Summary

"The Love We Had" is a novel about the complexities of love, loss, and change, set in a small industrial town in Norway, with a writing challenge invitation for readers to review the book on Medium.com for free e-book access.

Abstract

The website content introduces the novel "The Love We Had," which explores the theme of love's impermanence through the experiences of its characters in a fictional small industrial town. The narrative is divided into three parts, each told from the perspective of different characters: Lars, Aslak, and Eira. The story delves into the emotional journey of losing love and the impact it has on one's identity. Readers are invited to participate in a writing challenge by reviewing the novel on Medium.com, based on chapters available online. Participants who publish a review and tag the author, Øivind H. Solheim, will receive free access to the e-book upon its release on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). The novel is accompanied by photographs taken at the Odda Smelter, adding a layer of authenticity to the setting.

Opinions

The author suggests that love is transient, echoing the philosophical idea that "everything changes" and nothing remains constant.
The protagonist's experience reflects the idea that love can be both invigorating and painful, and its loss can lead to a sense of self-loss.
The novel emphasizes the personal growth and lasting memories that love leaves behind, despite its eventual end.
The writing challenge serves as a marketing tool to engage readers and create a community of reviewers and enthusiasts for the novel.
The inclusion of real photographs from the Odda Smelter indicates a deep connection between the setting and the narrative, enhancing the story's realism.
The novel's structure, with multiple narrators, promises a multifaceted perspective on love and relationships, suggesting a complex and nuanced exploration of the theme.

NOVEL

How It Is to Lose Love

The Love We Had, Chapter 17

A writing challenge

Write and publish a book review of the novel The Love We Had, based on freely chosen chapters published on medium.com.

The book review can be a comment of 100 to 200 words, or a longer article, and should be published on medium.com.

Everyone who publishes a book review will receive a link with free access to the e-book when the e-book is published on KDP. Please tag me Øivind H. Solheim at the end of the review to get free access to the e-book.

Odda Smelter, view from the Furnace Building. Photo 2006 © by the author

17 How It Is to Lose Love

I stand in front of the open window and the wind outside pulls the heat from the room. I close my eyes, stand like this for a while, cold air against my face, raindrops against my cheek — is that how it is to lose love?

Then there’s finally a new message. She says she thinks of me. She says she likes to lie next to me. She writes that she wants to be close.

I answer that I want it too, and wait for more.

But she becomes silent. She does not write anymore, she does not speak anymore, she becomes silent and invisible. Losing love is a bit like losing yourself.

Everything has a beginning and an end. Eternal, lasting love can hardly be found. Everything has a start and an ending. Nothing lasts longer than it should. A meeting can be good, for a long time. A meeting can give you energy and strength for a long time. But there will always be a day when you are left alone with the memories you manage to take care of inside you.

To love, is it to give without demanding to get love back?

Is it giving love and trying to balance back there on a trembling tight line?

Love is to live another day in anxious anticipation of when I will see her again.

I have to live on, excited about whether love will come to me soon

Will we be close again?

She was here, she was close. She was one I had a time. Then came winter. She was gone from me, was far away, was quiet, out of sight. What has happened quite concretely and exactly, I will probably never get full knowledge of. Of course, no one knows everything. Everyone knows a little, no one knows everything.

Life is wide and diverse; life can be very good and sometimes the opposite. And this is how life always goes. Here, and elsewhere.

“Everything is flowing,” said Heraclitus, ”everything is changing.”

And that’s true enough, big and small. Everything changes, sooner or later. You cannot twice descend into the same river. Everything is eternally changeable.

The other, this woman — she and I are no exception to the big rule. Everything changes, nothing is the same as before. The world is constantly changing, inside of me as well as outside me.

What I have experienced will be with me further. My feelings, my thoughts — no one can take them away from me. Mine forever is the image of her and me on the inner screen.

The story that the novel tells takes place in a small industrial town at the end of a fjord in western Norway. The story being told and the characters are fictional.

The photos included in the chapters are taken on location in the Odda Smelter (Odda Smelteverk, 1906–2003), the carbide factory that is mentioned in the story.

The Love We Had

Part 1 The Longest Night -chapters 1–3, told by Lars Part 2 The Light Inside -chapters 4–17, told by Aslak Part 3 Save Our Secret Love -chapters 18–48, told by Eira

A writing challenge

Write and publish a book review of the novel The Love We Had, based on freely chosen chapters published on medium.com.

The book review can be a comment of 100 to 200 words, or a longer article, and should be published on medium.com.

NOVEL

How It Is to Lose Love

The Love We Had, Chapter 17

A writing challenge

17 How It Is to Lose Love

The Love We Had

A writing challenge

Links:

Part 1

Part 2