By Zeshan Shakar
«I’ts not gonna happen. I don’t like writing. At least not writing a journal, man. That’s for cunts, man. I prefer talking, you know. But ok, yeah man, I’m Jamaal. Black, Muslim,…
«I’ts not gonna happen. I don’t like writing. At least not writing a journal, man. That’s for cunts, man. I prefer talking, you know. But ok, yeah man, I’m Jamaal. Black, Muslim, from Stovner, T.U.V. – Tante Ulrikkes street, you know, always representing.”
“It is tradition to name your firstborn Mohammed, and the Prophet is the Role model for all Muslims, but like, when it is so important to them that I go out there and get a nice job and all that, I really don’t get it, why they gave me that name.”
It is Norway in the 2000s. Two boys grow up on the street Tante Ulrikkes street in Stovner, the north-east part of Oslo. Their parents had hope. They themselves are in the middle of the transition between suburb and wider society, between car wash and student canteen, exam grades and keef.
More than 150.000 copies sold
More than one year on the bestseller list
Winner of the Tarjej Vesaas' Debutant Prize 2018
Stage play in spring 2019
One of the BEST BOOKS OF 2017:
VG, Dagbladet, Aftenposten, Dagens Næringsliv, Adresseavisen, Klassekampen
FOREIGN SALES: Italy, Stilo Editrice
Quotes from the critics:
"[A] powerful, important and artistically successful novel about growing up as a second generation immigrant in Oslo-Suburbia.” VG, 6 out of 6 stars
"OUR STREET isn't important because it represents something or someone, but because it's a really great novel." Morgenbladet
"When there’s hardly anything about a debut to put your finger on, you start wondering which name the author has used for his previous novels.” Adresseavisen, 5 out of 6 stars
"The novel offers political awareness on a difficult subject. It offers drugs, unemployment, child neglect, but also care, warmth, humor and a pride over your roots.” Tara
“Suddenly it is here: The powerful, important and artistically successful novel about growing up as a second generation immigrant in Oslo-Suburbia. About time! The book succeeds as both a coming-of-age and a political novel. The historical backdrop includes September 11th and the Muhammad Cartoon Controversy in Jyllandsposten; how these incidents are met by the immigrant society the boys grow up in, and how the politicians use negative news on conditions they know nothing about, to gain their own cause. [It] awakes both a feeling of release and of discomfort. Release as it feels reliable, suspenseful and the language innovative. Discomfort as it paints a picture of a society where the so-called integration process is still miles away, putting it gently.” VG, 5 out of 6 stars
"When there’s hardly anything about a debut to put your finger on, you start wondering which name the author has used for his previous novels. [...] It is just impressing how the author manages to create two so distinct characters, yet not making a cliché out of them. [Shakar] has also stayed clear from the day-to-day racism that so easily justifies itself as backdrop for a novel like this. Instead, he has invited the reader into two family houses, one of them clearly dysfunctional; the other so called well adjusted. Both of them show how the structures of society shapes them, and how they become, or don’t become, a functional part of it.” Adresseavisen, 5 out of 6 stars
