Kirkus Reviews gave the book a starred review, describing it as "A modern saga of rocketships, ice floes and dreams of the Caribbean, and great fun to read." Sydney Morning Herald critic David Messer gave a more mixed review, citing the author's wordy, detailed descriptive style as "both his greatest strength and weakness".A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Title of 2011 In Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion?, readers follow a man who wishes not to be followed, a man who, after a series of personal and professional disasters, finds himself lying on a rain-soaked road in the desolate, treeless Faroe Islands, population only a few thousand, a wad of bills in his pocket and no memory of how he had come to be there. ģ:AM Magazine reviewer Colin Herd, in a review entitled "The great Faroese novel?", praised the book and noted that "Harstad’s novel about flying under the radar has categorically failed to do so, garnering wide praise, being made into a T.V.
The American edition was long-listed for Three Percent magazine's Best Translated Book Award.
Previously, New York magazine had included the book on a list of untranslated books most deserving of an English version. It appeared in English in 2011 from Seven Stories Press in the United States and from UWA Publishing in Australia/New Zealand. The novel has also been published in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Germany, the Faroe Islands, Italy, Russia, Korea, Poland and France. Using the lunar-like landscape of the Faroe Islands as a backdrop, the novel deals with their attempt at finding a balance between being second best and anonymous without going into total isolation. Not everyone wants to star in a movie, some just want to watch the movie." After losing both his girlfriend and his job, he accidentally ends up on the Faroe Islands, where he meets people with the same ideals as himself, living in a psychiatric halfway house. He has an extraordinary talent as a singer, but refuses to become a singer in his friend's semi-famous band, arguing that "not everyone wants to be a leader, some just want to be the secretary. He looks upon astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the Moon, as his role model, and tries to live up to what he thinks Aldrin would do in any given situation. The book deals with a thirty-year-old gardener, Mattias, near obsessed with the thought of being second best, the greatest number two, much to his girlfriend's grievance. Buzz Aldrin, What Happened To You in All The Confusion? (Original title: Buzz Aldrin, hvor ble det av deg i alt mylderet?) is a novel by the Norwegian author Johan Harstad, published in 2005.
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