Tara Selter is a dealer of rare books. She travels frequently to buy and trade books, and during a trip to Paris on November 18th she wakes up the next day and discovers that it’s November 18th again. And again, and again. On the Calculation of Volume is based on the same concept as the famous movie Groundhog Day. Everyone else around Tara experiences the day anew every day, but for her, it’s the same day.
I kept reading because I wanted to find out how she would eventually solve the problem and get out of her predicament, but alas, she never did. After I finished reading the book, disappointed with the ending, I found out it’s a series of seven books.
I don’t know why it’s called On the Calculation of Volume. Salvej Balle is a pretty good writer. The books were translated from Danish by Barbara J. Haveland. It is acclaimed as a literary series. While it sounds like science fiction, the series is supposedly much more philosophical than action-oriented. It explores themes such as the nature of time and memory, loneliness and marriage, identity and personal growth, the way humanity uses resources and finding meaning in life when the future has disappeared.
All those concepts may be important and interesting, but I found the book outright boring, and I certainly won’t be reading the other six in the series. The only interesting concept is that of Groundhog Day, but that was well explored in the old movie and didn’t need a retake.
