REGARDING CALCULATION OF VOLUME I

Have you ever thought about what it would be like, if you were stuck in the same day? To be honest, I haven’t given it much thought before I read the book “Regarding calculation of volume”, written by the Danish author Solvej Balle. However, after having read the book, I have not been able to escape the thought, what would I do, if the same day kept repeating itself? Probably the same as the first-person narrator of the novel, Tara Selter, who finds herself stuck in the same day. More specifically, the 18th of November. After a business trip to Bordeaux, she returns to her home in the fictive city of Clairon-sous-Bois in the Northern part of France, where she lives with her husband Thomas. Together they run an antiquity bookstore and share a happy and undramatic life, or at least until they get separated by time. Unlike Tara, Thomas cannot remember that the 18th of November has occurred multiple times, and unless Tara intervenes in his day, it will follow the same pattern. Each day they can have different experiences together, but when they wake up in the morning his memory of the former day is deleted, and he is of the conviction that he is about to experience the first 18th of November. In the beginning, Tara is patient and as they wake up every morning, she is forced to explain the situation to Thomas. Together they try to understand the breach of time and work intensively together to come up with a proper solution to the problem.

Nevertheless, as the 18th of November keeps repeating itself and approaches 365 repetitions, she begins to lose hope. Even though she physically can be together with her husband, they are divided by two times, and they can never create new memories together.

To find out the rest of the plot, and whether it will ever be the 19th of November for Tara Selter, you will have to read the book yourself. Otherwise you could always ask me, I’m happy to share my excitement of the book with you. And don’t be frightened about the title of the book, you don’t need a math degree in order to read it. The book is without a doubt one of the most interesting books I have ever read. Luckily this is only the first book out of a series of seven. I have already started reading the second one, and it’s definitely not disappointing. I will end my review by giving the book 5 out of 5 globes and with my favourite quote of novel “The days flow, and I’m flowing with them. I wake up and follow the pattern, and before I notice it, the day is over”. I hope you feel inspired to read the book yourself.