AshehougAgency

Homeless Children

And it’s not because I want you or because I am horny for you or because you’re a man or because I’d like to get to know you or because I think you can understand me or because I think you’re interesting as a person – that’s not why I’m chasing after you. I’m chasing after you because you’ve got energy. You’re a fag with a life. I wanna be like you. Be free like you. Cool like you. Have your clothes. Be firm like you. Relaxed like you. Exciting like you. A man like you. I want a life like yours.

Hopelessly longing for his father’s approval and for a man who wants to be with him, a young man wanders the streets of Oslo looking for love. The all-encompassing longing takes over his life completely, leading him into a self-effacing existence where all normal limits and boundaries seem to evaporate.

Praise for HOMELESS CHILDREN:

"Raw and sensitive at the same time … an insightful and empathetic portrait of a man on the verge of breaking down"
(Fædrelandsvennen)

"a powerful story of a young man who guided by his genitals is looking for something that can give him support and stability"
(VG)

"a daring literary project … unique in Norwegian literature"
(Romsdals budstikke)

"The book’s portrait of a young gay boy in search of acknowledgment and someone to love, is unembellished and dead honest. So if you’re looking for a book out of the ordinary and can handle one or ten raw depictions of sex, then this is the book for you."
(Universitas)

”Ståle Huse’s second novel, Homeless Children, breaks with the politically correct images of homosexuals as a group of well-meaning and purely nice people .. Fresh where there have been stereo topics … Our man’s hunt for gentlemen is written in such a clinical and insensitive way that Huse manages to capture the great loneliness behind it.”
(Bergens Tidende)

”Raw on childhood, escape and development … The language is raw and expressive. Huse has chosen a relatively sober vocabulary, and the portrayal of the protagonist’s experiences is not hidden behind excessively pornographic language. Next to the rawness and insensitivity, Huse creates a desperately despairing tone through his character’s stories. The novel is at once excessive and extreme, shy and tender”
(Adresseavisen)

First published: 2010, Forlaget Oktober
Ståle Huse: Biography and bibliography