{"id":7067126,"date":"2026-09-26T04:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T04:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/books\/book-review-waist-deep-by-linea-maja-ernst\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T04:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T04:44:12","slug":"book-review-waist-deep-by-linea-maja-ernst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067126","title":{"rendered":"Book review: Waist Deep by Linea Maja Ernst"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

\"WaistOn our holiday in Denmark, we found a bookshop with a decent selection of Danish books translated into English. In a surprise turn, I picked out a sci-fi novel (Freezing Point<\/i> by Anders Bodelsen) and Tim picked a literary novel: Waist Deep<\/i><\/a> by Linea Maja Ernst (translated from Danish by Sherilynn Nicolette Hellberg).<\/p>\n

A group of friends from university, 12 years after they first met, spend seven summer days in a lakeside cabin. It should be a lovely, relaxing time with their favourite people. But desires, anxieties and the realities of adult life are putting everyone under pressure. No-one is saying what they really think or feel.<\/p>\n

Sylvia is our main point of view character. She\u2019s a daydreamer, easily lost in her own thoughts and her version of reality. She\u2019s also more than a little pretentious \u2013 she longs to be seen as artistic and insightful.<\/p>\n

Gry is the mother hen \u2013 and the only literal mother in the group. She studies folklore, but worries that she is no longer taken seriously as an academic, or as a person beyond her role as a parent.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAll of her friends were ready to be admitted with postnatal depression, they were reading critical books about motherhood, \u2018breaking the taboo\u2019, and saying aloud how terrible the early years were, and in secret Gry was loving it, the oxytocin taps were open wide\u2026She feels it like a deep confidence inside her\u2026But who is she? Is she a Moonminmamma, creating a safe home and nurturing everyone, never herself needing to go on strenuous adventures, risking anything, wanting anything?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Quince is the only single person in the group. He\u2019s a charming, Puck-like figure but secretly wishes he were more traditionally masculine. As Sylvia\u2019s best friend he tends to support her, but also recognises her capacity for destructiveness.<\/p>\n

Karen is the natural leader \u2013 tall, beautiful, capable, no-nonsense. The cabin belongs to her family \u2013 she spent summers there as a child and feels protective of the area.<\/p>\n

Esben is a mild-mannered, reserved writer who has achieved some success. In fact, he is probably the most successful member of the group, though you wouldn\u2019t know it from his demeanour.<\/p>\n

The holiday also includes plus-ones \u2013 Sylvia\u2019s girlfriend Charlie and Gry\u2019s husband Adam \u2013 and Gry and Adam\u2019s two young children. They\u2019re very much outsiders in this group. Karen and Esben have been a couple since university. Charlie has become close to Quince but she doesn\u2019t really know the others.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a whole raft of hidden desires, jealousies and resentments here. Some of which I\u2019m more sympathetic to than others. As a trans man, Quince is jealous of the cis men present, but even more jealous of Charlie, who exists comfortably in a non-traditionally-gendered space. Ernst writes very believably about this \u2013 it\u2019s not the only thing Quince thinks about, just one of many.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Sylvia has been harbouring a crush on Esben for a decade. She has convinced herself she stands a chance with Esben, even as he and Karen announce they are getting married. Her flights of fancy get increasingly convoluted as the days pass.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cSylvia feels full of potential when they talk, when he nods thoughtfully at something she has said\u2026She loves that she still gets slightly nervous when they talk, an exposed feeling, like taking an exam. If they were a couple, that would be her normal state, then she would have the energy to finish boring books, she would understand that they weren\u2019t boring at all, she would rise up.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As well as these bigger issues, there are pettier ones. Who is or isn\u2019t pulling their weight at mealtimes. (There are some mouthwatering descriptions of food.) Who is joining in group activities and who is keeping themselves apart.<\/p>\n

One thing I should mention about this book: it\u2019s very frank about sex. These people are young and horny and this is evident from the first page. This never felt unnecessary to me \u2013 it\u2019s simply that sex is part of these characters\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n

This is exactly the kind of novel about middle-class arty people that can be deeply annoying. But Ernst managed to make me care about these people. There were moments that made me ache for a character who is being misunderstood, or holding back the truth for fear of misunderstanding. Plus I was reading this book in the Danish countryside on my summer holiday, often with a drink in hand.<\/p>\n

The path the story takes isn\u2019t predictable. And the commentary on gender and relationships is different from what I\u2019ve read elsewhere. I can see why this has been an international bestseller.<\/p>\n

Kun Til Navlen<\/i> published 2024 by Lindhardt og Ringhof.<\/p>\n

This translation first published 2025 by Jonathan Cape.<\/p>\n

Source: Politikens Boghal<\/a>, Copenhagen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On our holiday in Denmark, we found a bookshop with a decent selection of Danish books translated into English. In a surprise turn, I picked out a sci-fi novel (Freezing Point by Anders Bodelsen) and Tim picked a literary novel: Waist Deep by Linea Maja Ernst (translated from Danish by Sherilynn Nicolette Hellberg). A group […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7067127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[2268,1636,9373,55579,2631,19128,142309,5687,226246,40691,3749,615],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7067126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-book","tag-deep","tag-denmark","tag-ernst","tag-friendship","tag-identity","tag-jealousy","tag-lgbtqia","tag-linea","tag-maja","tag-review","tag-waist"],"yoast_head":"\nBook review: Waist Deep by Linea Maja Ernst - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""She loves that she still gets slightly nervous when they talk, an exposed feeling, like taking an exam"\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067126\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book review: Waist Deep by Linea Maja Ernst - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""She loves that she still gets slightly nervous when they talk, an exposed feeling, like taking an exam"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067126\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-26T04:44:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/waist-deep.jpg.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"326\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067126#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067126\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"Book review: Waist Deep by Linea Maja Ernst\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-26T04:44:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067126\"},\"wordCount\":811,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067126#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/waist-deep.jpg.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Book\",\"Deep\",\"DENMARK\",\"Ernst\",\"Friendship\",\"identity\",\"Jealousy\",\"LGBTQIA\",\"Linea\",\"Maja\",\"review\",\"Waist\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Books\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067126#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067126\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067126\",\"name\":\"Book review: Waist Deep by Linea Maja Ernst - 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