Books

Intet (Nothing)

Intet (Nothing)
Pub date 31st January 2000
Original publisher Danskl Forlag (Denmark)
Publisher (UK) Strident
Publisher (US) Atheneum (S&S)
International publishers Record (Brazil), Labyrinth (Bulgaria), Shanghai 99 (China), DESK d.o.o. (Croatia), Bazar (Finland), Les Grandes Personnes (France), Bókadeild Foroya Laerarafelags (Faro Islands), Hanser (Germany), Scolar Kiado (Hungary), Books in the Attic/Yedioth Books (Israel), Feltrinelli (Italy), Gentosha (Japan), Hyeonamsa (Korea), Sia A&A Vision (Latvia), Tri (Macedonia), Bazar (Norway), Res Publica (Norway, Audio), Bertrand (Portugal), KompasGid (Russia), DESK d.o.o. (Slovenia), Seix Barral (Spain), Alberdania (Spain – Basque), Comanegra (Spain – Catalan), Lilla Piratforlaget (Sweden), Linking Publishing (Taiwan), On8 Kitap (Turkey)

Michael L. Printz Honor, USA 2011
Mildred. L. Batchelder Honor Award, USA 2011
Die Zeit. Luchs Preis, Germany, August 2010
Le Prix Libbylit, France 2008

Cultural Ministry’s Prize, Denmark 2001

An irresistible novel about everything… A Lord of the Flies for the twenty-first century, Nothing is controversial, shocking and thought-provoking. It is also accessible and beautifully told. Its simplicity belies its depth. Nothing matters. From the moment you are born, you start to die. The Earth is 4.6 billion years old. You will live to be a maximum of one hundred. Life isn not worth the bother! So says Pierre Anthon when he decides that there is no meaning to life, leaves the classroom, climbs a plum tree, and stays there. His friends and classmates cannot get him to come down, not even by pelting him with rocks. So to prove to him that there is a meaning to life, they set out to build a heap of meaning in an abandoned sawmill. But it soon becomes obvious that each person cannot give up what is most meaningful, so they begin to decide for one another what the others must give up. As the demands become more extreme, events begin to take a morbid turn.

 

Praise for Nothing

‘Indelible, elusive, and timeless, this uncompromising novel has all the marks of a classic.’ – Booklist (US)

This beautiful and frightening book stopped me in my tracks.’ – David Almond, The Guardian (UK)

‘What more do you wish from literature?’ – Der Spiegel (Germany)

‘Shocks the reader, digs deep into the reader’s consciousness and leaves an imprint that lasts …’ – El Pais (Spain)

‘NOTHING is a fairy tale about the very essence of life.’ – Politiken (Denmark)

‘With its unusual rhythmic and tightly composed language it is an amazing work. Teasingly, grippingly and thrillingly, it describes a group of children’s desperate endeavor to prove to themselves and others that something really matters.’ – Information (Denmark)

 

Contact

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Telephone:

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