The Hum of Concrete is an evocative novel a couple of urban and its humans. Set within the multicultural urban of Malmö, Sweden, The Hum of Concrete is the tale of 5 humans whose lives intersect.
Consumed with melancholy, Palestinian Nassrin walks into the sea along with her child in her palms. Susanna dares to take a stand opposed to gay-bashers. by way of starlight, Bodil sees town from the roof of a church. Estella meets her tricky little half-brother for the 1st time. Lonely Rhyme seeks guard in a tree filled with fairy lighting. And all around them, the hum of concrete.
With photographic precision, Anna Solding captures either gentle and shadow present in the fleeting fantastic thing about way of life. From the silences among humans and the ordinariness of locations, she conjures narrative jewels of intelligence and pleasure.
The Hum of Concrete is a booklet for readers who get pleasure from being transported to another position, a true nation and a true urban yet person who you may now not recognize a lot approximately but. throughout the daily lives of the characters we believe the fun of the altering seasons, the helplessness whilst a person just about us are misplaced perpetually, the tingling of sexual pressure at paintings, the amazement that childbirth brings. the folks in those chapters remind us of ourselves, of our moms, of our youngsters and we believe at domestic with them after they lead us through the hand into surprising territory, exploring more odd elements of lifestyles comparable to lesbian motherhood and intersex stipulations.
The Hum of Concrete has bought lots of praise:
‘The characters who determine within the interwoven tales that make up The Hum of Concrete are taken care of with heartwarming tenderness. The narration is unobtrusively and successfully controlled, the Swedish settings vividly realized.’
Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee, writer of Disgrace
‘Few novels invite you in as irresistibly as this one, and few offer you as exhilarating and miraculous a experience. Anna Solding writes with such tenderness, intelligence and invention. a singular to like and discover with and go back to, and a so much compelling and fascinating new voice in Australian writing.’
Peter Bishop, Varuna – The Writers’ House
‘Anna Solding’s spare and sensual prose strikingly information the liminal existences of 5 girls dwelling in a single of Sweden’s so much different towns. Malmö bargains up its secrets and techniques, its sufferings and joys within the lives of these we don't usually comprehend. even if black, brown or white, they live to tell the tale the fringes of municipal apartments, hospitals and the ocean, dreaming of somewhere else. This discontinuous narrative weaves a paranormal intimacy into the cycle of beginning, intercourse and loss of life within the urban, and it doesn't glance clear of seeing hope.’
Brian Castro, writer of the tub Fugues
Judges’ assertion on the pageant Awards for Literature 2010 Unpublished Manuscript Award, the place The Hum of Concrete used to be shortlisted:
‘Anna Solding has created a unusual panoply of characters, wielding admirable authorial keep an eye on, adopting numerous voices and personae, and holding her narrative buzzing with aptitude and self assurance. kids, adults, hermaphrodites, contributors from a number ethnic backgrounds, the radical is determined in Sweden and is on one point a hymn to that nation and Malmö specifically. “You cross an entourage dressed up as Pippi Longstocking, proclaiming over beers held excessive to have gained their warmth within the dragon boat pageant. You can’t support yet giggle. those middle-aged women and men paddling for his or her office workforce make a mockery of the parable approximately reserved Swedes.” This writer has arrived fully-fledged and able to go.’