''Don't Leave Me'' () is a 2009 novel by the Norwegian writer Stig Sæterbakken. It tells the story of a 17-year-old boy with a dark personality who falls in love with a woman for the first time, but his fear that she will leave him destroys the relationship. The story is told in reverse chronology and written in second person.

Publication

The book was published in 2009 through

Cappelen Damm Cappelen Damm AS is a Norwegian publisher established in 2007. The present company resulted from the merger of J.W. Cappelens Forlag, founded in 1829, and N.W. Damm & Søn, founded in 1843. Cappelen Damm is jointly owned by the Bonnier Group ...

. An English translation by Seán Kinsella is set to be published in July 2016.

Reception

Anne Cathrine Straume of

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...

wrote:

Sæterbakken doesn't explain, he lays out situations. And they are distinctively teenager-like, where small details in friends' word choices can get unproportional importance. ... If you aren't tempted by yet another unhappy love story, you should read Sæterbakken because of the language. This text gives me the sensation that every sentence is carefully elaborated, that the language wants something, moves towards something, grabs ahold.

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newsp ...

s Maya Troberg criticised the story for being predictable, but wrote:

''Don't Leave Me'' is a novel that comes close to formal perfection. With elegance and ease, a complex story is served—about existential loneliness and isolation, inner rage and darkness.

References

External links

Publicity page
at the Norwegian publisher's website
Publicity page
at the American publisher's website 2009 novels 21st-century Norwegian novels Norwegian-language novels Novels by Stig Sæterbakken Cappelen Damm books {{2000s-ya-novel-stub