Fiction: Doppler by Erlend Loe

In a world gone mad for all literature with the smack of Scandanavia, Doppler (Anansi) seems at first like a sharply sweet joke. Canadian publisher, Anansi, calls Doppler an “enchanting, subversive, and very unusual story of one man and his moose.” Think of Doppler as Jonathan Livingston Seagull for the 21st century, but with a moose calf called Bongo, Scandinavian hipster attitude and a sharper narrative flow.

Stricken beyond pain by the death of his father, Andreas Doppler leaves everything behind -- home, family, job -- in order to live in a tent in the forest.

I realize that my behavior has been very trying for my wife and I’ve tried to explain that my little adventure has nothing to do with her …. At the start she suspected I had something going with another woman, but she doesn’t think so any longer. Now, in a sense, she has resigned herself to the fact that I live in a tent in the forest.

Doppler is witty, sly and surprising. And it’s slender enough, once you begin, you might never have to put it down. ◊

Jones Atwater is a contributing editor to January Magazine.