The Unit

A haunting, deadpan tale set vaguely in the Scandinavian future Holmqvists spare prose interweaves the Units pleasures and cruelties with exquisite matter-of-factness... Readers actually begin to wonderis life better as a pampered lab bunny or as a lonely indigent? But then [Holmqvist] turns the screw, presenting a set of events so miraculous and abominable that they literally made me gasp. * <i>Washington Post</i> * I liked The Unit very much... I know you will be riveted, as I was. * Margaret Atwood * The message is bold if not on the nose: If you dont fall into a classic nuclear family, then your value as a human are the spare parts you can give those who do contribute to traditional family structures. The books main character, a writer named Dorrit, is forced to think about the meaning of her life. Shed had a lover, but he wouldnt leave his wife; shed birthed art, but never a child. Holmqvists writing is clear and precisethe clinical tone contributes to the The Units eeriness. The Unit itself is a place of luxury amenities include a library, a cafe, immaculately manicured gardens but it feels as much like home to Dorrit as the promotional photos of an upscale condo. Holmqvists is a book of quiet cruelty, and perhaps the most harrowing twist of all is that the world outside the walls of the Unit one with married couples, one with children seems even worse. In that way, The Units strength is uncovering beauty in bleakness. * <i>GQ</i> * This haunting first novel imagines a nation in which men and women who havent had children by a certain age are taken to a reserve bank unit for biological material and subjected to various physical and psychological experiments, while waiting to have their organs harvested for needed citizens in the outside world... Holmqvist evocatively details the experiences of a woman who falls in love with another resident, and at least momentarily attempts to escape her fate. * <i>The New Yorker</i> * Clinical and haunting, The Unit is a modern-day classic and a spine-chilling cautionary tale about the value of human life. * Waterstones * Holmqvist paces her revelations superbly and the reader is gripped by the atmosphere of slowly mounting claustrophobia. * <i>New Internationalist</i> * Holmqvist handles her dystopia with muted, subtle care Neither satirical nor polemical, The Unit manages to express a fair degree of moral outrage without ever moralizingit has enough spooks to make it a feminist, philosophical page-turner. * <i>Time Out Chicago</i> * This dystopian world is described with such exquisite balance between its luxuries and cruelties that the reader is emotionally drawn in and made to face up to often uncomfortable and challenging ethical dilemmas. I cannot recommend this novel, nor signal Holmqvists evident talent as an author strongly enough; it is an excellent book. * <i>What's On UK?</i> * Ninni Holmqvists The Unit offers a shrewd, timely exploration of gender The novel has been compared to The Handmaids Tale, but where Margaret Atwoods classic focuses on procreation, Holmqvists novel feels broader, holding both capitalism and traditional gender roles under a harsh light. Dorrit is honest about her life, and she wonders whether the freedom she had in her youth was worth the price she pays now. Any woman young or old will relate to her plight. * <i>Washington Post</i> * [A] chilling, stunning debut novel Holmqvists fluid, mesmerizing novel offers unnerving commentary on the way society devalues artistic creation while elevating procreation, and speculation on what it would be like if that was taken to an extreme. For Orwell and Huxley fans. * <i>Booklist</i> * Orwellian horrors in a Xanadu on Xanax

Ninni Holmqvist lives in Skne, Sweden. She is the author of three short-story collections, including Kostym (Suit), and two novels. She also works as a translator.