When the Cranes Fly South

Bo is the novel’s protagonist and its main narrator, as he mentally addresses his wife, Fredrika, and recounts his days. Bo can speak, but Fredrika cannot respond or even hear his words or recollections because she is living apart from him in a care home due to her worsening dementia. He specifies that he is writing to fill “the void [Fredrika] left behind” (9), with his desire to communicate with her speaking to just how important she was, and still is, to his life and sense of self. 

Bo is over 80 years old when the novel opens and is still living in his own home with the help of several carers. Bo’s main conflict in the narrative is his desire to maintain some independence and agency as he grows increasingly frail. This desire leads to clashes between Bo and his son, Hans, as Bo resents what he regards as Hans’s meddling. Early on, Bo even fantasizes “about cutting [Hans] out of [his] will, making sure he doesn’t get a penny” (9), in an attempt to reassert his power in their dynamic. 

Bo and Hans argue most frequently about Bo’s dog,