A review by abbie_
Hotel Silence by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
Hotel Silence, translated from the Icelandic by Brian FitzGibbon, is the story of a man all but ready to give up on life. There are content warnings for suicide/suicidal thoughts throughout this book. Jonás decides to go to some unnamed, far-flung, war-torn country to put an end to his life far from what remains of his family. While there, he gets sucked into the community as his handyman status at the ramshackle hotel he stays at brings other folks to his door for help. It sounds bleak, but there is some warmth and humour to it, and some hope. I didn’t connect with it as much as I hoped; the prose was quite sparse, which I do often enjoy, but I felt quite emotionally detached.

That could just be down to my frame of mind though, I wouldn’t NOT recommend it - wow I’m really selling this 😂 I did much prefer Miss Iceland. I’m just gonna stop writing now! 

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