Title: Rhododendron Cigars
Description: The man who dies on page one, makes it clear that DNA is not flawless.
This is a contemporary novel with sociopolitical crosscurrents and a melting pot of people.
It is the fragmented story of a man, a feminist and seeker, torn between Europe and New York City, a loner, trying to find his unknown child among millions of New Yorkers, but the son´s whereabouts are kept a secret by the vindictive mother.
The novel has layers of narratives, including a love story, a cultural journey and a parade of everyday themes. It is not a crime drama, rather a series focusing on longing and belonging, the protagonist an old Holden Caulfield full of angst and alienation. The novel is a peaceful river with deceitful currents and rocks. The language is simple, but spiced with a playful use of vocabulary.
An attempt is made to put a number of documents together, to unfold a dead man´s story. Starting there, we follow his life back and forth, in short pieces and in longer stories. The conversations with the man´s only friend at a coffee shop play a big role in the story.
The protagonist is a complex hero, sympathetic, selfish, kind, sarcastic, loving, the way people are, as he develops thoughts about life, love, deceit, relationships, children and social changes. Anyone with a direct or indirect immigrant history will understand the novel. Anyone else will probably recognize an interesting story of a fellow being´s life.
Subjects: immigrant, New York City, Sweden, Estonia, prodigal son, love affairs, Iraq, friendship, suicide, Battery Park, DNA
Places: New York City, London, Gothenburg, Visby, the Iraqi desert
People: The Old man (his name is only used a handful of times)
Time periods: It is contemporary with scenes from the past, the 1940s and onwards