The first short story collection I’ve read in quite a while – and the first in Norwegian!
This is also probably the first time I review a book I’ve actually read in Norwegian (because usually, when I read Norwegian authors such as Jo Nesbø, I read the books in English).
I was actually gifted this book by my new publisher who I signed a contract with in September, and they sent me a bunch of books of theirs to check out. This one immediately caught my eye so I threw myself over it and actually finished it all in a day (while traveling to Athens, with a massive layover in Frankfurt).
Under Huda means Under the skin and it’s a collection of weird, goose-flesh inducing horror stories. Almost all feature a protagonist that sees, hears or experiences something that’s a bit off, and then right at the end there’s a strange twist and a horrifying reveal. I enjoyed all of them, but Gløymde røter, about a girl whose house seems to be inhabited by someone, or something other than herself was definitely my favorite.
Brun writes in nynorsk, not bokmål which I’m not a huge fan of. You see, Norway has two official written languages. They’re both Norwegian, don’t worry, but during the late 1880s two variants were developed when we wanted to separate ourselves more from the Danish. Bokmål is the most widely used form today, and the thing you’ll read in most major newspapers and official documents, as well as see on TV and the news, but it’s based on the old riksmål which was based on Danish. Nynorsk (literally New-Norwegian) was based on local dialects and sought to find redefine how we wrote and spelled Norwegian. It has a lot of alternate words and spellings compared to Bokmål, and can be very confusing for people who are not used to it (like people from Oslo and the wider regions in the east country). Nynorsk is most common along the west coast.
Anyway, since most of what people consume in popular entertainment is produced in Bokmål, it can be difficult to switch over. Personally, I find it very jarring to read in nynorsk. There are a lot of words that are completely different than what they would “normally” be in Bokmål, and some I don’t even recognize at all. At times, it’s even difficult to take the reading seriously, because the words seem so out of place.
But Brun’s writing is still good. It’s direct and to the point, yet descriptive and detailed where it needs to be. I felt like a few perhaps missed the mark a little toward the end – I caught myself trying to guess the twist, and was kind of disappointed when I was right, when there wasn’t something more. Then again, I’ve written a lot of similar short horror stories and I’m always trying to guess, so maybe I’m shooting myself in the foot here.
All in all, a great horror story collection. I only wish there were more and that the book was longer. Recommended to any Norwegian reader, and let’s hope an English translation is right around the corner. Have you read any interesting collections or anthologies lately? Any horror stories I should know about? Any other languages that have more than one official written language? Let me know in the comments!
As always, I’d appreciate it immensely if you’d care to check out my own books! You can find all my novels and short stories right here. If you’re into crime thrillers I’d recommend my The Columbus Archives series, starting with The Consequence of Loyalty. If you prefer psychological horror, then go for At The Gate. I’ve you prefer short form, there’s also fantasy, science-fiction and horror short stories.
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Trey Stone, Author 
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