New Swedish Books. Spring 2016 1
SPRING 2016 LISA WOOL-RIM SJÖBLOM (WORDS AND IMAG
ES) PALIMPSEST GALAGO RIGHTS: GALAGO Palimpsest A palimpsest is an ancient manuscript from the Antiquity, on parchment or papyrus, upon which texts have repeatedly been scratched off and replaced by new ones. Adopted from Korea to Sweden in the 1970s, Lisa has never managed to find out anything about her background or her original family – she’s been ‘overwritten’ with Swedishness. As she digs deeper into her background now she is an adult, she finds it’s much more complex than she realised. Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom draws her life with a clear line and muted colours that underline the narrator’s underlying feeling of rootlessness and restlessness. And perhaps an ounce of bitterness? A bare-all tale that not only highlights the everyday racism that shapes her personal experience, but also dares to challenge the pervasive idea of adoption as an inherently good, unselfish action. 67