On the Calculation of Volume (Book IV)

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On the Calculation of Volume
(Book IV)

by
Solvej Balle

general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author

Title:	On the Calculation of Volume (Book IV)
Author:	Solvej Balle
Genre:	Novel
Written:	2022 (Eng. 2026)
Length:	177 pages
Original in:	Danish
Availability:	On the Calculation of Volume (Book IV) - US
	On the Calculation of Volume (Book IV) - UK
	On the Calculation of Volume (Book IV) - Canada
	Le volume du temps 4 - France
	Über die Berechnung des Rauminhalts IV - Deutschland

	from: Bookshop.org (US)

Danish title: Om udregning af rumfang IV
Translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell
The fourth book in the septology

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Our Assessment:

B+ : solid next installment of the series, advancing the story

See our review for fuller assessment.

Review Summaries
Source	Rating	Date	Reviewer
Financial Times	.	26/3/2026	Bekah Waalkes
London Rev. of Books	.	19/3/2026	Joanna Biggs
The NY Times Book Rev.	.	14/4/2026	A.O.Scott

From the Reviews:

"The novel is a brilliant meditation on the collective, on the delights and tedium of living closely with others, on the necessity of some form of organisation and the worthwhile frustrations that often ensue. (...) But, the novel insists, they have the time to disagree: they first want to understand each other, hear everyone’s perspective. Suspended in time, they can afford to think strategically and carefully. (...) It’s a testament to Balle’s writing, and to the work of her excellent translators, that a fourth novel set in the same day, in the same mind, has not grown even a bit tired." - Bekah Waalkes, Financial Times

"The new book contains a lot of concrete information: As the ranks of the repeaters have swelled, the reservoir of knowledge about their condition has deepened. (...) Have they seceded from the world or been cast out of it ? Is this gentle, melancholy project best read as a protest, a warning or a comforting fairy tale ? It may be too soon to say." - A.O.Scott, The New York Times Book Review

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

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The complete review's Review:

       In On the Calculation of Volume (Book IV) Tara Selter continues to chronicle a life that moves on for her but finds pretty much the rest of the world repeating the same 18 November over and over. By the end of the previous volume Tara lives in a small community: she is, in fact, not the only one stuck in (or rather outside of) time in this way, and in this volume four -- of a planned seven -- the community expands considerably: it turns out quite a few people are aware that 18 November keeps repeating itself, and many have managed to identify and find others who experience time similarly as they do.
       Tara's account in volume four begins on day 1892 -- some five years in -- and continues to day 3637, when she has been living in 18 November for almost a decade. Just as the shift to learning she was not alone and sharing her experiences with one and then a few individuals was a great one, the shift to being part of a larger community is a yet greater one, which is explored in this installment of the series. After the sheer strangeness of the original realization that they kept repeating 18 November, now a kind of: "Normality sets in. Together like this, there's nothing unusual about being trapped in a day".
       Among the newcomers, some have come up with a term to describe what has happened to all of them, 'anastrophe':

For it was no catastrophe, just an inversion. Their world had not ended, they had simply been sent back to the same day. Without tragedy, without any fallen or dead.

       Terminology -- specifically regarding various aspects of describing their state -- crops up several times, including regarding the passing of time: "because how does one mark the days in a time without years or seasons, and how does one divide a run of days when neither weeks nor months have any meaning". (Similarly, they have to deal with the absence of seasonal change -- though some try to find some by traveling north or south, to experience the seasonally appropriate climate.)
       As time passes there are also concerns about the future, about how to plan for the possibility of never being jolted back into regular time and living to se 19 November. For one: "We are depleting our surroundings. That is our problem -- or it will be in time", as sources of food diminish (one of the quirks of the repeated day). There is also the question of how to deal with medical issues that will inevitably arise, as few have any adequate training in case of injuries and illness.
       Some of the other mysteries about the day also take on shape -- such as those trapped together recognizing: "We were much too similar" (in background, both familial and professional), yet not being able to figure out what the reasons for that, or the implications for their situation, might be.
       Volume four really does mark a new situation, with new dynamics and issues, and moves the story along well, preventing it from getting stuck in a repetitive rut; it's an effective turn. And Balle plants the seed of yet more change to follow, with, again, a kind of 'cliffhanger' ending, as Tara's situation looks to be shaken up unexpectedly again.
       It all makes for a solid continuation of the story -- and leaves the reader curious about: what next.

- M.A.Orthofer, 14 April 2026

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Links:

On the Calculation of Volume (Book IV):

New Directions publicity page
Faber publicity page
Grasset publicity page
Matthes & Seitz Berlin publicity page

Reviews:

Other books by Solvej Balle under review:

Other books of interest under review:

See Index of Scandinavian literature
See Index of Series and Sequels under review

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About the Author:

Danish author Solvej Balle was born in 1962.

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