Being Grown-up is to let go of the chaos of adolescence, to stand steadily on your own two feet, to have financial security and control over your own life. It is also responsibility, logistics and freedom. Do we manage to hold on to who we are and still enjoy the fun and curiosity we had earlier in life?
Linn Skåber’s first book Being Young was the best selling YA-book in Norway in 2018. It received fantastic reviews, several awards, and has been sold to eleven countries so far.
The author uses her own and others’ experiences to create fictional stories. She writes about desire and beginnings, about loneliness, wrinkles, exercise hysteria, worries for your children, breakups, thoughts about getting older – and smells we never forget.
As in her first book, she describes different aspects and feelings that can occur in life. The hallmark of these stories is that they are recognisable. They are written in a light, humorous touch, but always with an underlying sincerity shining through.
Being Grown-up is beautifully illustrated by Lisa Aisato, one of Norway’s most celebrated illustrators with numerous bestsellers and awards.
What a lovely book! It gives us a valuable reminder both of what life was, and what life will be again…. It is warm and beautiful, vulnerable and sad, but also very funny. Linn Skåber writes with a light touch – it’s as if you can see the twinkle in her eye between the lines. Lisa Aisato’s illustrations are examples of great storytelling in themselves.
VG
This sweet, occasionally sentimental tone is found in many of the short stories. This is a book about menopause, about being abandoned, about leaving, about having children and about infertility. Like Being Young, this book is also illustrated by Lisa Aisato, and with their wryly humorous, moving and sweet take on life the two works make an excellent pair.
Dagbladet
