I found this volume to be the weakest of the series so far. Perhaps it was the repeated, gratuitous descriptions of a young Knausgaard shitting with his friends in the woods or just the overall lack of narrative structure for much of the book. Later on we experience more of Knausgaard's self-discovery as an adolescent and also come to understand how his early childhood is so dominated by the menacing figure of his abusive father- which is a reoccuring theme in the series. The strongest parts of the book were his meditations on this childhood trauma and also regarding the often violent imposition of gender norms within Norwegian society in the periphery during the 1970s and how Knausgaard was bullied for his perceived effeminate behavior.