Review: Nothing by Janne Teller

NothingNothing by Janne Teller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A spare, allegorical, very bizarre and European tale about meaning. A group of Danish middle schoolers grapple with the question of meaning after one climbs up a tree declaring that nothing matters, nothing has any meaning. His peers desperately try to prove him wrong by sacrificing the most important things to them (conceptual and physical) and adding them to a pile in a barn. The pile and the kids transform into something no one could have predicted.

I read this in about an hour--it was that compelling, simply and beautifully written. If you're in the mood for something unusual, short and satisfyingly European (they can be so satisfyingly symbolic in their literature), spend some time with Nothing.

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