In the Midst of the Crowd (2021)

Stories about communication and masculinity from multiple perspectives, about people facing various manifestations of the “missing piece”. Eight short stories from contemporary life colored with warmth, humor, wistfulness and a candid approach to masculinity: the desperation to grow a beard, cringe-inducing dates and how to humiliate others for fun and sport. The book is Einar Lovdahl’s first work of fiction and one of two books that won Forlagid’s New Voices manuscript contest in 2021.

“The eight short stories are neatly written, realistic and touch on contemporary themes that are at the fore these days. ... Einar Lövdahl's debut bodes well, I'd say; he crafts agile prose and has a good command of the short story form, spicing it up with modernizations like e-mail formatting. The style is effortless and the narratives feel right in their realism ... Most importantly, however, the stories deal with topics that are relevant today and offer unprejudiced examinations of such phenomena as masculinity from multiple perspectives; perpetrators and victims of both sexes, and this revelation or deconstruction of masculinity is well done in my opinion.”