The story revolves around the protagonist Emily a young woman from a working-class family who finds herself pregnant at a very young age, 19 and left behind by her boyfriend. Emily is forced to face some tough situations and even with everything going on, she’s not backing down from her dreams. She takes comfort in her job as a cashier at the supermarket and in her bond with her mom, who’s also a single parent. Multiple POV makes the readers understand everyone's perspective and feel the emotions all together. It's a slow-paced story that ends with an open note, leaving us with some unanswered questions. Highlighting the struggles of a young single mother both financial difficulties and also societal judgment. The book can be quite dark and depressing as it deals with some dark situations.

Emily Forever is a striking exploration of poverty, social inequality, and class contempt set in Norway. The novel follows nineteen-year-old Emily, who, while juggling a job at a supermarket and an unplanned pregnancy, faces overwhelming challenges. Her boyfriend, Pablo, has vanished, leaving her alone with her mother moving in to help.

Emily’s life becomes a complex web of social dynamics as she interacts with a potentially infatuated neighbor, an interested boss, and various figures who project their own judgments onto her situation. The novel is both a poignant and hard-hitting examination of class struggles and the inner strength required to navigate them.

With its blend of empathy, sharp humor, and social critique, Emily Forever offers a fresh and powerful perspective on how a young woman like Emily is perceived and how she struggles to define her own path amidst societal expectations.

3.5/5.

I absolutely loved this book! I recommended this to all my friends. :) The subtle humor in the book is what makes me like the book so much. The story gives so much hope for anyone that is currently going through something similar or will ever go through it. Skaranger does such a good job with developing the character and making the book interesting throughout the whole story.

I was really intrigued by the plot of this book, which follows Emily, a 19-year-old single mother struggling to survive in the face of poverty in modern Norway. The story paints a very bleak picture of Emily's life after being abandoned by the father of her baby once he found out she was pregnant. She faces immense challenges, trying to cope with working in a supermarket while heavily pregnant and looking after herself and her home.
The book offers a stark depiction of living in poverty in a heavily deprived area of Oslo, exploring the struggles associated with urban and generational poverty. While I found the story interesting and important, I had a hard time fully engaging with the book. The writing style was quite repetitive, which slowed the plot's progression. I just wanted to get to the meat of the story! Additionally, the movement between timelines and different characters felt disjointed to me, further slowing the story's pace.
Despite my struggles with the stylistic choices, I do appreciate the author's use of evocative and emotive language throughout the book. The strong sense of place and situation was compelling, and I really felt the hopelessness Emily experienced. I empathized deeply with her struggles and the bleakness of her circumstances.
It's a shame this book wasn't for me, but I believe it will appeal to readers who enjoy gritty, character-driven, introspective stories. If you’re into narratives that delve deeply into the human condition and societal issues, this one might be right up your alley.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the free ARC I received in return for an honest review.

Maria Navarro Skaranger has written a moving intimate novel about this young girl Emily .Emily lives a quiet life as we watch her trying to fit into her world.A book that involved me from first to last page.an author I will be following.

This is the story of Emily, a young woman (20 years old?), who tries to survive in contemporary Norway, navigating the complexities of live. The story is not as much about Emily as it is about the remorseless dejection felt by many poor and middle class people struggling to survive a life that is moving away from them faster than they can keep up with. They are left behind, physically and emotionally, and have little they feel they can do about it, leaving them to perpetuate the increasing desolation with their own children.

The book is bleak, but also realistic. While some reviews talk about how it handles poverty and how horrific being poor is, I actually saw something different in the book, and perhaps even more powerful (regardless of what the author set out to convey). Overemphasising poverty might be confusing cause and effect. It is clear that the protagonists are poor - be it financially, culturally, or otherwise. But why are they poor? Is it because the system around them doesn't give them more opportunities, or is it because they really are just ordinary, and struggle to find a place in life, defaulting to what can be easily described as "checking out", and not even trying to compete for higher status in life. Their condition is a consequence of our socio-political system, at a macro level, but it's also their choice to do nothing about it. The question whose fault is bigger - the system for making it hard for individuals to find their path in life, or the individual's responsibility for their own destiny. This, for me, is what the book is about. The tragedy of the ordinary, and the difficulty in standing out in such a life.

