• Will and Testament

  • A Novel
  • By: Vigdis Hjorth
  • Narrated by: Nano Nagle
  • Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (84 ratings)

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Will and Testament  By  cover art

Will and Testament

By: Vigdis Hjorth
Narrated by: Nano Nagle
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Publisher's summary

A controversial best seller from one of Norway’s most intelligent and highly-regarded novelists

When a dispute over her parents’ will grows bitter, Bergljot is drawn back into the orbit of the family she fled 20 years before. Her mother and father have decided to leave two island summer houses to her sisters, disinheriting the two eldest siblings from the most meaningful part of the estate. To outsiders, it is a quarrel about property and favoritism. But Bergljot, who has borne a horrible secret since childhood, understands the gesture as something very different - a final attempt to suppress the truth and a cruel insult to the grievously injured.

Will and Testament is a lyrical meditation on trauma and memory, as well as a furious account of a woman’s struggle to survive and be believed.

©2019 Vigdis Hjorth (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing

What listeners say about Will and Testament

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Well written but difficult subject matter

Narration is great. Style of writing is unusual and at times a bit belaboring but it’s a well-written story about a very difficult subject matter. It’s hard to recommend a book like this because it’s not exactly enjoyable though it is a compelling perspective to get a glimpse of.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

An Illuminating Read

Will and Testament begins as an inheritance dispute over two vacation cabins, and methodically progresses to the real subject: the protagonist’s childhood sexual abuse by her father and her family’s denial of it. Both the prose and the performance are flat, which is fitting: abuse victims suffer from “flat affect” because of their trauma. It wasn’t an easy listen, but I found it compelling.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Tedious!

I struggled with this one.
The writing style was annoying with so many repeats of the same sentence and words.
I pushed through hoping it will get better but it didn't and then it stopped so abruptly I'm still confused.
Narration was okay.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Repeat and repeat again

The character kept repeating herself over and over and over. It was really hard to listen to.

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