Kjell Vowles reviews BLA / BLUE .....in Swedish..... a cli-fi novel from Norway by Maja Lunde, part 2 of her 4 part ''Climate Quartet''

Kjell Vowles reviews BLA / ''BLUE'' .....in Swedish..... a cli-fi novel from Norway by Maja Lunde, part 2 of her Climate Quartet

"We just experienced growth, never resisted." The words are Signes, when she was in a laconic way sums up his generation. Signe is one of two personas in Maja Lunde's 2017  novel "Blue". 

Signe belongs 1950's generation, which has lived in parallel with the so-called large acceleration. After 1950, almost all curves risen, ranging from carbon emissions to water use has increased and with the help of fossil fuels, the global economy has doubled over again. The material wealth has increased, but at the same time, species have died out at a pace that makes people look like the most bloodthirsty beast. Natural habitat destruction and global warming raises the sea and put ecosystems under pressure. But so prolongs, we live by faith in the eternal economic growth, the God we worship, hoping to avoid having to face opposition from a finite planet. We believe that growth will save us from the longer heat waves, heavier downpours and intense hurricanes. Excuse me, the last words are my own, but it is easy to be caught up in Signes fury over the state of affairs. Signe himself has invited the opposition. She has been an activist all his life. Despite the split the family so she stood on her father's side in the protests against burying the river in Western Norway, where she grew up, while the mother was among those who wanted to exploit. During the protests, she met Magnus, who would be the love of her life but was later betrayed her ideals. Now they have not seen for decades, but alone in a sailboat, she's coming to him. She will sail from Norway to France to demand accountability for the betrayal that she means not only affected her, but all future generations. Those who will face the resistance Signe Magnus themselves have never experienced. One of them is David, the book's second narrator. He is 25 years old and lives with her six year old daughter Lou in a refugee camp in northern France in 2041. Southern Europe has been hit by a five-year drought, the crops have not materialized, and the limits to water the countries of the north are closed. David's wife disappeared with their baby as they fled the flames in his hometown. Now the experience of David and daughter a slow boredom in the camp. Everything is about to queue and wait, partly because the rest of the family will get there but also to get food, water and the opportunity to shower. At the same time they carry on a hopeless hope to go on to some place where there is still rain clouds in the sky. "Blue" is the second installment in what will be a climate quartet. The first part, "THE HISTORY OF BEES ," was an unexpected success in 2015 and sold more than 500,000 copies. Although there worked Maja Lunde parallel stories in different time periods, in order to weave together the generations that create warming with those who suffer the worst consequences. There are several intricate personal accounts in the books, and in the "Blue", the primary focus Signe receiving a depth worthy of the world's oceans.It is a privilege to hear her thoughts about love, morality and a troubled world. To follow David's and Lou's suffering is more anguished. You can feel the widespread hopelessness in the camp, and how in the end, the wait itself that makes people hold to the hope, because life loses its meaning on the day you stop waiting. It is also noticeable that Maja Lunde has done his research, the account had seemed credible even though she claimed that it was about a contemporary refugee camps. In English often called ''climate fiction'' and films with the climate theme for "cli-fi" access, climate fiction, and mostly it is about post-apocalyptic future books with a climate dispute. What distinguishes Maja Lunde books from many others in the genre, and what certainly is part of the key to the success of the author, is that she manages to bring the stories closer to man as an individual. By depicting the present, at least partly, she shows how we are living today, both are involved in creating the climate crisis while we can see the first effects. It is also easier to relate to people who live in a world that is still similar to ours, and the story of Signe's addition of environmental activism is also about class, love, rural, and parental relationships. Questions that we can associate with and who in turn will be influenced by a warmer world.

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