Book Review: The Gradual Disappearance of Jane Ashland

By Marcia Divack

In Nicolai Houms compact novel, The Gradual Disappearance of Jane Ashland, Jane, an American author and professor, awakes in a tent in the Norwegian wilderness with no food, no water, and an uncharged cell phone. How she ended up in this predicament is the crux of the novel.

After suffering an unnamed loss, Jane abandons her career and buries herself in online genealogical research and connects with a distant relative in Norway. After a brief but intense correspondence with her relative, she decides to visit him and his family. On her flight from Wisconsin to Oslo, Jane meets Ulf, a zoologist who offers to serve as her friend in Norway. So, Jane takes his phone number before parting ways with him in the airport.

Jane then makes the trek to her relatives house and after a few awkward days spent with him and his family, she abruptly leaves and ends up with Ulf in the wilderness, tracking musk oxen. She ultimately ends up abandoned by Ulf, and the novel proceeds from there in a nonlinear story of tragedy, grief, and perhaps even hope.

The Gradual Disappearance of Jane Ashland is beautifully written and flows so perfectly, it is hard to believe it is an English translation of the original Norwegian text. Despite the brevity of the novel, it manages to be achingly descriptive of places and people, and there are many passages that readers will want to read multiple times, not from a lack of understanding but rather from a desire to experience them again, including this one: The girl had no idea how much she mattered. Even if one told her repeatedly just how precious she was, the awareness would never truly reach someone so young. Her parents had to carry that burden. This novel could easily be devoured in one sitting, as readers get absorbed in the story.