I was asked by the press what I thought of Stroeksnes’ book. My answer was that I hadn’t read the book, but if the rest was similar to what I got referred it was crappy work.
Now, I’ve read the book and my opinion is the same, its crappy work. A strange blend of facts and fiction, mixed with lose allegations, undocumented claims, rumors and some direct faults. My conviction is that Stroeksnes has written this in hopes of big money. Of course, with the media coverage the boys have gotten, it’s not difficult to get a lot of coverage. A lot of media coverage is similar to sales, everyone knows that.I told Stroeksnes on the phone that he shouldn’t write this book, but he went there. He ingratiated himself on the boys. That’s not difficult when a Norwegian man comes to visit in the loneliness. He says he brought bottles of gin with him, and loosened the tongue with that. I’m sure the book will sell 20 000 with the media coverage, maybe a lot more. Standard authors’ fee is 15% of the selling price, which is 67 dollars. That’s 10 dollars a book. When you multiply that with 20 000 you get 200 000 dollars. That’s what I call blood money. I call it ruthless exploitation of others misery. That’s just greedy.
Stroeksnes is trying to convince us that it was a coincidence that the book came when it did, of course not. If the release had been later, after the boys’ release the sales would be very different of course. It would be in competition with the book the boys plan to write. The timing was perfect for sales, nothing else. If you want to write a book based on facts, you have to wait until the case is finished. This case is not finished yet.
Stroeksnes, I hope you use the blood money to help raped women and children in Congo, but I doubt it. I think they will go straight into your pocket.
It’s difficult to find wrongs on matters you don’t have firsthand knowledge about. Where I do have firsthand knowledge I can mention for instance that my father was mentioned as a help man in a firm that built cottages. Fact: He started the company “Southern cottages” himself. He was manager there for several years, and managed it good. He was never a carpenter! Stroeksnes refers to Vegaarshei as the desolate and barren village. Desolate? There are 5 train departures to Norway’s capital every day, a 3,5 hour train ride. Frequent train departures to other cities nearby as well.
Barren? Vegaarshei is the largest forest community in Aust Agder County. As if it’s not enough with all the mistakes, fantasies, speculations etc. the reviewing of this book is done poorly. For instance Vegaarshei is sometimes written with a d, Vegaardshei, which is wrong, other times it’s correct. I’m a reading person, and have for almost 50 years read about 150-200 books a year. I can’t go by a bookstore or an antiquarian. I’ve written 3 books myself (I’m not going to be the one who writes Tjostolv and Joshua’s book), so I may have some idea about books. My opinion is: this is crappy work!
Knut Moland, September 21st 2010
