Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Miss Island

miss iceland, set in 1960s iceland, explores the lives of 2 of society's marginalized, a female writer and a gay man, and is a slim work w/ spare prose that's surprisingly melancholic.

ólaffsdóttir balances variables of contradictions here: a story that's seemingly filled w/ a lot of space - aided by the sparse writing and breathing room in the pacing - but one that packs quite a punch in terms of themes and insight into its setting and larger societal - even global - context. i particularly enjoy how the prose resembles poetry at times w/ the choice of lines and spacing; not a word is wasted here, and this results in a slim novel that's nevertheless full of msgs.

i learn a lot abt iceland and its society, esp pertaining to the specific time period, and the inequality never ceases to infuriate me. it's quite different to read abt the bleakness of the icelandic landscape and the rural setting. the danish setting in the latter part of the book also comes as a delightful and much welcomed surprise.

my fav thing abt this book, however, is the relationship between hekla and jón john, which, despite them not being in the same scene for a chunk of the novel, manages to move and emotionally wrangle me. theirs is a bond deeper than mere friendship, perhaps one of platonic soulmates, and is now certainly one of my top male-female fictional friendships. the way they care abt one another, kin to marginalized kin, is just wholesome and non-toxic, which is why im also a lil disheartened by the book's ending.

overall, this is a sparse, reflective read that examines the external world's manmade limitations on society's marginalized, and a refreshing one for anyone looking for a read w/ different setting.

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e_m_f_reads's review against another edition

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funny reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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rieviolet's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I quite liked the general setting, I've never read about Icelandic society, let alone in the 1960s, and I appreciated the focus on the conditions of women and gay men.
Still, I'm not so sure about the actual characters and their portrayals, I struggled a bit to connect with them, especially with the main character Helka. Among everyone, my favourite character might actually be her best friend Ísey.

I appreciated the writing style, especially the descriptions of the landscape, they were very atmospheric. I also didn't mind the division in short sections, it made for a pacier reading, but I can see that it might also give a bit of a disjointed feeling to the narration.

Sometimes I struggled a bit with the tone, like I read a passage and I really could not understand if it was supposed to be funny?! I don't know if it is just me, it just felt strange, I couldn't get my head around it.
Also, I have to say I was disappointed by the end, it actually did not feel like much of an ending, more like an abrupt stop in the narration.

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h_andreanne's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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marinable_books's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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gabriellejane's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Withholding is the perfect descriptor of the book, yet I don't think it would have benefited from more information. I did want some more emotion perhaps? It all felt a bit one note, morose. Still, I couldn't put the story down.

I had been wondering if this was the book that Hekla was writing and loved that little detail at the end of the page number of both books ending at the same time.

it did remind me of Iceland and made me want to return one day.

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davidbowie's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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