A novel that cries out for first-person narration

Obviously - judging from the numerous cover, back cover, and inside the book blurbs - many readers loved Dorthe Nors's recent novel Mirror, Shoulder, Signal, but not this one. Unfortunately for me it's a novel stuck in stasis; DN introduces the protagonist, Sonje, who is obviously a young (30ish) woman w/ a good income (she translates gruesome Swedish crime novels - in other words novels that are not at all like this one) and high intelligence but w/ numerous problems: bad relationship w/ younger sister; some sort of estrangement from her parents, who live on a farm that like so many small farms in Denmark (where this novel is set, but elsewhere, too, of course) has been taken over for luxurious country living or for development; various physical tensions and neuroses. She seems to have few friends - a friend from youth (Molly) who plays no role in first half of novel; her massage therapist, whom she is starting to befriend, though their relationship remains tenuous and more therapist-client than pals. The center of the novel - referenced in the title - is Sonje's attempt to get a driver's license. She is unable to "shift gears," which bears a pretty heavy symbolic weight, if you ask me. She switches driving instructors, and perhaps will develop a relationship w/ new instructor. (Is there a debt here to the Mike Leigh film Happy-go-lucky?) All in all, over 100+ pp., very little actually happens. There's nothing wrong w/ a character-based novel, but there needs to be some tension and something at stake. Some of the blurbs referenced Sonje's wit and humor, which completely eluded me. I'm generally a fan of 3rd-person narration, as it seems classier and gives the novelist more leeway, but this seems to me a novel crying out for first-person narration; Sonje needs to directly express, and reflect upon, her angst and social discomfort. The 3rd-person approach makes her too much of a clinical specimen. I'd have liked to have heard her voice; sorry, but nothing makes me want to read the second half of this novel - though I'd be interested in the views of others.