Latest news with #Bo
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén review – a novel anyone will take to heart
Lisa Ridzén's debut, which has been a runaway success in her Swedish homeland and elsewhere, demonstrates how sometimes the simplest storytelling can be the most effective. This is a novel with no clever structural devices or burden of symbolism and a setting so limited geographically that the reader ends up knowing precisely where everything is. It is narrated by Bo, a former timbermill worker who has reached the age when people worry about him, and has a network of carers calling in three times a day. One of Ridzén's inspirations was the team journal kept by the carers looking after her dying grandfather; very movingly, bulletins from the journal of Bo's carers punctuate his narrative, the alternative perspective like a chill breeze through a briefly opened door. Bo lives in the Swedish far north, surrounded by the sort of woods, lakes and meadows that are a paradise for dogs but a constant worry for the adult children of old men who persist in living somewhere so remote. His adored wife, Frederika, no longer knows who he is and has been taken away to a dementia care home, imposing on Bo a kind of living bereavement. His one close friend, Ture, a man local gossips have down as a 'confirmed bachelor', has also reached the stage of being cared for around the clock, but the two old men enjoy regular catch-ups on their geriatric-friendly mobiles. His other great love is a dog, Sixten, an elkhound who needs far more exercise than Bo can now possibly give him, but is a constant presence at his side or on his bed. Bo also has a fiftysomething son called Hans, a divorced conservative and worrier, and a student granddaughter, Ellinor. The plot, such as it is, involves Bo becoming ever frailer and Hans threatening to have Sixten rehomed, now that walking a dog in rugged terrain has become too perilous for a man prone to falling over. However, almost from the first page, Bo's first-person, present-tense narrative is enriched by repeated dreamlike digressions. These take us out of the grim present realities of adult nappies, phlegm cups and frozen ready meals into stories of a country boyhood overshadowed by a cruel and brutal father, the happy marriage into which young Bo escaped, the adorable little boy Hans was before he somehow turned into an overweight, fretful bully, and Bo's long friendship and regular fishing trips with the ambiguous Ture. Bo is haunted by a peculiarly male anger – the scarring, remembered rages of his father and his own bursts of rage at his increasing lack of independence that somehow stops him telling Hans what he really feels. As Bo's end draws near, he faces the twin challenges of keeping his beloved Sixten at his side and overcoming his masculine conditioning so as not to die with love unexpressed. Another element, hinted at in the title, is the steady parade of seasonal changes all about his little house, as the year moves from the glories of May, through the pale nights of midsummer, to golden autumn and the arrival of bitter cold. The sense of place is conjured deftly – Ridzén is describing the landscape on her doorstep near Östersund – but just as evocative are the many mentions of Swedish food, from the tinned fishballs and microwaved stew served by the carers, which are evidently inferior to the fiskbullar and lingonberry-enhanced roasts once made by Frederika, to the superior almond tarts, or mazariner, served by Ture, all of which had me googling recipes to try at home. At a couple of slightly awkward points, translator Alice Menzies has the characters talk a northern English, presumably as an equivalent for northern Swedish dialect, but there was really no need. Anyone anywhere who has worried for a crumbling parent, or worried about the crumble in themselves, or simply worried that their dog understood them better than their family, will identify with Ridzén's novel and take it to heart. Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you after newsletter promotion Patrick Gale's latest novel is Notes from an Exhibition (Tinder). When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén, translated by Alice Menzies, is published by Doubleday, £14.99. To support the Guardian buy a copy at Delivery charges may apply.
