GRACE, by Linn Ullmann, Knopf, 130 pages, $20.
In surprisingly concise style, Linn Ullmann has written a stunning novel, almost a novella, about Johan Sletten, a man of 69 who is dying of cancer. Sletten is ordinary, twice married and lacking in dignity and courage. He has enjoyed a 40-year career as a journalist for an Oslo, Norway, newspaper — but was humiliated at the end by an unfortunate foray into plagiarism.
He used a review from a German literary periodical in the newspaper — 886 words. He was tempted at a time words would not come. As a result of his plagiarism, the newspaper sent him into early retirement. They had been looking for an excuse anyway.
Thus, he has been shamed while his physical pain has accelerated. The "grace" in his life is his second wife, Mai, a pediatrician, who is 17 years younger. She is devoted to him, a fact that becomes all-important in lieu of his continuing, inflated visions of his first wife, Alice, browbeating him. He believes, unjustifiably, that his second wife is consistently more affectionate.
The crucial question is whether Mai will do as Johan requests and give him a lethal injection when the time comes. He experiences moments of grace as he sees Mai reading by firelight, or as he remembers picking strawberries with his mother. But the warmth of his last days is effectively destroyed by his obvious and unreasonable contempt for his son, Andreas — an estrangement that has unaccountably continued for eight years.
As Johan nears death, Andreas comes to see him. Johan wonders why his son has not spoken to him for eight years, and he remembers that one time Andreas had asked to use the cottage owned by Johan and Mai. He had said no, that it was inconvenient. The cottage had a leak that needed fixing. Could that have been the insignificant event that touched off this long rift between a father in his 70s and a son in his 40s?
As Johan declines in health, he worries about what he has asked of Mai. The other part . . . about you helping me if . . . I hadn't really thought it through properly, and you took me seriously. That scared me . . . I don't know what I want, you see. I don't know what will happen, so it's hard to know what I want.
Thus Ullmann portrays an ordinary husband, wife and estranged son struggling with tragedy. She does it exceptionally well, writing just enough to tell the story, leaving much to the imagination of the reader. But the writing is excellent — quiet, compelling, ironic, emotional, graceful.
This book is a little gem.
E-mail: dennis@desnews.com