Invasion! is a wide-ranging collection of material from Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s celebrated writings.
The title of the book comes from the name of Khemiri’s first play, which was performed before sold out houses by the Stockholm City Theatre and became one of the biggest public hits of recent years. The book also contains Five Times God, a new play that premiered with both Riksteatern and Stockholm City Theatre in October of 2008.
A number of short stories and commentaries, which have been published in some of Sweden’s biggest daily newspapers and heard on Swedish Public Radio, weave their way between the two plays. One of the short stories ("Oändrat oändlig") was recently awarded the Swedish Radio's prize for best Swedish short story.
Whatever literary form Khemiri chooses, the reader has the opportunity to savour the same powerful prose.
PRAISE FOR "INVASION!" (the book)
“It seems that everything Khemiri touches turns to gold. And with talent like his, how could it be any other way?”
/Corren
“Khemiri's collection of stories, essays and plays reveals a marvellous sense of humour. His irony flies off in all directions and subverts our most cherished beliefs. He is a linguistic innovator, and he fashions his ideological critique to support that mission.”
/Svenska Dagbladet
“He no longer has anything to prove. Even the kind of collection that rarely attracts much attention is vital and inventive... You wonder who gave him the right to be so good… If this is meant to be a modest effort, we can only expect great things to come.”
/Dagens Nyheter
“His prose is both dazzling and importunate with its insidious, ironic trapdoors... He's got to be the most genuine writer of my generation.”
/Sydsvenskan
“Invasion!... is a powerful, unnerving attack on drama as an art form and on entrenched middle-class prejudices, all executed with linguistic playfulness. Khemiri has been the best that Sweden has to offer ever since Ett Öga Rött, his debut novel.”
/Borås Tidning
“He is a startling, almost acrobatic word craftsman.... Invasion! gives us a first row seat to what may be Sweden's most powerful, virtuoso language laboratory at the moment.”
/Dalademokraten
“Khemiri's greatest asset is his spirited and inexhaustible reservoir of language.”
/Helsingborgs Dagblad
“What an accomplishment!... His irony is tempered by conciliatory humanism, his audacity is tamed by obstinate humility, and his humour escapes innocuousness by gazing into the void and the abyss. Khemiri's mastery is particularly evident in his laconic drama and deliberate timing.”
/Norrbottens-kuriren
“He portrays both his characters and his settings with intelligence and imagination, ingenious humour and subterranean social criticism.”
/Norrköpings Tidningar
“Khemiri's talent, ingenuity and intelligence take over the moment he puts his pen to paper.”
/Arbetarbladet
“Very effective, always with perfectly calibrated rage just beneath the surface.”
/Göteborgs-Posten
"The result is linguistic experimentation at its funniest."
/Swedish Book Review
