Skam Book Tag: The Girl Squad | Original

It’s been over a month since I first got introduced to this inimitable show called Skam. And I’m not even kidding when I say, it’s been on my mind every day since. I’ve already rewatched the show multiple times, listened to Noora singing More Than Words on repeat for about a thousand times, ranted to my mother about it for hours… So in order to give my soul some rest, I decided to create this book tag centered around my favorite gals.

Coming up with this tag gave me the opportunity to explore and examine my favorite characters more closely, and based off that recommended some great books I find fitting. In hindsight, I guess I wasn’t kidding in my December Wrap Up when I included this tweet while still raving about Skam:Bear with me on this one.

*Note: I’m an Amazon Affiliate. If you want to buy any of the reads I mention in this post, just click on the books below to go through my link. I’ll make a small commission!*

1. Noora Amalie Sætre: your favorite feminist read.Noora educating herself and others is still one of my favorite aspects about her character. And thankfully I found not one but two upcoming reads on the topic: Here We Are by Kelly Jensen and Nasty Women by 404 Ink. Both are collections of essays and accounts that gather a group of incredible women to discuss a plethora of topics in regards to everyone and everything feminists. As the blurb for Nasty Women voices, with intolerance and inequality increasingly normalised by the day, it’s more important than ever for women to share their experiences.

                 

2. Eva Kviig Mohn: your favorite character that went through extensive character development.Watching Eva’s character growth in season one has been one of the rewarding things I’ve seen on television so far. To pay tribute to that, I decided to go with Willem Ragnarsson’s character development in A Little Life to answer this question. Since the novel is rather humongous, we get to follow our main four characters through a number of carefully constructed events in their lives. And I personally loved reading about Willem’s character development from caring brother to adoring friend and then some. He has so much love in his heart, and I’ll forever admire nothing if not that.

If you can spare a minute, please read this next quote that captures his character better than I ever can:

“Sometimes he wakes so far from himself that he can’t even remember who he is. “Where am I?” he asks, desperate, and then, “Who am I? Who am I?”
And then he hears, so close to his ear that it is as if the voice is originating inside his own head, Willem’s whispered incantation. “You’re Jude St. Francis. You are my oldest, dearest friend. You’re the son of Harold Stein and Julia Altman. You’re the friend of Malcolm Irvine, of Jean-Baptiste Marion, of Richard Goldfarb, of Andy Contractor, of Lucien Voigt, of Citizen van Straaten, of Rhodes Arrowsmith, of Elijah Kozma, of Phaedra de los Santos, of the Henry Youngs.
“You’re a New Yorker. You live in SoHo. You volunteer for an arts organization; you volunteer for a food kitchen.
“You’re a swimmer. You’re a baker. You’re a cook. You’re a reader. You have a beautiful voice, though you never sing anymore. You’re an excellent pianist. You’re an art collector. You write me lovely messages when I’m away. You’re patient. You’re generous. You’re the best listener I know. You’re the smartest person I know, in every way. You’re the bravest person I know, in every way.
“You’re a lawyer. You’re the chair of the litigation department at Rosen Pritchard and Klein. You love your job; you work hard at it.
“You’re a mathematician. You’re a logician. You’ve tried to teach me, again and again.
“You were treated horribly. You came out on the other end. You were always you.”

No matter how many times I reread it, that last sentence always gets to me. 

3. Sana Bakkoush: your favorite brilliantly badass character with a heart of gold.

Sana has opened up my eyes and changed my view on things multiple times with her words. And so for this question, I had to think about a character that did the exact same for me. Not even a minute went by before Inej Ghafa from the Six of Crows Duology popped into my head. She’s a true hero that continues to inspire me daily just by being herself.

“Even better men can be bested.”

P.S. I love this piece of art that perfectly captures Sana’s support and love:

4. Chris Berg: your favorite underrated character.Chris has uttered some of my favorite sayings on Skam (the above one included). So when thinking about another underrated favorite, Lorraine Sengupta from Radio Silence sprang to mind. Similar to Chris, she’s caring, daring and her humor’s right up my alley.
Though Raine didn’t have a major role in RS, Alice Oseman (the author) recently took the time to write this short story about Raine’s adventures with a certain someone… and I’m both over the moon and on cloud nine.Source

5. Vilde Lien Hellerud: your favorite book that addresses body image.

This scene genuinely broke my heart. But I’m forever grateful that Skam took the time to greatly discuss body image, self importance and self-acceptance.
And I feel like Julie Murphy’s Dumplin’ does the same job. I read this book awhile back, and I don’t recall a lot of what happened, but I do remember that I was left with a lasting heartwarming feeling inside. Also, I’ve wanted to share this beautiful quote ever since:

“All my life I’ve had a body worth commenting on and if living in my skin has taught me anything it’s that if it’s not your body, it’s not yours to comment on.”

The above phrase is something I ALWAYS remind myself of. And I’m immensely grateful that the author put it into such accurate words.

6. Linn Larsen Hansen: your favorite book that discusses mental illness.Even though Linn isn’t fully in The Squad™, I included her in this tag because of the lasting impression she left on me… similar to the one left by Ned Vizzini’s It’s Kind of a Funny Story.I can still clearly remember reading this book in a single session and coming out of it with a changed perspective. The way certain topics were broached in this story were so valuable that I have yet to let go of it in my heart. Sometimes just rereading this next quote helps tremendously.

“Things to do today:
1) Breathe in.
2) Breathe out.”

It’s a validating and necessary reminder.

Oh, and this:

“I don’t owe people anything, and I don’t have to talk to them any more than I feel I need to.”

That was my smooth way of circling back to Linn… I just wanted to mention how much I sympathized when she talked about her hatred for high school. I instantly connect with any character that shares their disdain for it. Like Helen Oyeyemi said best in Boy, Snow, Bird:

“School is one long illness with symptoms that switch every five minutes so you think it’s getting better or worse. But really it’s the same thing for years and years.”

So I think it goes without saying that I’m eagerly anticipating following Linn’s character growth in later seasons.

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And those were all the questions for my Skam book tag, I hope you enjoyed!! And while I’m still patiently awaiting for the trailer for season four to drop…You’re more than welcome to answer this tag for yourself, and be sure to link me so that I can read your answers as well!!

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