Passionate Precision: A Novel That Soars Above the Mediocre

Madame Nielsen's novel "Lamento," recently translated into Swedish by Jonas Rasmussen, is lauded for its exceptional literary quality and its ability to capture intense emotional states. The book masterfully depicts both fiery chaos and profound heat, whether in burning buildings or in the throes of a passionate love affair.

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Infatuation is a catastrophe, it knows no bounds, it intoxivates itself and rejoices in overturning all existing order, it throws itself into the uncertain and worships the present for all eternity.

The novel opens with a cinematic and perfectly executed depiction of a fire, a scene so striking that it raises questions about how the author will sustain such intensity throughout the entire work. However, the narrative only deepens, described as being like the very infatuation it portrays: burning to its core with a highly effective language that is simultaneously grandiose, pathetic, and overloaded, yet also sensitive and tender.

"Lamento" unfolds as a long monologue where a woman recounts her overwhelming passion for her daughter's father to her adult daughter. The story begins with the couple accidentally starting a fire during a sleepover in Paris, an event that leads to the death of the apartment's resident. This initial conflagration becomes a recurring haunting image, symbolizing the initiation into a desperate form of romance.

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The couple's meeting is depicted as a synchronized dance between two 'burning dolls on strings,' and the narrator describes the infatuation as 'perverse and innocent, unaware and full of desire, for what?'

The novel delves into the complexities of love and obsession, questioning whether intense infatuation truly constitutes love. Nielsen writes, "Infatuation is a catastrophe, it knows no bounds, it intoxivates itself and rejoices in overturning all existing order, it throws itself into the uncertain and worships the present for all eternity." The narrative suggests that the object of affection is secondary to the process of passion itself, whether that focus is a person, animal, or even cryptocurrency. The intense connection eventually gives way to a melancholic estrangement, depicted through a series of moments where the initial bliss is shattered by glimpses of a reality beyond the relationship.

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There is no love / There is no love.