bigga's review
3.0
Ég er alltaf svolítið efins um verk sem gera sér mat úr nýlegum harmleikjum, jafnvel þó vel sé farið að og fórnarlambið sé veitt tilskilin virðing. Þetta er samt svo ótrúlega grátt.
kjaro's review
2.0
I could not bring myself to care.
Felt like half the book told me how much snow there was in Reykjavik on that dark and stormy night, which... Yeah. No shit.
The premise is... Something? I guess. But at the end of the day, it's just a retelling of a senseless murder. From the perspective of the devil? With clowns, for some fucking reason?
It just felt weird to me that this real (I think) and violent act had to be put into this form, almost romanticizing it.
Maybe I'm too stupid to understand "contemporary Viking poetry", maybe the translation did it a disservice, maybe I should try and read the original version.
But honestly, not the kind of read I wanted to end this year on.
Felt like half the book told me how much snow there was in Reykjavik on that dark and stormy night, which... Yeah. No shit.
The premise is... Something? I guess. But at the end of the day, it's just a retelling of a senseless murder. From the perspective of the devil? With clowns, for some fucking reason?
It just felt weird to me that this real (I think) and violent act had to be put into this form, almost romanticizing it.
Maybe I'm too stupid to understand "contemporary Viking poetry", maybe the translation did it a disservice, maybe I should try and read the original version.
But honestly, not the kind of read I wanted to end this year on.
thepyrreview's review against another edition
5.0
Drápa is an epic poem of a murder in Reykjavik in the 1980s from the perspective of the devil. The introduction of the book is an analysis of the poem and gave much more insight than I would have been able to reveal on my own while reading the poem. While the devil is the narrator, it is clear his sympathies lie with Greta, the victim. The boxer, her murderer, exists in the subtext and his eventual murder is the only part of the poem that focuses on him. This is a beautiful memorial to Greta Birgisdottir.
Before leaving for a recent trip to Reykjavik, I looked up newly released books and this caught my attention (the edition translated by Rory McTurk had been released in early 2018). Once in Reykjavik, I asked the bookstore clerk where to find it and she handed me this book as well as Bloodhoof, which she told me to read first. I bought both on the spot. I'm definitely interested in reading more from Gerður Kristný, would love to read more translated by Rory McTurk.
Before leaving for a recent trip to Reykjavik, I looked up newly released books and this caught my attention (the edition translated by Rory McTurk had been released in early 2018). Once in Reykjavik, I asked the bookstore clerk where to find it and she handed me this book as well as Bloodhoof, which she told me to read first. I bought both on the spot. I'm definitely interested in reading more from Gerður Kristný, would love to read more translated by Rory McTurk.
analis's review
5.0
I met the Icelandic poet Gerdur Kristny at the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2018. During a ride from the venue to the hotel she told this story and I was riveted. At the time, her epic poem of this Reykjavik murder had not been translated into English and so I have had to wait to read it. It was worth the wait. “This is Viking poetry at its most contemporary.” I highly recommend this: Gerdur presents the crime by having the devil tell the story (and the illustration of the devil/bat is perfect).
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