Reviews

Butterflies in November by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

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crafalsk264's review against another edition

challenging dark funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The protagonist/narrator is an unnamed 33 year old translator—fluent in several languages. We meet her on one of the worst days of her life. Her husband of 5 years announces that he is having a baby with a co-worker because she is cold, frigid, a self absorbed woman not committed to him or their marriage. She is left by her long-term lover who wants her to divorce her husband and marry him. She loses her job, runs over a goose, receives a bleak psychic reading and discovers that her best friend is having twins in three weeks and is hospitalized until the babies are born—maybe Christmas Eve. Her friend has a four year old son named Tumi who is deaf and has severely impaired vision. She agrees to care for him until her friend can resume a regular life. The narrator has just won half of a winning lottery drawing and decides that they will go to the seaside and take a belated summer vacation. Over the next few days, she and the boy bond on the most bizarre road trip I have ever read about. We encounter a flat tire which gets fixed by a passerby who becomes the first in a series of one night stands.

They encounter black sand beaches, cucumber farms, lava fields, flocks of sheep, an Estonian choir, a falconer, a hitchhiker, and both of her exes desperate for another chance. What begins as a spontaneous adventure will unexpectedly and profoundly change the way she views her past and charts her future. We end up with a trail of dead or mangled animals, abandoned lovers, trashed/damaged vehicles and a few singular specimens of butterflies despite it being November in Iceland.

This book is a meditation on the ordinary-ness of the quirky people and events that make up our experiences which together becomes the stuff of life. The narrator finds that the overwhelming patriarchy becomes and it decodes a cloak that she decides to walk away from it. Along the way, she forms an affection for and affinity with Tumi. The narrator goes from a self absorbed, enabling woman who hides her own needs and desires to an independent but connected woman’s. She explains her role as a woman , a lover, a mother, a feminist, a writer, or linguist. The book is a darkly comic telling of the story. Recommend to readers of contemporary literary fiction, Scandinavian literature, travel stories, and road trips.

kyrajanson's review

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adventurous slow-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

2.0

oviedorose's review

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adventurous emotional reflective sad

3.0

holly_keimig's review

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3.0

50 Book Reading Challenge 2015: A book that was originally written in a different language

I have always wanted to visit Iceland, mainly to see the volcanoes. This book was rather strange...not bad strange, just strange. Not much happened to the narrator and most of the growth and movement occurred in her head, not in the actual action. There were several times when I felt like I had to be missing something that happened. That could possibly be a problem with the translation. Its worth a read if you have time.