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A review by thewordsdevourer
Miss Iceland by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, and Suicide