Naive. Super
Erlend Loe's short Norwegian novel follows a 25-year-old narrator who suddenly feels that nothing in his life means anything. He drops out, moves into his brother's empty apartment, and tries to rebuild a sense of purpose from the ground up, making lists of things he has and things he wants, playing with a child's ball and hammer toy, and writing letters to a scientist about time. The voice is plain and funny, and the small, almost childlike experiments slowly add up to a gentle meditation on what makes a life feel real. It became a cult favorite and is the book Pete Buttigieg liked so much he learned Norwegian to read it in the original.
What you might want to know about Naive. Super
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A young man hits a quiet crisis, quits everything, and tries to figure out how to live by making lists, bouncing a ball, and asking very simple questions.
Pete Buttigieg has said he taught himself Norwegian so he could read Erlend Loe's work in the original language, and he listed Naive. Super among his ten favorite books.
Naive. Super was written by Erlend Loe, published in 1996 by Canongate Books.
Naive. Super is 197 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Naive. Super takes most readers 3 to 4 hours to finish.
Naive. Super is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.