The Guardian
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén review – a novel anyone will take to heart
Lisa Ridzén's debut, which has been a runaway success in her Swedish homeland and elsewhere, demonstrates how sometimes the simplest storytelling can be the most effective. This is a novel with no clever structural devices or burden of symbolism and a setting so limited geographically that the reader ends up knowing precisely where everything is. It is narrated by Bo, a former timbermill worker who has reached the age when people worry about him, and has a network of carers calling in three times a day. One of Ridzén's inspirations was the team journal kept by the carers looking after her dying grandfather; very movingly, bulletins from the journal of Bo's carers punctuate his narrative, the alternative perspective like a chill breeze through a briefly opened door. Bo lives in the Swedish far north, surrounded by the sort of woods, lakes and meadows that are a paradise for dogs but a constant worry for the adult children of old men who persist in living somewhere so remote. His adored wife, Frederika, no longer knows who he is and has been taken away to a dementia care home, imposing on Bo a kind of living bereavement. His one close friend, Ture, a man local gossips have down as a 'confirmed bachelor', has also reached the stage of being cared for around the clock, but the two old men enjoy regular catch-ups on their geriatric-friendly mobiles. His other great love is a dog, Sixten, an elkhound who needs far more exercise than Bo can now possibly give him, but is a constant presence at his side or on his bed. Bo also has a fiftysomething son called Hans, a divorced conservative and worrier, and a student granddaughter, Ellinor. The plot, such as it is, involves Bo becoming ever frailer and Hans threatening to have Sixten rehomed, now that walking a dog in rugged terrain has become too perilous for a man prone to falling over. However, almost from the first page, Bo's first-person, present-tense narrative is enriched by repeated dreamlike digressions. These take us out of the grim present realities of adult nappies, phlegm cups and frozen ready meals into stories of a country boyhood overshadowed by a cruel and brutal father, the happy marriage into which young Bo escaped, the adorable little boy Hans was before he somehow turned into an overweight, fretful bully, and Bo's long friendship and regular fishing trips with the ambiguous Ture. Bo is haunted by a peculiarly male anger – the scarring, remembered rages of his father and his own bursts of rage at his increasing lack of independence that somehow stops him telling Hans what he really feels. As Bo's end draws near, he faces the twin challenges of keeping his beloved Sixten at his side and overcoming his masculine conditioning so as not to die with love unexpressed. Another element, hinted at in the title, is the steady parade of seasonal changes all about his little house, as the year moves from the glories of May, through the pale nights of midsummer, to golden autumn and the arrival of bitter cold. The sense of place is conjured deftly – Ridzén is describing the landscape on her doorstep near Östersund – but just as evocative are the many mentions of Swedish food, from the tinned fishballs and microwaved stew served by the carers, which are evidently inferior to the fiskbullar and lingonberry-enhanced roasts once made by Frederika, to the superior almond tarts, or mazariner, served by Ture, all of which had me googling recipes to try at home. At a couple of slightly awkward points, translator Alice Menzies has the characters talk a northern English, presumably as an equivalent for northern Swedish dialect, but there was really no need. Anyone anywhere who has worried for a crumbling parent, or worried about the crumble in themselves, or simply worried that their dog understood them better than their family, will identify with Ridzén's novel and take it to heart. Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you after newsletter promotion Patrick Gale's latest novel is Notes from an Exhibition (Tinder). When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén, translated by Alice Menzies, is published by Doubleday, £14.99. To support the Guardian buy a copy at Delivery charges may apply.
The Drive
2 days ago
- Automotive
- The Drive
This 24,000-Watt Scooter Is Going for a 100+ MPH Speed Record at Bonneville
The latest car news, reviews, and features. A British outfit called Bo makes a sleek little electric scooter called the Model-M. The best variant claims a 22 mph top speed and a 40-mile range for $2,500. Sounds pricey but practical. The prototype Turbo model is another story—it's gunning for triple-digit speeds at the Bonneville salt flats next month. Bo has been around since 2022, but seems to be on a bit of a marketing blitz—last week, it released a teaser video of somebody clad in full Moto GP-looking garb absolutely ripping through a tunnel on its Turbo model concept, and it seems to be loaning out the more socially acceptable Model M to journalists for test rides. My old buddy Matt Hardigree was recently test-riding one and seemed to dig it. The Bo website says the company's engineers left Formula 1 to work on scooters 'because we think electric scooters are the most important vehicle innovation of this century.' Bold! I have fond memories of the Bird scooter fad when I lived in LA—I rode one all the way from Culver City to Marina Del Rey one time, it was fun and took about the same time as driving in traffic. But then everyone got sick of them, threw them into the ocean, and I haven't seen them littering the streets of any city in years. Bo is obviously looking to get away from the disposable vibe, which I appreciate. The Model-M is being framed as an elite alternative to janky Bird and Lime scooters. Though to be honest, it still looks like every other scooter to me, just with one extra layer of aluminum skin to give it a slightly softer Cybertrucky look. Not hating—I think electric scooters are