(from the back of the book)
Our hero, a passionate film buff, leads a life that revolves around his part-time job at a video store, the company of a few precious friends, and a daily routine that more often than not concludes with pizza and a movie in his treasured small space in Stockholm. When he receives an astronomical invoice from a random national bureaucratic agency, everything tumbles into madness as he calls the hotline night and day to find out why he is the recipient of the largest bill in the entire country.
What is the price of a cherished memory? How much would you pay for a beautiful summer day? How will our carefree idealist, who is content with so little and has no chance of paying what he owes, find a way out of this mess?
The protagonist in this offbeat story starts off sounding like a lovable loser. But as the story goes along and the bill he receives for all the happiness in his life starts to add up, you begin to wonder. This man that does not seem to have much going on is told that he has been happier than anyone else in all of Sweden. And the more he tries to prove that his life wasn't worth the price, the more the price keeps going up. Haw can that be? What is it that makes his life so good? That is what the story makes you think about. About the value of lost love, about finding joy in the small things, about being happy with what you have. You do have to grant the unbelievable premise that such a tally is possible, but it was delivered in a way that made you follow along without thinking about it too much. The seemingly simple, short story, that is both funny and sad, has a surprisingly life affirming message. It is a fun and thought provoking story.
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