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nonabgo's review against another edition
5.0
The loveliest, heartbreaking but also hope-giving conclusion to a series that made my little Grinchy heart sing.
While the first two novels were death-focused, there's a lighter, more hopeful approach here. The boy returns from his last journey, a dreadful one, through excruciating cold and snows that can last for years - a journey of self-discovery, in the end - to settle into his life as a student, torn between blond and red hair, between the promise of a comfortable life and the struggles of poverty. A love story of sorts, though not quite. "The Heart of Man" is still about choice, about understanding one's purpose and place in the world.
"Why are we here, if there are places in the world called Paris?"
Summer in Iceland lasts for a blink of an eye. There's a hedonistic feeling throughout, a world in contradiction to that depicted in the previous volumes - colorful, lively, the grass so green and the sky so blue. Stefánsson is a master landscaper, a John Constable of literature. I was the boy, running with my bare feet in the juicy grass, smelling the earth after summer rains. It's impossible to defeat winter, you can only survive it or live with it. But if you survive it, oh, what delight!
The boy grows up, becomes a man, learns about himself while at the same time learning about the world. And the world around him is also changing - modernity, in the form of steamships replacing sailing ships, telephone lines connecting remote villages, and women becoming bolder in taking ownership of themselves. Summer brings not only new life in the surrounding nature, but also new life in the village.
And everything is tied together by words. Words that hurt and smell burnt and words that heal. Letters that bring news, and letters that speak of longing and love. Words that question everything and words that bring clarity.
This book is about death, but it's more about life and what it means. About happiness and where it comes from. There's no need to know much about life, the important thing is to enter it and know how to meet it when it comes to you. With a painfully beautiful lyricism, Stefánsson talks about growing up, discovering oneself, about hope, love, friendship. He dissected the soul and placed it on a silver platter before our eyes, with a deceptive delicacy that hides a powerful voice. Stefánsson seduced me irrecoverably from the first to the last page.
While the first two novels were death-focused, there's a lighter, more hopeful approach here. The boy returns from his last journey, a dreadful one, through excruciating cold and snows that can last for years - a journey of self-discovery, in the end - to settle into his life as a student, torn between blond and red hair, between the promise of a comfortable life and the struggles of poverty. A love story of sorts, though not quite. "The Heart of Man" is still about choice, about understanding one's purpose and place in the world.
"Why are we here, if there are places in the world called Paris?"
Summer in Iceland lasts for a blink of an eye. There's a hedonistic feeling throughout, a world in contradiction to that depicted in the previous volumes - colorful, lively, the grass so green and the sky so blue. Stefánsson is a master landscaper, a John Constable of literature. I was the boy, running with my bare feet in the juicy grass, smelling the earth after summer rains. It's impossible to defeat winter, you can only survive it or live with it. But if you survive it, oh, what delight!
The boy grows up, becomes a man, learns about himself while at the same time learning about the world. And the world around him is also changing - modernity, in the form of steamships replacing sailing ships, telephone lines connecting remote villages, and women becoming bolder in taking ownership of themselves. Summer brings not only new life in the surrounding nature, but also new life in the village.
And everything is tied together by words. Words that hurt and smell burnt and words that heal. Letters that bring news, and letters that speak of longing and love. Words that question everything and words that bring clarity.
This book is about death, but it's more about life and what it means. About happiness and where it comes from. There's no need to know much about life, the important thing is to enter it and know how to meet it when it comes to you. With a painfully beautiful lyricism, Stefánsson talks about growing up, discovering oneself, about hope, love, friendship. He dissected the soul and placed it on a silver platter before our eyes, with a deceptive delicacy that hides a powerful voice. Stefánsson seduced me irrecoverably from the first to the last page.
evaboucles's review against another edition
4.0
Wat een bijzonder boek. Je moet er wel van houden. Er wordt een verhaal verteld maar ook veel gefilosofeerd. Het wordt verteld vanuit de jongen, maar ook andere personages komen aan bod. De jongen denkt heel veel na en dit wordt veel herhaald. Soms is het wat vulgair, maar pas in dit laatste deel worden de oerdriften van de mannen extra benadrukt. Ik had graag een overzicht gezien van wie wie is, want dat wist ik soms niet meer.
Het einde. Daar zou ik graag nog met iemand over willen praten.
