By Karen Lise Søndergaard. Translated by John Mason.

The Hollow Girl is a successor to Søren Jessens Den skæve dreng ('The Offbeat Boy') of 2004. Both are so-called “episodic novels” in which a primary school class provides the framework and the focal point for a handful of self-contained but associated narratives, each with its own principle character, tone and theme. The classroom is the classic setting for juvenile novels. It’s an arena for friendship, conflict, intrigue and bonding in the same way as the school year reflects the development from childhood to adolescence that often forms the theme of juvenile literature. But 'The Hollow Girl' is not a classical juvenile novel. In it, the classroom functions almost like a small laboratory for studies in the lives and minds of human beings. And Søren Jessen uses his magnifying glass. In his portraits of young people he goes right up close, visiting the places no one else is allowed to see – the secret feelings, the off-the-wall thoughts, the infatuations, the desires and the taboos. With a narrative voice that is almost mundane, he takes the problems young people struggle with and makes them tangible and physical. When Mette in the title story feels hollow, then, well, she really is hollow: ‘Doink, doink, doink’ we read, when she beats her chest with her fists. Julie has no depth and Bo has forgotten himself. Literally.

Several of the stories play on the relationship between fantasy and reality, as in Afvigelser ('Deviations'), where Morten’s perception of his father as an ‘alien’ from a distant planet proves to be more than simply teenage irritation. Fortunately, when Caroline in your class turns out to be a true Venus, it doesn’t matter if your father comes from Mars! In Skyggen ('The Shadow') an infatuation gets out of control when Lasse falls for Mette and allows himself to be – physically -- swallowed up in order to be close to her. Without beating about the bush, other stories in the volume manage to communicate self-hate, happy slapping or the abuse of lighter fuel, and this can make for grim reading. However, the writing is at times both grotesque and funny, and is always free of patronizing adult ideas about what it means to be young. Søren Jessen succeeds in portraying young people and their problems with respect, so that the novel ends up being primarily about what it means to be human.