Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster U.S. publishing company. It was founded in 1924 by Richard L. Simon (1899–1960) and M. Lincoln Schuster (1897–1970), whose initial project, the original crossword-puzzle book, was a best-seller. , Pulse. 178p. c1992. 0-689-87677-7. $6.99. S To quote the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, November 2003: This YA novel is originally Swedish and has been praised highly in Europe. It takes place in Sweden, with the narrator NARRATOR. A pleader who draws narrs serviens narrator, a sergeant at law. Fleta, 1. 2, c. 37. Obsolete. a young man who is looking back over a failed love affair--his first real love. Heart's Delight is the name of his girlfriend's favorite plant, lemon balm lemon balm: see bee balm. lemon balm symbol of compassion. [Herb Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 164] See : Kindness , and of course the name he gives to her. The perspective is somewhat different, in that the narrator begins to describe his love to the reader after the love affair is finished. He ominously gathers together the artifacts artifacts see specimen artifacts. of the romance: 15 articles in all--the last ones being a razor blade ra·zor·blade also ra·zor blade n. A thin sharp-edged piece of steel that can be fitted into a razor. razor blade n → hoja de afeitar razor blade and a bottle of blue pills. We are immediately worried that he is suicidal. One by one, he examines each article and tells us the meaning it has for him, and in this way we learn the details of how he met his love, what they did together, and how and why she left him. It's overwrought o·ver·wrought adj. 1. Excessively nervous or excited; agitated. 2. Extremely elaborate or ornate; overdone: overwrought prose style. , but then, he IS overwrought and a teenager and this was his first experience of love and a sexual affair--so his state of mind is appropriate. It will be interesting for American teenagers to see the day-to-day details of a European teenager's life, and also to read his description of his month-long visit to Massachusetts. Passionate, romantic, and with a satisfying ending: he doesn't kill himself, but accepts his loss. Claire Rosser, KLIATT S--Recommended for senior high school students. |
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