A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding

A wild 529-page trip magnificent. -- Amber Medland * The Telegraph * Playfully experimental enjoyable funny. -- Suzi Feay * The Guardian * This is a prismatic, hilarious, and deeply intelligent novel overflowing with wisdom about the complexities of being alive I read it ravenously, and with pen in hand. -- Claire Lombardo, author of <em>The Most Fun We Ever Had</em> With gorgeous prose and a wry wit, Amanda Svensson offers readers at once a novel of family, love affairs, the search for meaning, of grief and of sibling rivalry of triplets with a twist. -- Donna Freitas, author of <em>The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano</em> A brilliant vision of family and modern life, both as we know it and as it can only be imagined by one of Swedens finest writers as translated by one of our finest translators, Nichola Smalley. A playful, tender, and funny gem. -- Saskia Vogel, author of <em>Permission</em> Big, playful, and very strange. -- Gayle Lazda * London Review Bookshop * In her new novel Amanda Svensson portrays with both sincerity and humour, how there is a system to the madness and a madness in the system. It is a winding work that establishes her among the great storytellers with a totally unique voice. -- Jury statement from the Per Olov Enquist Literary Prize [W]ith a devoted passion for narration and a steadfast belief in the intrinsic value of fiction, Amanda Svensson portrays triplets Sebastian, Clara, and Matilda. The story of their lives in different corners of the world evolves into a supreme literary work, which expands the readers senses in the face of the possibilities of reality, just by being so unabashedly fictitious. -- Jury statement from the Tidningen Vis Literary Prize [A] novel about serious contemporary issues such as climate and fear, but that also makes you smile. -- Jury statement from the Svenska Dagbladet Literary Prize A verbose, kooky, surrealistic, and simply wonderful novel with major existential questions. * Svenska Dagbladet * A classic family saga, which recalls Thomas Mann and Zadie Smith, but also has the intricacy and ambition of the intellectual mystery la Marisha Pessl or Donna Tartt. Svensson pours art and science, literature, and politics into the brew, until she has achieved an entertaining bildungsroman that is far removed from the egocentric autofiction that is said to be dominating contemporary literature Svensson carries out her almost perilously demanding literary project with a lightness that is impressive. * Expressen * There is such an enormous amount of energy and vitality in Amanda Svenssons prose, an energy that is instantly recognisable from her previous books. There is not a single stale sentence, not a single dull repetition or artificial response. She seamlessly moves between the novels different moods and she can be insanely funny without losing any of the fundamental sincerity. * stersunds-Posten * A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding is composed like a rich kind of symphony, with a diverse set of voices and places that together move from cacophony to harmony. This is a book that, to use the authors own words, makes you feel alive. * Gteborgs-Posten * The Freudian term unheimlich appears early in the novel, pre-empting the doubles and doublings, shadows and ghosts, recurring images and disappearing persons that haunt the book. It is oddly comforting that against such an uncanny backdrop the banalities and joys of the world continue characters still fall in love, quarrel, sit in discomfort and make amends. The beauty of Svenssons work is in this precise balance: she maintains compelling emotional resonance amid a truly wild and sprawling world. A truly delightful study of the contours of family, the limits of free will, and the end of the world as we know it, A System So Magnificent It Is Blindin

Amanda Svensson grew up in Malm. She studied creative writing and has translated books by Ali Smith, Tessa Hadley, and Kristen Roupenian. A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding was awarded the Per Olov Enquist Literary Prize and the Svenska Dagbladet Literature Prize. It is shortlisted for Tidningen Vis Literature Prize. Nichola Smalley is a translator of Swedish and Norwegian literature. Her translation of Andrzej Tichs novel Wretchedness won the 2021 Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize, and was longlisted for the International Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Bernard Shaw Prize that same year. She lives in London.