Reviews

Jarðnæði by Oddný Eir

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cosmith2015's review against another edition

This was not the book for me, but it might for you. I'm not big into literature. The book reads like a journal, just random thoughts scattered throughout the pages. Maybe if I didn't have such a huge list of TBRS I would have finished it.

hexagong's review against another edition

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3.0

This book was fun to read and relatively easy. In a way it was transporting to be in her life, as a young writer, exploring isceland and europe, and her thoughts on living and making a home and being intimate. I think if there was a little more of a "beginning-middle-end" i might have gotten more out of it, but it was an enjoyable nonetheless and inspired me to start writing litle thoughts in a diary like fashion.

dani7silver's review against another edition

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3.0

Eir presents a lovely series of vignettes which reflects on her personal experiences and thoughts on womanhood, utilising her homeland setting of Iceland. The way the author ties in ideas of the uncertainty of environmental and cultural change with the unpredictability of love and relationships allows her to develop herself as a metaphor of female experience through the Icelandic environment. This is most poignantly shown in the ways she describes her two main male characters, the ornithologist lover and the archaeologist brother, both intimately involved with the landscape in which they interact with. The strong themes of women as the landscape and men interacting with, controlling, or changing this landscape comes through nicely. A line best displaying this: "I must have fallen asleep in the grave, and some dirt crumbled onto me. I woke up feeling like I was suffocating. But they hurried to me, the ornithologists and archaeologists. Dug me up like an old woman... I cleared the dirt from my nose and mouth and sat in the ornithologist's lap as they designed the future."

annetjeberg's review against another edition

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4.0

Yes, there might not really be a story here, but nevertheless, it was a very enjoyable read for me. I really liked the autobiographical element; I really felt like was given a window on a life of someone I really felt I was getting to know well. A rather nice person, and not so very unlike me, and I had a strong feeling of friend-potential, which is quite rare in novels.

And yes, would love to read more about my "new friend" Oddny! Though it might remain a rather one sided relationship I guess.

wuwei's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

elianne2's review against another edition

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4.0

Mooi. Interessante gedachtes, maar ze worden niet altijd helemaal uitgewerkt. Daardoor voelt het boek op sommige punten al ietwat gedateerd — heb je gezien hoe IJsland er 12 jaar ja de crash bij ligt?
Jammer dat er geen landkaartje bij zit.