jasminenoack's review against another edition
5.0
First, I want to say thank you to the guy who knows Karen that I have never met who gave her this book. I think his name is Chad. Thank you Chad.
One of the really great things about Karen and greg is that when people give them free books they go out of the way to get these people nice reviews of these books. Back in the day when Zweig was floating around, Greg gave it to me after he was done with it because he was hoping that I might like it a bit more and have something nice to say about it, I am not sure what he got what he wanted but it was a good effort. And on the off chance he ever finds the right person the book is still in the desk here to be given to someone new. Yeah... i think he might just not want it near his other books.But back to Iceland (in german iceland is written island, no kidding look at the german version's summary). Last week I came in and Karen told me that she had forgotten to tell me she had a copy of this book from "Chad" (if I have his name right). Clearly this was a good way for her to get this book a nice rating, since she knew that not only did I love the author but that I had been waiting very impatiently for this book's publication in October. So she kills two birds with one stone, she gets Chad a nice review and she makes me happy. This is why people should continue to give Karen and Greg free books, they are good people who try very hard to be helpful.
Now lets talk about this book. It has so far not gotten very good reviews but it is a very good book. Solidly a high four stars. It would be five no contest but I like his other book better. I know, I know I gave it five stars but I really want it to have a higher average rating.
The only other review of this book says that they didn't like the ending... No one likes how bragi ends books except for me, probably cause he doesn't really feel the need to end books. I mean unlike pets a lot of stuff actually happens to the character in this book and he never hides under a bed, at least never literally. Figuratively speaking he really spends most of the book hiding under the bed. I don't know that he even necessarily comes out from under the bed (I don't actually remember if the character in pets ever comes out from under the bed either). Here anyy time something happens the character hides or leaves or lies. clearly bragi is just not a confrontational kind of guy, I respect that. I am not that kind of guy either.
Bragi is the kind of guy who hangs out with stuffed birds and looks hot... Don't believe me do an image search.
The only problem I had with this book is that it felt culture bound. To live in the type of country that sends people to poetry festivals in lithuania for free this is not something I personally understand. They also left some icelandic chapter titles, there could be a good reason for this but since I don't speak icelandic I don't know. The names were very icelandic, do you know that it is almost impossible to tell if someone is male or female from their name in iceland? at least I can't. And then I mean poetry that is just another world. So I mean it is a bit tough for me to be constantly drowning in all these worlds I am not a part of.
What I liked about the book but everyone will whine about is the distance. There isn't really an emotional angle to the book. Considering that he stole his dead cousin's poems (this is obvious early in the book) the main character is reasonably unaffected by this. basically the opposite of the tell tale heart. Perhaps he is a sociopath, and he wins at that. He is also a mildly delusional sociopath, but he tends to get what he wants. I have to say he is one of my favorite characters ever, not unlike the guy who throws the party in the book pets.
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This is my favorite icelandic author! yes I am geeky enough to have a favorite icelandic author. He translated paul auster into icelandic, this is like claro translating danielwinski into french. If I didn't already love them both that would clearly make them sex worthy. And Karen gets hugs and upstocks for loaning me this book before it is even available. The only good thing that happened today.
One of the really great things about Karen and greg is that when people give them free books they go out of the way to get these people nice reviews of these books. Back in the day when Zweig was floating around, Greg gave it to me after he was done with it because he was hoping that I might like it a bit more and have something nice to say about it, I am not sure what he got what he wanted but it was a good effort. And on the off chance he ever finds the right person the book is still in the desk here to be given to someone new. Yeah... i think he might just not want it near his other books.But back to Iceland (in german iceland is written island, no kidding look at the german version's summary). Last week I came in and Karen told me that she had forgotten to tell me she had a copy of this book from "Chad" (if I have his name right). Clearly this was a good way for her to get this book a nice rating, since she knew that not only did I love the author but that I had been waiting very impatiently for this book's publication in October. So she kills two birds with one stone, she gets Chad a nice review and she makes me happy. This is why people should continue to give Karen and Greg free books, they are good people who try very hard to be helpful.
Now lets talk about this book. It has so far not gotten very good reviews but it is a very good book. Solidly a high four stars. It would be five no contest but I like his other book better. I know, I know I gave it five stars but I really want it to have a higher average rating.
The only other review of this book says that they didn't like the ending... No one likes how bragi ends books except for me, probably cause he doesn't really feel the need to end books. I mean unlike pets a lot of stuff actually happens to the character in this book and he never hides under a bed, at least never literally. Figuratively speaking he really spends most of the book hiding under the bed. I don't know that he even necessarily comes out from under the bed (I don't actually remember if the character in pets ever comes out from under the bed either). Here anyy time something happens the character hides or leaves or lies. clearly bragi is just not a confrontational kind of guy, I respect that. I am not that kind of guy either.
Bragi is the kind of guy who hangs out with stuffed birds and looks hot... Don't believe me do an image search.
The only problem I had with this book is that it felt culture bound. To live in the type of country that sends people to poetry festivals in lithuania for free this is not something I personally understand. They also left some icelandic chapter titles, there could be a good reason for this but since I don't speak icelandic I don't know. The names were very icelandic, do you know that it is almost impossible to tell if someone is male or female from their name in iceland? at least I can't. And then I mean poetry that is just another world. So I mean it is a bit tough for me to be constantly drowning in all these worlds I am not a part of.
What I liked about the book but everyone will whine about is the distance. There isn't really an emotional angle to the book. Considering that he stole his dead cousin's poems (this is obvious early in the book) the main character is reasonably unaffected by this. basically the opposite of the tell tale heart. Perhaps he is a sociopath, and he wins at that. He is also a mildly delusional sociopath, but he tends to get what he wants. I have to say he is one of my favorite characters ever, not unlike the guy who throws the party in the book pets.
***********************************************************
This is my favorite icelandic author! yes I am geeky enough to have a favorite icelandic author. He translated paul auster into icelandic, this is like claro translating danielwinski into french. If I didn't already love them both that would clearly make them sex worthy. And Karen gets hugs and upstocks for loaning me this book before it is even available. The only good thing that happened today.
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