Among the philosophical theme, I also liked how the protagonist was portrayed. I personally found her difficult to relate with, and felt she had very much an anti-hero vibe from my perspective (for nothing other than just giving up and going with the flow), she came across as cogent, cohesive, real, and, more than anything, representative of whole swathes of society. It makes one think, and question basic ideas one could have held as truths.

Recommend to anyone interested in how contemporary life is lived by regular people, and not just the privileged, self important, sexually experimental protagonists of Sally Rooney and her ilk (not that I've anything against those books - I like them very much).

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This was a difficult book to read. Emily ( Em) lives a sad and hopeless life. Her job is going nowhere. She is unmarried and pregnant. Her mom is useless. Her boyfriend is a drug dealer. I always thought that life in Scandinavia was a walk through the park, but the author paints a picture that toppled my original perception.

This is a slow but short read and depicts a very depressing existence. It is not for everyone. Yet, it addresses some universal and important societal issues. Single parenthood , financial deprivation, social isolation. The author is noteworthy , has something to share with readers , and is an award winner but the writing style felt disjointed and the plot jumped around a lot in time and place.

I didn’t love this book but liked it enough to read on to the finish. Thank you NetGalley and World Editions for an ARC in exchange for my review. Publication date for the English translated edition is June 4, 2024. Fans of dark tales will want to read this.

This English translation was an ARC, thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read it.

I wanted to read this because my ancestors are from Norway. It was interesting to see the kind of life a young woman might live in Norway being a single mother.

The writing for this book, however, was confusing all the way through. I could never tell the real “vibes” of the characters. I couldn’t tell if the neighbor guy was meant to be nice or weird. I found the story interesting, but I found myself lost a lot of the time. Sometimes the narration would switch between timelines, present, past, (and future???) and I had to reread parts to know where I was.

I did like reading about a place I had no idea about. I just couldn’t keep up with what was happening and when.

2/5 stars

Book was not for me book sounded interesting but couldn’t get into could of had more story lots of repeating

I went to Norway in September and I really wanted to know more about Scandinavian literature, other than thrillers. Emily Forever was a very interesting read to me in a way that is hard to explain. It's a slow paced book that really builds a narrative around a very ordinary girl in a complicated situation. It's giving Tove Ditlevsen The Copenhagen Trilogy vibes. If you're looking for something with a lot of action, this is not for you. Nor is it something you should pick up if you're in a romance mood, but if you want something different, without picking up a 500 pages brick.. This one should be on your list. There's a lot of doubt and uncertainty in the book, which causes for quite some repetition. It feels like you're peeking through a whole and watching someone's life develop in front of your eyes, while society is just not a very welcoming place. It's kinda grey and sad and feels like watching a slow, very descriptive film. I'd give it 3.5 out of 5 stars, because I think you really need to be in the mood for something like this and it's a tricky one in terms of storyline. I liked it, also felt very sad for Emily, wanted to help her out, be a friend to her. I'd recommend it to certain people, but it's not for everyone and I think no book should aim to be 'for everyone'.

Emily Forever is set in a deprived area of Oslo but could be any city anywhere where the poor make do and life is full of compromise and too often unwise decisions just to get by. 19 year-old Emily is a supermarket worker with a petty drug dealer for a boyfriend who can't get away quick enough when they discover she's pregnant. The book is uncompromisingly realistic about the life of what's often derogatorily called the Underclass, people almost doomed from the start with limited horizons and knowing that ambitions are pointless.
The book can be a bit confusing as it jumps from character to character and timeline to timeline ,often quite randomly, but it's a very effective and evocative piece of work. All of the main characters in their own way are stuck in a rut,one which Emily's Mother is desperate for her daughter to escape from while deep down realising that it'll never happen and there's almost a documentary feel to the whole thing as author Maria Navarro Skaranger paints a picture of life for the urban poor and the cycles of hopelessness that pass down through the generations.
This is a multi-award winning book in the author's native Norway and it's easy to see why. A short but very effective read.