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Books : Fiction : Contemporary Fiction: 1970 Onwards : Authors A-Z : G : Gaarder, Jostein
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When Joachim opens the first window on his advent calendar, his excitement mounts as the countdown to Christmas Day begins. But soon he notices that strange things are happening behind the little windows, and everyday something mysterious and new appears. Meanwhile Elisabeth and the angel Ephiriel are on their own very special journey, and it is only when the last window on Joachim's calendar is opened that the true magic and wonder of Christmas is revealed.Josten Gaarder, author of the international bestseller Sophie's World, has taken the story of Christmas and given it an alluring, mystical, modern twist that transports readers back to the Bethlehem of baby Jesus without ever losing sight of the wonder of it all. With illustrations by Rosemary Wells, The Christmas Mystery is lifted into the realms of the classics by the richness and poetry of Gaarder's language, making it so much more than just another book for Christmas. --Susan Harrison
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When Joachim opens the first window on his advent calendar, his excitement mounts as the countdown to Christmas Day begins. But soon he notices that strange things are happening behind the little windows, and everyday something mysterious and new appears. Meanwhile Elisabeth and the angel Ephiriel are on their own very special journey, and it is only when the last window on Joachim's calendar is opened that the true magic and wonder of Christmas is revealed.Josten Gaarder, author of the international bestseller Sophie's World, has taken the story of Christmas and given it an alluring, mystical, modern twist that transports readers back to the Bethlehem of baby Jesus without ever losing sight of the wonder of it all. With illustrations by Rosemary Wells, The Christmas Mystery is lifted into the realms of the classics by the richness and poetry of Gaarder's language, making it so much more than just another book for Christmas. --Susan Harrison
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In this book about the wonder of life by the author of Sophie's World, eight-year-old Joe is about to become a big brother. His mother is in labour at the hospital when he looks outside and sees a little boy hanging upside down in an apple tree. It's Mika, who has just fallen out of a spaceship. Mika is from Eljo, where children hatch out of eggs and life in general is quite different from what Joe knows. Mika and Joe become instant friends and spend the day discussing everything from dinosaurs and gravity to the origins of life on Earth. The next morning Mika is gone, but Joe has a new-found appreciation for the wonders of the universe--and a baby brother!Illustrated with whimsical line drawings--and framed by thought-provoking questions: "Can animals think?"; "what would you say if you had a visit from another planet?"--Hello? Is Anybody There? challenges readers to look at the world afresh, much in the manner of The Little Prince.
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Jostein Gaarder is not one to shirk at the larger questions: who are we? and where does the world come from? In his latest novel, Maya, he once again addresses life, the universe and pretty much everything else, concentrating on the existence of God, the evolution of life as we know it, the nature of consciousness and the meaning behind it all. It's weighty stuff for a mere 300 or so pages of prose, and Gaarder is not entirely successful in dealing with these issues in a readable manner.The novel is set in Madrid and on the unspoiled Fijian island of Taveuini. Frank Andersen, a Norwegian evolutionary biologist who feels "oppressed by the grief that the lack of spirit and permanence in our existence brings", meets up with a beautiful Spanish Flamenco dancer, Ana, her companion Jose, and an English writer from Croydon, John Spoke. They then discuss the big issues. This is where the problem arises; there is too much discussion of ideas and not enough emotional involvement or development of characters. They exist merely as mouthpieces for different theories. Gaarder then adds a bewildering supernatural dimension. There is Ana and Jose's manifesto, a mystical dialogue that describes the creation and evolution process in a series of self-consciously obscure metaphors to consider; hints of past lives; a time-travelling dwarf; and an enigmatic photograph. All this excitement sits uneasily with the almost pedantic prose style.
Gaarder's forte is to incorporate challenging themes into a flowing, imaginative narrative. The author's earlier novel,Sophie's World, has been a phenomenal success; the novel has sold over 16 million copies, been translated into 42 languages and is a whistle-stop tour of philosophy, from Socrates to Sartre. Unfortunately in the case of Maya, the story fails to grip the reader enough and lacks the fluidity of prose that made Sophie's World such a delight to read. --Eithne Farry
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When Joachim opens the first window on his advent calendar, his excitement mounts as the countdown to Christmas Day begins. But soon he notices that strange things are happening behind the little windows, and everyday something mysterious and new appears. Meanwhile Elisabeth and the angel Ephiriel are on their own very special journey, and it is only when the last window on Joachim's calendar is opened that the true magic and wonder of Christmas is revealed.Josten Gaarder, author of the international bestseller Sophie's World, has taken the story of Christmas and given it an alluring, mystical, modern twist that transports readers back to the Bethlehem of baby Jesus without ever losing sight of the wonder of it all. With illustrations by Rosemary Wells, The Christmas Mystery is lifted into the realms of the classics by the richness and poetry of Gaarder's language, making it so much more than just another book for Christmas. --Susan Harrison
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