{"product_id":"9781923106758","title":"Hafni Says","description":"\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Helle Helle\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eHafni says: I don't want to be me.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eI want to change who I am.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eI don't know how to change who I am.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHafni says she's getting divorced. To celebrate, she sets out across southern Denmark on a smrrebrd tour, to sample Danish classics, open-faced sandwiches and afternoon teas. A month later, she makes a phone call from a rest stop to the novel's narrator  a main character from Helle Helle's previous novel \u003ci\u003ethey\u003c\/i\u003e  to explain how she went wrong, and why a trip that was meant to take a week has ended up consuming an entire month. Her storytelling seems to incarnate how Hafni herself digresses  how her past unfolds as one long series of accidents and mishaps, the accumulation of which somehow became the life she is living. Infused with Helle Helle's subtlety and dark humour, and brought into English in Martin Aitken's virtuosic translation, \u003ci\u003eHafni Says\u003c\/i\u003e explores the desire to be anyone but yourself  and what it means to try to make yourself anew.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ethey\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e by Helle Helle:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Helle Helle will enchant readers...the luminous presence she brings to the present tense, the terse transfiguration of the ordinary into poetic strangeness.' \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSydney Morning Herald\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e'Book of the Week'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Precise, controlled and unforgettable...a book that begs the reader to slow down and take notice.' \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Strangely, wonderfully absorbing...Slow your heart, slow your attention span  you'll be mesmerised.' \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Sweetly oriented to a disciplined, detached way of telling, Helle balances glassy brilliance with radiant feeling.' \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Saturday Paper\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Whimsical, charming and tremendously moving...The patience of the narrative and steadiness of observation becomes a way of holding onto things, of staying with events that have already happened or are yet to come.' \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eABC Arts\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEAN: 9781923106758","brand":"Giramondo Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":49230775681176,"sku":"9781923106758","price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0955\/4418\/files\/9781923106758.original.jpg?v=1781245086","url":"https:\/\/www.unswshop.com.au\/products\/9781923106758","provider":"UNSW Shop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}