Het einde. Daar zou ik graag nog met iemand over willen praten.
stef369's review against another edition
5.0
Het laatste deel, het sluitstuk van Stefansson's trilogie. Wat een roman! Alleen al het verhaal is zo bloedmooi. Het wordt zo stilaan duidelijk wel idee er achter de drie boeken schuilt. Bardur sterft omwille van een gedicht ... Wat is de kracht van poëzie, van kunst? Kunst kan ook dodelijk zijn... En hoe "leef" je? Het laatste woord dat "de jongen" van zijn overleden moeder hoort is "leef"... Zelf zegt hij: Verraad aan het leven is: "Niet durven te praten. Niet bang durven te zijn. Als je niets doet, verraad je alles wat belangrijk is. Als er nog mensen zijn die ertoe doen, in leven zijn, bedoel ik. Maar misschien doet het er niet toe of er mensen in leven zijn of niet, bedoel ik. Je moet ook niet degenen verraden die dood zijn, we moeten ook voor hen leven, ze mogen niet in de duisternis en de kou blijven en ze mogen niet op de bodem van de zee worden vergeten." (p. 167). "De jongen", dat is de dromer, de dichter, de kunstenaar. Hij steekt af tegen al die vissers die alleen maar over stokvis, geld en macht praten. Hij is ook een gevaar voor de gemeenschap. Samen met zijn "bondgenoten", een aantal excentrieke vrouwen, overleeft hij met zijn gevoelens in een samenleving die keihard is. Dat verhaal, de ideeën, de kracht van poëzie, ... wat een prachtige trilogie!
batoolm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.0
elinfreja's review against another edition
3.0
This concluding book in Stéfansson's trilogy is uneven. The beautiful language and profound subjects that have been present through all three books were great as ever.
But you can only have so many drowings or near drownings, alcoholics struggling and abusive men before it starts to get repetitive. The story became predictable and there was always a distance to the characters, never fully exploring their depth. Which is a shame, because they are an interesting gang.
But I'm glad that I read the whole trilogy and to have gotten to know "Pojken".
But you can only have so many drowings or near drownings, alcoholics struggling and abusive men before it starts to get repetitive. The story became predictable and there was always a distance to the characters, never fully exploring their depth. Which is a shame, because they are an interesting gang.
But I'm glad that I read the whole trilogy and to have gotten to know "Pojken".
idawn's review against another edition
3.0
الموت وأشكاله، أحدهم مات لأنه عاد لاحضار كتاب القصائد، ونسي معطفه الواقي.
jackflagg's review against another edition
5.0
The novel keeps reminding us about the perceived duality of the universe: heaven and hell, good and evil, life and death, land and ocean, love and hate. And yet even on a rocky island such as Iceland you find that nothing is in black and white. One can die a thousand times before their actual body expires, they can live through others long after passing, they can find warmth in the coldest of winters, they can love and keep their innocence even through the darkest of times. The universe keeps folding in on itself in this book and the only thing carrying the boy along is the passage of time. In a way, the linear story (the Word) is the "thread that quivers eternally between good and evil, sky and land, Heaven and Hell".
A fitting heartbreaking ending for a wonderfully written trilogy.
A fitting heartbreaking ending for a wonderfully written trilogy.
“We never know which way life will go, don’t know who will live and who will die, don’t know whether the next greeting will be a kiss, bitter words, a hurtful gaze; someone doesn’t take care, forgets to look to the right and is dead, and then it’s too late to take back harsh words, too late to say sorry, too late to say what matters, and what we wanted to say but couldn’t due to annoyance, the weariness of everyday life, time constraints, you forgot to look to the right and I’ll never see you again and the words you spoke to me will reverberate within me all my days and nights, and the kiss you should have received dries on my lips, becomes a wound that rips open every time someone else kisses me.”
niinaaaaa's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
specialedition's review against another edition
5.0
"Fiú: Ki ment el?
Gunnar: Hát ki, ő, hát nem érted, ő, tudod te, kicsoda, csak ő van, azt hiszem, megölöm magam.
Gísli: Hogyan?
Gunnar: Hajóval, természetesen.
Gísli: Olyat lehet?!
Gunnar: Meghibbantál? Persze, hogy lehet. A hajók elviszik az embereket a tengeren.
Gísli: Úgy értettem, hogyan akarod megölni magad?
Gunnar: Hát azt honnan az ördögből tudnám, soha nem csináltam még."
Gunnar: Hát ki, ő, hát nem érted, ő, tudod te, kicsoda, csak ő van, azt hiszem, megölöm magam.
Gísli: Hogyan?
Gunnar: Hajóval, természetesen.
Gísli: Olyat lehet?!
Gunnar: Meghibbantál? Persze, hogy lehet. A hajók elviszik az embereket a tengeren.
Gísli: Úgy értettem, hogyan akarod megölni magad?
Gunnar: Hát azt honnan az ördögből tudnám, soha nem csináltam még."