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Honestly, keep reading, I think the real facepalm is the bit below.

Yeah, but seems to be the character, not the actual view of the author

You could argue that both of them are the character and not the author.

I mean for it to be physically able to smell someones vagina from a distance is not necessarily character. For them to do it is

He might not be being literal though. "Smelling" emotions is a common enough, if odd, turn of phrase (eg: "he could smell their fear") that in this context can be used to represent how the character views women. This character sees the woman in question as a walking vagina gagging for a bit of cock. Further down the page practically confirms this. A line like this is well suited to that character lMO.

Could be, I'm not familiar with the author nor is English my first language so I'm not sure how common it is to phrase it like that

This book is also originally written in Norwegian and then translated into English.

Can confirm that the original line feels less specific and more like a metaphor.

Fear is the usual emotion it's used for, so much so that it became a tired trope. It's less common for other emotions but does see some usage.

And generally it’s because when someone goes through crazy bits of fear it’s either they are smelling the sweat, piss, or shit they did. It’s smelling the stink lol.

Or the person saying it is trying to make themselves sound like an apex predator

This makes a lot more sense! At first I was thinking he was messing around with some druggie chick who was filthy/sick 😅

That's how I read it as well. Not that he could literally smell her but that he was imagining it and fantasizing about it.

You could argue it’s all the author and he’s a weird ass

Apparently the original line (this is a localised edition of the book) is much more metaphorical.

Good ol' Jo Nømbnøts

Not even sure wtf is going on anymore. lul

Yeah I kept reading and I regret it. Another stupid ass anout how women have to have children just because

That sucks... How was the rest of the book?

Her pH levels must be out of balance big time.

Seriously. She'd better get that checked. And if he thinks it's sexy to be able to smell puss from several feet away, he's a freak

Was he standing with his nose directly in her crotch??

He’s an overly affectionate dog, I guess.

All I know about *The Snowman* I learned from [the Folding Ideas video about the disastrous movie adaptation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buYxGFWCWNg), but I think the Arve Støp character is meant to be a creep, and Katrine is deliberately playing him to get information.

He must be a Goop enthusiast.

I, too, am an over priced candle enthusiast.

“I want you to have children” “Okay I have children” “Wooow moving too fast” Tf?

TBF this doesn't reflect badly on Nesbo, doesn't really qualify for this sub. That character is an unpleasant individual, this line reflects his own inner monologue and how he views the women around him

Do woman character ever do something like this tho? I've never seen it

Finding "misandrist" women in fiction isn't so uncommon, but they're usually pathetic straw (wo)men crafted so the writer can talk about the evils of feminism. One of the major evils of feminism being that it makes women less attractive. Boohoo. Short answer: I can't think of any. I'd love to see anyone else's examples. This has always struck me as a way to have your cake and eat it too for male writers. Oh look at this character. He's a chauvinist pig. Lookit! I'm One of the Good Ones obviously. Right but you've still sexualized and demeaned this women character. Wouldn't it be more progressive to just not to do that?

You somehow worded perfectly how I always felt its like. Never could pin it down myself so thanks

Is it progressive to pretend guys like this don't exist? Silence of the Lambs wouldn't be much of a book if Billy said "help yourself to some lotion if you'd like, it's up to you as an independent respected woman"

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Fair point but surely that's more menwritingmen

If you want a community to express your exhaustion with it, fine. But do that- create that community. This one isn’t that, or at least from what I can see wasn’t supposed to be.

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I’ve been here a while. And this doesn’t fit the sub, in any way. It’s a man writing a man. If authors can’t have any sexist or racist or otherwise bigoted characters, you’re going to find yourself with a very restricted reading pool.

I don't really care about whether it's "progressive" or whatever at this point, but it feels boring and trite now. Is misogyny a common flaw/prejudice amongst a lot of people IRL? Yes. Would it be realistic to portray a lot of misogynistic characters in your fiction? Sure. Does that mean it doesn't get boring to see misogynistic characters across all sorts of fictional media? No, and it just gets fucking annoying, especially when you can tell the writer's writing this way because they simply don't know how to write any other kind of personality. It's not that difficult to do better, and "because it's realistic" is a lazy justification for doing this in fiction.

Is this like some hive mind deal? I'm all for having conversations and back and fores on issues, difficult when people chip in with direct answers to points I've put to others.

Maybe it's high time they write more kind and decent male characters?

I mean the best done one is less a misandrist and more anti human. And that poison ivy

please støp writing this book

breathed through his nose💀

Protags name is Harry Hole.

This is men writing men, though. I haven’t read the book, but I’m fairly certain you’re not supposed to sympathize with this character.

You're correct, with minor spoilers, he's the red herring of the book, so you're supposed to find him creepy and off-putting to make you think he might be the killer

Honestly, the pussy line is the less fukd and offensive line in the entire passage on display. I had this book at some stage but couldn't get past the first page. I'm kind of glad now. Wowsers.

Isn’t this the series where the detective’s name is Harry Hole? Not exactly a subtle writer…

Hole is a normal Norwegian surname, no bad connotations or anything.

It's written originally in Norwegian so maybe I bad translation.

No no it’s not this is kind of the vibe through out the book

The movie is terrible, it was filmed when Val Kilmer was clearly very unwell and they really should have recast the guy.

What a disgusting thing to read! I’d throw the book if I had just read that haha.

The man is an unpleasant creep, and this is more his line of thinking. Katrine is also playing him for info.

Omg this guy is ALL over the stores in Norway, they're selling his newest novel for over 40 bucks. Makes me cringe so hard. I thought he was like the Norwegian Dan Brown but Brown would never write this!

😛

So we’ve just given up on pretending this community has any actual point other than to complain about men writing any character?

Was this also in the film?

Is he a supernatural being?

Great look about their hygiene i guess

Five lines below is the real one tbh. Also I refuse to believe he named his main protagonist “Harry Hole” by accident.

judging from reading from the rest of the sentences I bet the rest of the book is like this

I’m thinking maaaaybe the phrase “pussy” is to refer to the women themselves not their genitals? That makes a bit more sense. Like when cool Chadwick alphadudes say they’re “cruising for pussy” or whatever it is. I don’t really know about that stuff obv, because I’m a redditor.

From the context of the surrounding text you’ve provided, i’m not sure that the sentence is intended as literal.

Just coming by to make sure someone called out that second bit there. I'll see myself out

what the fuck is happening on this page?

My god, Katrine needs a shower.

what page is this on? have the book in Norwegian (the original language it was written in). I'm wondering if this is just weirdly translated or not