Hi, I'm Michael Silverblatt. Thanks for tuning in to Bookworm. Some of our most exciting storytellers

share their work orally, and that's the kind of work you can hear on KCRW's Unfictional.

Intimate stories, cleverly made documentaries produced all around the world by some of the most talented radio producers we have.

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Where would we be without good?

No, Teng to bird.

It's a rhetorical question, sir,

but where would we be without books?

From KCRW and KCRW.com, I'm Michael Silverblatt, and welcome to Bookworm.

Today I'm very pleased. I have, as my guest, a Norwegian writer here visiting America.

His new book is called I refuse. His name is Pair Petterson.

Everyone else I know began to read him when the first book was translated into English.

It was called Out Stealing Horses. And now I've read five of his books and they're

extraordinary. What do we mean by an extraordinary book that the style that you encounter

when you enter the book is original. You hear an original voice.

And in Perpettison, you hear a voice so marked by sadness and grief and loss

that you can't believe that he's managed to create a beautiful and lyrical symphony.

His two main characters, Jim and Tommy, who have not seen each other in almost 30 years.

They were once the very best friends, the kinds of people

who thought they would know each other forever. The one who looked like he would be successful,

Jim, who was up on the latest fashions and knew how to roll his tobacco pouch into his sleeve

...