Dog Nights

Using dark brushstrokes, Mirja Unge paints a vivid portrait of a community where the village norms are deeply rooted, where stray dogs roam and where people drink lager in the car on the way to the pizzeria. “Dog Nights”, a detective novel without a detective, is a linguistic machinery that jerks and moves along desolate roads. Suddenly and mercilessly the complex reality and raw beauty of the countryside comes to light.

The August Prize Jury

Unge knows her rural landscapes and her vulnerable youths and here she confirms once
again how awfully effective her literary style is. The everyday conversations that are so
carefully blended with lyrical suggestion and evocation of the surreal. The people that
emerge as something more than or that remain as sinister spectres. The passing of time,
Nadja who drives her car between the houses and to her job at the youth home. The text
ponders and so do we. Is there true evil lurking, or is it just loneliness and abandoned
people? Everything is ingrained, reeks of old sweat, dirt, and angst. Why has Nadia returned
to this place?

Aftonbladet

Mirja Unge has an absolutely remarkable knack for the things that are buried beneath the
surface, inside people, in the everyday life, in silence and in the prose. She writes in such a
rhythmically awkward and unexpected manner that one has no choice but to follow. I have
always appreciated that particular growing force in her poetic colloquial language. Her
distinctiveness and sensibility when she touches upon everything that remains unresolved or
undelivered. In her new novel Dog Nights, Unge also perfects what she established early in
her authorship: a pessimism of her own that slowly cracks when it is hit by the strokes of light and hope.

Borås Tidning

Mirja Unge doesn’t waste many words on that transformation, a ring with a freshwater pearl drumming to the car stereo is enough. The insight hits you like a punch to the gut. To read Mirja Unge is to experience such breathtaking moments, not just once but several times.

Dagens Nyheter

Violence and trauma. Flies and decay. Loneliness and death. This book reeks of filth and gloom—and yet it is strangely captivating, driven by a relentless momentum.

Dagsavisen

Raw and tender rural horror. A new book by Mirja Unge doesn’t go unnoticed around here. Few can match her ability to portray the raw and tender realities of Swedish backwater towns, where boys reign supreme (…) Unge paints the seasons, flowers, fields, and birds with a poetic touch, and the rare moments of intimacy and trust leave the reader both alert and deeply moved (…) Reading Unge is a pleasure, despite the darkness (…) “Dog Nights” is a gripping, raw, and tender novel. Unge is an undeniable favorite among Nordic authors and a literary gem like no other.

Dagbladet

Mirja Unge’s harrowing, intensely captivating, and remarkably well-written novel is highlight in an already impressive literary career.

Rune Christiansen, award-winning author