Reviews

• “Liberating is the word. It’s a delight to read these books, primarily because straightforwardness without a hidden agenda and concern for what is appropriate is rare.”

• “Perhaps it’s Lundell’s jaded yet at the same time hopeful humor that makes me forgive him for everything. And that the sun sometimes reaches into the spaceship on Österlen with such a presence and authenticity.”

• “Yes, the more I read the more I become a kind of Ulf Lundell myself. I want to be left alone. /…/ Without me even noticing, Ulf Lundell has apparently become my new influencer.”

• “Early in the book, I started to underline sentences with my favorite pen instead of just folding dog ears. Life is too short not to highlight ‘important’ passages in books. Sometimes, often, [they are] such wonderful one-liners or little poetic sections that they make me feel so alive. He invents words. He is a gentleman and an old fart and an aesthete and an intellectual and a grumbler and artist and besserwisser and alcoholic and human being and philosopher and best friend and life partner and comedian and prosecutor and judge and accused and defense lawyer all in the same old man. To start reading Ulf Lundell’s diaries means completely entering another person’s life and in doing so, find a small piece of yourself. /…/ Not everyone can write it beautifully over thousands of pages.”

• “The language still sparkles, even when it depicts dull days. /…/ Ulf Lundell is at his best when he is fully engrossed in everyday life, when he is granted the grace to be in the moment, without pessimistic misanthropy or severe longing for something else. It’s liberating. That’s when the shaman speaks with wonderful freshness to us all.”

• “In terms of form, Weekdays is in its best moments similar to André Gide’s diaries. Here’s the same evaluative viewpoint, the same skepticism towards ready-made solutions. The same concern for the fragility of life. Gide’s Journales is nowadays considered to be one of his most important works and I won’t be surprised if the same will be said about Ulf Lundell’s Weekdays.”

• “Both his way of expressing himself and his observational ability are so sharp that nuggets of gold are guaranteed. /…/ All of this is presented with a flow that still impresses. Because no one should assume that it’s easy to make a long text appear as an unforced and unedited stream of thought, which winds. It requires its author. Its Lundell.”