Karon’s Subway
Ever since the ancient Greeks, the ferryman Karon has taken people across the river into the underworld, in exchange for a gold coin. Now Karon has gotten a job in the Stockholm subway and drives the mortals’ line from the suburbs to the city centre, from life to death. The passages travel through the underworld, to and from their loved ones, to and from their jobs, through time towards its end. In the meantime, they sing, about hope, about longing, about all the days of life.
Karon herself is a driver in nail polish and stockings, who dreams of breaking the key, driving the train backwards, or dropping her sweetheart off at an abandoned station. It seems so pointless to charge money and so difficult not to confuse love with grief. But no one, not even Karon, can escape the underworld. We are all dying, yet, we love.
Ida Linde was born in 1980, grew up in Umeå but now lives in Stockholm. She made her debut in 2006 with novel Maskinflickans testamente. Her 2014 novel You Travel North to Die was awarded Norrland Literature Society’s Prize and Aftonbladet’s Literary Prize. Linde has taught Creative Writing at the renowned Biskops Arnö Writers’ School and is…
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About the book
Ever since the ancient Greeks, the ferryman Karon has taken people across the river into the underworld, in exchange for a gold coin. Now Karon has gotten a job in the Stockholm subway and drives the mortals’ line from the suburbs to the city centre, from life to death. The passages travel through the underworld, to and from their loved ones, to and from their jobs, through time towards its end. In the meantime, they sing, about hope, about longing, about all the days of life.
Karon herself is a driver in nail polish and stockings, who dreams of breaking the key, driving the train backwards, or dropping her sweetheart off at an abandoned station. It seems so pointless to charge money and so difficult not to confuse love with grief. But no one, not even Karon, can escape the underworld. We are all dying, yet, we love.