fun, and $2,500 for an exceptionally well-made one that can go 40 miles doesn't seem too outrageous. But there's no need to go ga-ga over everything that's finished in big planes of plain silver. The Bo Turbo and a regular Model M on the right. Bo As for the super-fast Turbo models, Wired reported you can buy one for $30,000, but I think you gotta know a guy to get the hook-up—there's no option for it on Bo's consumer site yet. It reportedly produces over 24,000 watts of juice with a high-power dual motor controller setup developed with partner Rage Mechanics, which is a French company making all kinds of high-performance electric microvehicles. This looks way better to me than the Apple/Tesla aesthetic everyone seems to love. That said, I'm still not in the market for a $25,000+ scooter. Rage Mechanics That sent me down a rabbit hole into the world of electric scooter racing and Rage Mechanics' previous accomplishments. The company already claims a 106+ mph top speed with its RM-X model, a French-made scooter you can buy for about $26,500 that looks far cooler than the Teslaesque Bo in my humble opinion. So I guess that's what the Bo Turbo will have to beat to properly claim its speed record. Get a load of this madness: Bo says, 'Over 24,000W delivers blistering acceleration, advanced traction control adjusts the balance of power to the wheel with most grip, resulting in maximum thrust.' But I think the main thing Bo is trying to show off is its stability assistance tech called Safesteer. That's the brand's stabilization system that supposedly counteracts rider twitchiness. Top Gear reviewed one of these in 2023 and described it as 'torsion springs to stabilise the steering and reduce twitchiness and kickback.' Safesteer is on the regular Bo scooters—the Hope V4 disc brakes and floating rotors of the Turbo model are not. Nor is the extreme power output or ram-air intake for cooling Bo As a technology showcase stunt, this is a neat idea, and I wish their test pilot all the luck getting this thing to triple digits and back to a stop safely. Couldn't be me—I'm happy with neighborhood bicycle speeds on anything with wheels smaller than my face. If you're suddenly finding yourself wondering what kind of performance you could get on a cheaper e-scooter, there's plenty more room in this rabbit hole. Jump in, I already found one on Amazon that claims it'll do 50 mph for $1,500. Ridden or created any extreme tiny-wheeled machine? I want to hear about it! Drop me a note at
USA Today
5 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Broncos QB Bo Nix's confidence will 'radiate through the whole team'
Going into his second season in the NFL, Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix continues to get glowing reviews from his teammates. Nix didn't lack confidence and composure as a rookie, but it's clear that with a year of experience under his belt, the 25-year-old quarterback has hit another level of confidence. And that confidence is contagious. "[T]he way that he looked in the spring, and the way that he came back and the energy that he came back with, it certainly gives… his confidence is going to radiate through the whole team," Broncos right tackle Mike McGlinchey said Tuesday. "Bo has done a great job of that. He's a pro's pro in the way that he approaches the game and the way that he treats his teammates. He's going to be a great player for us this year." Nix completed 66.3% of his passes for 3,775 yards with 29 touchdowns against 12 interceptions last season. He also rushed for 430 yards and four touchdowns and even added a touchdown catch to his totals. Nix had a historic rookie season, and he appears poised to take another step forward in Year 2. 'Certainly, the experience of playing football games in this league is very, very valuable," McGlinchey said. "Now he knows what it feels like. He knows what it looks like. He knows, obviously, that he is very good at it, and I think that just gives him the hunger for more. I think that's what's really impressive about Bo is his competitive nature of just trying to get the most out of himself every single day. That ability to stack those days is why he improved so vastly and so fast as the season went on last year. I only expect the same things from him this year." Nix has been diligent in his quest to improve, even making a trip to San Diego this offseason to pick the brain of Drew Brees, a future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback who won a Super Bowl with coach Sean Payton. All signs point toward the second-year quarterback making a leap in 2025. Social: Follow Broncos Wire on Facebook and Twitter/X! Did you know: These 25 celebrities are Broncos fans.
USA Today
6 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Pat Surtain says Broncos QB Bo Nix will 'make a lot of noise' in 2025
Bo Nix is back -- and better. The 25-year-old quarterback was invited to the Pro Bowl as an alternate last season after surpassing 4,200 yards from scrimmage and scoring 34 touchdowns as a rookie. Nix's first year in the league started a bit shaky, but he showed great improvement as the season went on, finishing the campaign as a Rookie of the Year contender. Nix is now entering his second year in coach Sean Payton's offense, and it's clear that he's more comfortable. 'Bo, he's even more confident going into this year," cornerback Pat Surtain said Tuesday. "Obviously, with Year 1 under his belt, a lot more confidence rises upon that. The team, we have Bo's back through the whole way through. He's a tremendous leader out there, and a tremendous player. This year, he's going to make a lot of noise, and we're looking forward to seeing what he does and his success moving forward.' Nix completed 66.3% of his passes last season and only took 24 sacks, impressive totals for his debut year. He'll look to improve on those totals in Year 2 as the Denver Broncos attempt to return to the playoffs after going 10-7 in 2024. Social: Follow Broncos Wire on Facebook and Twitter/X! Did you know: These 25 celebrities are Broncos fans.
