Grötkräkla

After reading an idealistic account of life in rural Norway, 18 year-old Sam Bartlett applies to a Norwegian farm exchange program. In the summer of 1980 he travels from Vermont to the remote town of Breim on the Nordfjord to live and work on the Reed family farm. With a work ethic far exceeding his skills, Sam rakes, shovels, weeds and hauls. He learns to fish with a net, use dynamite, knit, dance a Reinlander, and is urinated on by more than one goat. He hikes the mountains around Gloppen district, and ends up stuck on the side of the Jostedal Glacier. The stories from Breim began as an illustrated series. Remarkably Sam discovered that the extended Reed family was following the installments on social media, which ultimately led to a joyful reunion at his home in Southern Indiana, in 2022 . All the stories are here in this graphic memoir, which is mostly the way it really happened.