Knausgaard joins the ranks of the greatest storytellers of our time. His glittering prose is purposeful, precise, and poetic. . . . There can be no doubt about his extraordinary talent: only the work of a master can be thought-provoking on so many levels yet retain a lightness of touch. —Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

The breadth of the history of ideas in Knausgaard’s second novel has a span like the wings of an archangel and brings together Old Testament psychology with modern deconstruction . . . Knausgaard’s insight into Cain’s love and his battle against ignominy are described in masterly psychological prose. —Politiken

There is little doubt that Knausgaard had written himself into literary history. —Dagens Naeringsliv

…this strange and serious novel of ideas is an admirably imaginative contemporary reinterpretation of characters whose odd, splendid appearances in Christian mythology are made all the more mysterious for being matter-of-fact and never fully explained. —Metro UK

A marvelous book. . . . Knausgaard's most evident strength as a writer is his gift for minute description, especially of nature, but also of the human psyche. . . . The descriptions of forests, floods, streams, fields, and Henrik Vankel's secluded island are ravishing and . . . create the feeling that we are being transported, again and again, into some primordial world. —Ingrid D. Rowland, The New York Review of Books

It may well become a cult novel. —The Guardian