Engagement, Gun-Britt Sundstrom's acclaimed novel, captures a young woman's conflict between yearning for love and the desire for independence. Martina and Gustav's relationship, while seemingly stable, reflects deeper tensions. Gustav's pressure for a traditional relationship threatens to confine Martina to a conventional existence. Despite the book's feminist associations, Sundstrom prefers to avoid categorizing it politically. The renewed interest in the novel, especially after its English translation, showcases its lasting impact on readers, some of whom find it transformative and life-changing.
Engagement is not, after all, a traditional love story, but a study of a young woman's fierce resistance to what she feels is the oppressive effect of being loved by a man.
Martina wants to be loved but she also wants to be alone. She wants Gustav to stop repeating himself.
Gustav is building so many structures on top of it that it's shaking underneath them. She muses that you can't tell someone who wants to be with you always that he should be reasonable and ration himself out a little.
Sundstrom shrugs as if to say: this is nuts, but what can you do? Because readers wouldn't let her forget her famous book.
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