The Sorrows of an American

A shrink from New York discovers his own abysses. The shrink is Erik Davidson and he tells us the story of his family. After his father died, he starts to read his diaries. This brings up memories and family stories. He and his sister Inga find a mystery mentioned, which must had happened when their father was very young. It is related to a young woman called Lisa and something unspeakable. That is actually the starting point for Erik’s journey into the past and the inner-self. You can call it a family saga of Norwegian immigrants starting with the great depression. Husvedt used the memoirs of her own father.
Another string is Inga’s story. who was married to a famous writer. She publishes herself and has to fight the impression, that she had only value as wife of the famous writer. After his death she lost a big portion of her so-called friends. It comes to mind Hustvedt treats her own situation as wife of Paul Auster.
I think the power of her writing is that she describes how our own ordinary life is not so banal as we usually think. The episodes in the book are not extraordinary. All the opposite. It could happen to you, and you would act exactly like the characters in the book. But Hustvedt precise language and her sympathy for her protagonists make them all uniquely interesting and extraordinary.
An interesting trivia about her is, that she is more appreciated in Europe than in America. He last book was even published first in Germany (the translated version).