I ”Stortaxi” skriver Flora Wiström som en svensk Sally Rooney

Flora Wiström’s new novel ”Stortaxi” has at the time of writing been released by Norstedts, one of Sweden’s foremost publishing houses. It is the author’s second novel for adults and has quickly attracted attention for its depiction of a group of thirty-somethings in Stockholm who live, as the author puts it, under the impression that the end is nearing. Not in a catastrophic sense, but in the sense of a central period in their lives, which is the transition period when the things that were considered possible marks suddenly stop being possible.

This is the core of the book’s plot: six friends have grown together into a closed circle with a common language, unwritten rules and a strong feeling of “we”. Now, as they approach thirty, the equations between them break apart. Ebba, a young architect who has worked in the old town and at the same time subject to strong pressure, is worried about her younger brother Leo, an art student with destructive patterns who she must manage. Anja and Matti have been a couple for many years, but their relationship is both strained: Anja works in PR, is social and at ease in parties, and is not ready to settle down. Matti, who is an actor while working as a bartender, dreams of a shared future with marriage and children. Emanuel, the charming but little planning of the group, moves between jobs and relationships without direction, while Anja is drawn to him. Helena is the seventh side: outside of it all, yet present enough to have started a family.

As the need to gather at the kitchen table and at larger places begins to wear the relationships, a struggle takes shape between belonging and independence. The constant recreation of community, the need to be close to each other, and each person’s individual plans collide.

An important quality of the novel is the writing and composition. Wiström has had a blog since her teenage years, and for those who have followed it there are obvious similarities in the tone of inner logic. But she has chosen to work with the material in written form, with a clear distilling of events and emotions. The result is that the content becomes literary expression, not just private documentation. The novel is therefore both rooted in contemporary reality and well constructed as fiction; where the characters are allowed to grow and where the six protagonists have real psychological depth.

The novel using multiple viewpoints, moving the focus and letting the reader so listen to the different inner states of voice from chapter to chapter. It allows the same event to appear differently depending on who is looking at it. The connection between human connection and freedom is sought through the book.

Norstedts, which over the decades has published a number of the most important works in Swedish modern, has it in his list. With this year’s current title, the publisher adds without doubt to autumn activity on the contemporary fiction front: a book that deals with the theme so common today: the youth navigating the boundary between being an individual and being part of a group.

For Wiström, this is an important moment in her authorship. She debuted in the world of the blog with a strong and personal voice and through the years has pushed toward the novel. “Stortaxi” reinforces the impression of an author who balances successfully between broader narrative and fully packed dialogue, at the same time as it offers a memory of life in present-day Stockholm in the eastern Sweden with smart details and community textures.

”Stortaxi” contributes a valuable look at the ways ambition, family and companionship act as a requirement both for each other and the self. With its release at Norstedts, this is now reaching a wide audience, a title to add to the cultural calendar.