Tara Selter’s epic journey through November 18th continues in Book II of the masterly On the Calculation of Volume from one of Scandinavia’s most beloved writers.
A WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK OF 2024
The first year of November eighteenth is coming to a close, and Tara Selter has returned to her hotel room in Paris, the place where it all began. As if perched at the edge of a precipice, she readies herself to leap into November nineteenth.
Book II of Solvej Balle’s astounding seven-part series On the Calculation of Volume beautifully expands on the speculative premise of Book I, drawing us further into the maze of time, where space yawns open, as if suddenly gaining a new dimension, extending into ever more fined-grained textures. Within this new reality, our senses and the tactility of things grows heightened: sounds, smells, sights, objects come suddenly alive, as if the world had begun whispering to us in a new language.
And yet as the world announces itself anew, Tara’s own sense of self is eroding, making her wonder just which bits of her are really left intact? “It is the Tara Selter with hopes and dreams who has fallen out of the picture, been thrown off the world, run over the edge, been poured out, carried off down the stream of eighteenths of November, lost, evaporated, swept out to sea.” She begins to think of herself as a relic of the past, as something or someone leftover, similar to the little Roman coin she carries around in her pocket, without a purpose or a place.
Desperate to recover a sense of herself within time, Tara decides to head north by train in search of winter, but soon she turns south in pursuit of spring, as she tries to grasp on to durational time through seasonal variations. Amazingly, On the Calculation of Volume Book II is all movement and motion―taking us through the European countries of the North and the South, through seasons, and languages―a beautiful travelogue that is also a love letter to our vanishing world. To be continued.
The series
On the Calculation of Volume invites readers into a world where time loops endlessly, and every repetition deepens the weight of human experience. At the center is Tara Selter, a rare books dealer who wakes on the same November 18th again and again, while the world around her continues unaware. In this ceaseless day, the ordinary becomes extraordinary, and the familiar reveals hidden patterns, subtle choices, and the fragility of connection.
Read full series description
The series unfolds as a meditation on memory, perception, and the passing of time, transforming what might seem repetitive into a layered exploration of existence. Tara’s encounters, both mundane and extraordinary, force her to grapple with loneliness, love, and responsibility, while subtle shifts in her environment reveal the consequences of her actions in ways that are at once philosophical and emotionally resonant.
Across the volumes, the narrative stretches beyond the personal into broader questions of community, environmental cycles, and the delicate balance between agency and inevitability. Repetition is not simply a narrative device but a lens through which the ordinary is magnified, moral choices are sharpened, and the texture of life itself becomes visible.
Praised for its quiet intensity and intellectual depth, the series blends speculative fiction with literary introspection, drawing readers who appreciate richly atmospheric storytelling and morally nuanced characters. On the Calculation of Volume is a journey through time, perception, and human resilience, a meditation on what it means to live fully even when every day feels the same.
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