Has anyone read Solvej Balles' "On the Calculation of Volume"?

[MsAmerica]

Just an idle question. I was just reading a review of this, which sounds intriguing - a person keeps re-living the same day, eternally, reminiscent of the movie "Groundhog Day." But it's such a mammoth multi-volume undertaking that it's not for me, at least right now.

But I'd be curious to know if anyone here has read it, and, if so, what you thought.

https://www.ndbooks.com/book/on-the-calculation-of-volume-book-i/

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/you-can-go-home-again-and-again-and-again/

https://ocreviewofbooks.org/2025/04/15/solvej-balle-on-the-calculation-of-volume-book-i-eric-bies/

www.publishersweekly.com/9780811237253

No, but it’s been on my mind for aeons. As an alternative to the longeurs of Karl Ove Knausgaard.

Yes, have read the first 4 books.

I read the first one not knowing there was more to come.

It took me a while to get I to it as I wasn't sure if I liked the repetitive style of writing but after a while I found it mesmerising and addictive!

Yes, I have read the first three. I love them, just find them soothing and gentle.

Lol. Right, that was the first name that popped into my head.

I've read 1-3 and no4 is waiting to be read. They are gentle but fascinating - strong recommend.

I have. I really disliked it. It was a bit…vague and not what I was expecting.

I've read three of the books, I don't know if I'd recommend them. They're so slow moving. Very different to anything else I've read. I'm a fast reader and found them a bit frustrating, but also wanted to see what happened next. I'm wondering if the writer even knows how she'll wrap it up, it has the air of something that will have an unsatisfactory conclusion.

I read part of the first one and lost the will to live; it's so boring.

I thought these were fabulous books - really gripping, fascinating and thought-provoking. This series has probably provoked more conversation between me and DH, and me and various friends, than any other books I’ve read for years!

Love the diversity of opinions!

Recommend. I took found them mesmerising and thoughtful. It's like literary fiction got hold of the apocalypse genre and gave it a good shake to produce something new.
The volumes change, so just as you find you had enough of one type of solution, the author finds a new way to explore the dilemma.
Particularly enjoyed the last one, vol IV.

I listened to one audio and enjoyed the narrator.

I was so intrigued by the variety of responses to this, I've picked up Vol 1 from the library tonight to see what I make of it...

@MsAmerica Just finished volume 1, which may be one of the saddest books I've read for a long time.

[SPOILERS AHEAD I GUESS, DON'T READ IF YOU'RE PLANNING TO READ THE BOOK]

What a lot there is to think about. At first I was kind of getting the rage about seeming discrepancies that are in fact just artifacts of so much prior time-travel fiction. "But what about the books eh?!" But after a little while that faded and I was just carried away by the strangely banal weirdness.

Is this just life? Are we all actually living the same day over and over? But we all pretend to add a day on to the calendar each day, to give our lives some external meaning? It seems that very many days are the same, going to your job (unless you get fired), packing kids off to school (unless they're starting a new school, or have been expelled), having the same conversations (unless you've split up).

Then I thought, although she says she is living the same day over and over, is she? Really it feels more like Thomas is living the same day over and over, and she is observing a whole series of different same days passing by.

Also passing thoughts: telling Thomas every day (at first) what had happened sounds a lot like living with someone with dementia. I can really see how that would not be sustainable day after day after day.

Also: on one level, it sounds like a responsibility free life, just doing what you want really, knowing nobody else will remember what you did the next day, or even that you were there...

And also also, the image of the depletion, the cumulative impact of consumption embodied by Tara's imagined pile of over six hundred pizza boxes.

Ultimately the ever increasing drift apart between Tara and Thomas brings me right back to thinking, is this just life?

I've ordered the next book, how could I not find out what happens next?

I've read I to III. I like them, and their quirky world. I do feel like there is a diminishing return though. Reading the first one, it was astonishing - very fresh and innovative. After three, it's starting to feel a bit like cashing in, as people hope that all will be revealed...

Thank you, @Waawo, for your thoughtful post.

Coincidentally, there was something mentioned on the radio today, about book recommendations, that implied it was casual fun.

A couple of years ago I went to a Prom concert, Mahler's fifth symphony, Mark Elder conducting the Hallé for the last time. It was breathtaking, emotionally charged, an incredible performance. The next day, this comment BTL of the Guardian review made me laugh:

"I took my wife to see him conduct Mahler 3 in his last season in Manchester. It was almost overwhelming. At the end the audience went crazy, and as Sir Mark stood for many ovations he steadied himself gripping the podium. You could see he was exhausted by the immense physical and emotional effort he had put into the performance. My wife said it was ok and she really liked a bit in the second movement that reminded her of Chitty Chiity Bang Bang. Music is such a subjective experience."