Coney Island

Coney Island is the destination Lars Magnus Pettersson reveals to Sofia Zetterlund through a song, and the setting for a winter trip that restores a sense of ease between them. First imagined by Sofia as a deserted, slushy place of beaches and carousels, it proves wonderful when they arrive—and becomes part of her recognition that the man she once loved is still there.

The destination in the song

Lars introduces the trip by drawing Sofia’s attention to the album’s final track. The record has been kept in the cupboard beneath the stereo for at least ten years, and on the few occasions she let him play it, she had never wanted to hear it all the way through. He explains that the girl in the song comes from the place they are going. As Sofia listens, she works out the destination: Coney Island.

Her first response is incredulous. She asks whether they are going there in the middle of winter, then imagines beaches, carousels, slushy snow, wind, and an utterly deserted landscape, populated in her mind by junkies and stray dogs. Lars insists that it is a great place and that she will love it. The contrast between her bleak, comic forecast and his seriousness makes the destination a small surprise arranged between them rather than an ordinary travel plan.

The visit and its aftermath

The trip changes Sofia’s expectations: Coney Island is wonderful, just as Lars had promised. On their last day, they shop and relax in the hotel room. The account gives no further itinerary, but its emphasis falls on the unhurried time they spend together and on how unusual that ease has become.

During the flight home, Sofia reflects on how long it has been since they were able to relax like this. She feels she has rediscovered a version of Lars she knew was there but had not seen for several years: the Lars she once fell in love with. Coney Island therefore matters not only as the trip’s destination but as the setting for a temporary recovery of closeness, made memorable by the song through which Lars first disclosed where they were going.